Stirling Moss, Vanwall VW10 correcting a delicate slide on the cobblestones of the Boavista Circuit, Portuguese Grand Prix 1958 (LAT Archive)
The Perils of Grand Prix Racing in the days of Yore…
Casually placed haybales the only barrier between the cobblestoned road surface, tramlines and decorative telephone poles, Sunday 24 August 1958. This was a very dangerous circuit even by the standards of the day.
The circuit was in Oporto, it began on the harbour front esplanade, continued onto the ‘Avenida da Boavista’, then through small neighbourhoods and back to the start/finish line. It was also used for the GP in 1960.
Moss’ Vanwall leads Hawthorns’ Ferrari Dino , Behras’ BRM P 25 on the inside, then 2 more Vanwalls of Brooks and Lewis-Evans and the other Dino of Von Trips..challenges of the circuit apparent (‘restos’)
50000 people attended the event held in treacherous conditions, the track damp after earlier rain.
It had been a tough couple of months for the motor racing world as Luigi Musso and Peter Collins died in Ferrari Dino’s in the French and German Grands’ Prix respectively.
Graham Hill, Lotus 16 Climax, lands atop the haybales after a spin on lap 25, DNF. Hill made his Grand Prix debut in a Lotus 12 at Monaco that May, starting a long, wonderful, successful, ‘Triple Crown Winning’ career. His final GP was also at Monaco in 1975, unfortunately not qualifying (Pinterest)
Gee Hill beached from either angle!
In a fantastic display of sportsmanship Stirling Moss intervened in a post race protest against Mike Hawthorn, who it was alleged had driven a short distance in the wrong direction on-circuit, having restarted his car. Moss advised the stewards Mike was on the footpath at the time, therefore not breaching the rules and keeping the points which ultimately won him the 1958 Drivers Championship by 1 point…from Moss.
All the fun of the fair…Moss leads teammate Stuart Lewis-Evans through the Oporto suburbs. Moss won with Hawthorns Ferrari Dino 246 second and Lewis-Evans third (Pinterest)
Tony Brooks and Stirling Moss swap notes during practice, note Brooks’ ‘kidney belt’ to cope with the rigors of the rough circuit(s) (‘restos’)
Circuit of Boavista panorama…(‘restos’)
This shot of Hawthorn amongst the tramlines shows the delicacy of car control required on that day given the combination of rain, cobblestones, slippery steel tram lines and the hard, narrow race tyres of the day! (‘restos’)
Moss’ Vanwall leads Hawthorns Ferrari Dino 246 early in the race…Moss post race intervention in a protest about Hawthorns’ diqualification critial to him holding second place and the points which ultimately won him the 1958 Drivers Title from Moss (Pinterest)
Moss victorious in Vanwall VW10 (Pinterest)
Vanwall Team lap of honour…L>R Vandervell, waving Moss and Lewis-Evans (‘restos’)
Photo Credits…
LAT Archive, Pinterest
Many of theses shots are from a blog: restosdecoleccao.blogspot.com .Well worth a look even if your Spanish is not flash!
Etcetera…
Roy Salvadori ponders the 2 litre Coventry Climax FPF engine of his ‘works’ Cooper T45, Roy was ninth, and last, Jack Brabham in the sister car seventh (‘restos’)
Start from the rear this time. #14 Brabham Cooper T45 Climax, # 4 Brooks Vanwall, # 10 Schell BRM P25, # 8 Behra BRM P25. Up front its Moss Vanwall, then Hawthorn Ferrari to the left of Moss, Lewis-Evans Vanwall outside on the right, and Von Trips Ferrari also right behind Lewis-Evans…the nose just appearing in shot is one of the Maser 250F’s entered…Shelby, Bonnier or Maria de Filippis (‘restos’)
Jean Behra BRM P25 ahead of Jack Brabhams’ Cooper T45 Climax, now at 2.2 litres capacity, and tiny in comparison to the BRM. Fourth and seventh respectively, a Vanwall, Brooks perhaps, following (Pinterest)
Mike Hawthorn enroute to second place in his Ferrari Dino 246 (Pinterest)
Moss’ Vanwall nose up under acceleration (Pinterest)
Finito…
primotipo... 
Even if your Spanish is flash you may have a problem. It’s in Portuguese!!!
Apart from Longford, the only track I know of where the cars crossed over either a tramline or railway line.