One of the better known photographs in motor racing is Louis Klemantaski’s shot of Mike Hawthorn’s Cooper T20 Bristol attacking the apex of Fordwater at Goodwood in 1952…
The Klemantaski Collection archive describe the photograph thus; ‘Hawthorn is obviously really on the absolute limit with this Cooper-Bristol. And of course he is aiming right for Klemantaski who had positioned himself at the edge of the track exactly at the apex of the very fast Fordwater corner on the back of the Goodwood circuit. What a dynamic image!
This race was the ‘Sussex International Trophy’ for Formula Libre racing cars on June 2, 1952.
Hawthorn won, perhaps somewhat aided by his father Leslie’s long experience with nitromethane. It was Hawthorn’s third outing with a friend’s Cooper-Bristol.
On April 14th at Goodwood he came up against Juan Manuel Fangio, driving another Cooper, and won against the already famous Argentinian driver. Hawthorn won two races with the Cooper that weekend and finished second in the final race of the day to Froilán González in Tony Vandervell’s Thinwall Special Ferrari GP car.
Then Hawthorn entered the Daily Express International Trophy on May 10th with the same Cooper-Bristol to win the first heat, but finished several laps down in the final due to gearshift problems.
His excellent showing with the Cooper at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps where he was fourth and at the subsequent British Grand Prix finishing third led to an offer from Ferrari for 1953- and an eventual World Championship aboard the Ferrari Dino 246 in 1958.
1953 French GP Reims July 1953. Mike Hawthorn’s Ferrari 500 and Juan Fangio’s #18 Maserati A6GCM flat out, grinning at one another, Mike won by 1 second after 300 miles of racing (Getty)
‘Hawthorn died in a road crash in January 1959 after retiring from racing at the end of his Championship year, is remembered by his own book Challenge Me the Race and Champion Year and in several biographies, including Mon Ami Mate and Golden Boy. Mike Hawthorn’s grave is in Farnham, Surrey where he is still well remembered and where he and his father had run the Tourist Trophy Garage for many years’, the Klemantaski Collection wrote.
Cooper T20 Bristol cutaway by Vic Berris
Articles on the Cooper Bristol T20/23…
https://primotipo.com/2017/02/24/the-cooper-t23-its-bristolbmw-engine-and-spaceframe-chassis/
https://primotipo.com/2016/06/24/jacks-altona-grand-prix-and-cooper-t23-bristol/
Credits…
Louis Klemantaski, Raymond Groves, Vic Berris
Check out The Klemantaski Collection; https://klemcoll.wordpress.com/about/
Tailpiece: The tie dear boy, the tie…
(Raymond Groves)
Finito…
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