Jenkins, mag writer etc?

[djb]

Good evening,

A number of years back, I read an article about a fellow who wrote in Motorsport magazines, I believe starting in the 50's. I think his last name was Jenkins, but if this is wrong, forgive my collender of a noggin.

He was bearded, and a real character from the looks of him and how he was described in the article. The author told of visiting him in his home, which was chock a block full of papers, books, mags, race meeting papers etc etc.

Part of my question is, wasn't he Moss's "navigator" when he won the Mille Miglia in '50-?(guessing at '57), using a box that held a long scroll of paper with his road references, that was unrolled as they went along? I'm pretty certain that I saw a Goodwood Festival where Moss drove the Mercedes(?) they won in, and he was holding this box up for everyone to see, as the fellow in question had recently passed away.
I may be mixing up two different stories here, but I think the article about the writer was in MotorSport, after he had died, perhaps 3 or more years ago.
I do recall clearly that the article told of him travelling to and writing of the big races of the day, at a time when most people only had his written reports to let them know of the results and details.

If he was Moss's navigator, my real question is how did a writer end up doing a race like this with the likes of Moss and at a race of this importance. I cannot imagine Moss, or any other competitor, using just any one to let them know that yes, you can go flat out at 150 or whatever for 4 km and then there's a 50 mph right, or was it a left-you catch my drift.

If I have got this right, there must be an interesting story here.

[Marshal]

You're talking about Dennis Jenkinson, usaul known as 'Jenks' or when writng in Motor Sport his initials, DSJ. In the immediate post war period he was world champion sidecar passenger, before becoming Motor Sports european correspondant. He had a tremendous writing style and was widely regarded as the finest english language Grand Prix correspondant. Only Nigel Roebuck comes close IMO.

As for the Mille Miglia thing, he devised a system with John Fitch (I think) to be his 'early warning' as they recognised there was no way a foreigner could have as intimate a knowledge of 1000 miles of Italian roadds as the locals. Moss heard about this (as he and Fitch both raced for Mercedes in '55) and Fitch agreed to pass the idea over to Moss as "He was a much better driver, so had a realistic chance of winning" according to Fitch. So Moss and Jenks recce'd the course and developed probably the first pace notes. These enabled Moss to stay flat out over blind crests and fully committed through blind corners. Moss said thet Jenks was really the only man who he'd have trusted to do the job, as he was accustomed to working in a team at high speed. The result was victory at a record speed of just under 100 mph average, the 1000 miles taking 10 hours 7 mins.

Jenks and Moss ran together agian in '56 and '57 for Maserati, but crashed out in the '56 race in driving rain and crashed again in '57 when the brake peddle broke.

Jenks went on to cover GP's until the early '90s.

There is a very good piece on him on Autosport.com in the "Ask Nigel" column either last week or the week before.

[TimD]

Dear old Jenks. A fine and opinionated writer. Thinking about it, the finest writers are always the opinionated ones.

As a small aside to how Jenks came to be in the passenger seat of a racing sports car - he had already carved out a reputation for himself as a skilled and intuitive racing motorcycle sidecar passenger. Anyone who can keep their wits about them whilst lying flat on their stomach with the world going past their nose at 80mph is going to be okay in a Mercedes 300SLR, was the reasoning, so he got the run. John Fitch is right as the guy who came up with the germ of the scheme in the first place.

A curiosity - while Jenks always signed himself D.S.J. in Motor Sport magazine, it was a closely guarded secret that he had no christened middle name. It's just that he thought that the extra letter seemed somehow "right" at the end of a piece of journalism.

I've said it before - I'll say it again, one of the most cost-effective ways of getting some quality motor racing writing is to buy some 1950s/1960s Motor Sport magazines. You can still find them for pennies, and the glorious prose of Denis Jenkinson simply tumbles out of the pages at you.

[Carrie]

I'm not contributing anything useful to this topic, just a pic of Moss and Jenks going up the Hill at Goodwood in 1995
Somewhere I also have a pic of them both sat in the car in the paddock, but I've never managed to find it to scna it in.

[djb]

Thankyou Marshall, Tim and Carrie for your replies and photo. When I guessed at '57, I realized after that it couldn't have been right, because didn't Mercedes pull out of racing after the Lemans disaster? Wasn't it until t

Thankyou Marshall, Tim and Carrie for your replys and photo

Marshall, I just read the Roebuck article in Autosport, thanks for the tip.

Tim, interest in motorsport is just not very high here in Canada, or at least not in Montreal. Sure, there are all the Villeneuve fans, but there is simply not the level of interest that sustains bookshops dedicated soley to motorsport, and I have never, ever seen a pile of old Motor Sport mags at a flea market.(my Canadian pennies are ready if I ever do though!)

Last fall, I had an interesting conversation with a young Brit who had spent the summer here in Montreal visiting family, he had done some renovation work for some of my in-laws. In bringing up the topic of cars, I was surprised to find out that he owned an early 70's TVR, I have never even seen a TVR in real life, let alone meet a regular sort of bloke who owned one, even if it was old.

We talked about the difference of motorsport interest, and his opinions made sense:
1.In Canada, we have winter to deal with, ie older cars simply do not survive the salt much longer than 10-15 years max if they are driven regularly.
There is so much less time of the year to be able to work on a car project, unless you have a heated garage.
2. He found that Canadians have much more different hobbies, like skiing, and that with Brits, cars and whatnot is a hobby that alot of people take up because it is something to do, combined with the history of the popularity of the sport.
3. The sheer number of racetracks in England fosters an eary interest in the sport, whereas here, tracks are few and far between.

Anyway, all of this comes from me thinking that if ever I get to England, I'll have to bring an extra suitcase for when I do the rounds of used bookstores....

[Ray Bell]

Denis Jenkinson's middle name was Sargent.

His story of how the fabled ride with Moss in 1955 came about is a part of the report he wrote on the race, now reprinted at least thrice by Motor Sport themselves, and also reprinted in another book.. possibly 'The Racing Driver.'

Anyone who hasn't yet read that report should, really, go away and not return until they have.... absolutely required reading!

Sorry if I make a bad impression on my first post, it's not meant that way, but this article is such a great one it should be sought out first by everyone.

[TimD]

Bad impression? Not in the slightest, Ray.

Your reputation precedes you. Welcome aboard.

I'm intrigued. I'm certain that it was Motor Sport itself that told the story about D.S.J. having no actual middle name. I must do some checking up on this one.

[Marshal]

Hi Ray. Another place where you can find the Jenks piece is in a book called Stirling Moss's Motoracing Mastrepieces. And I agree with you, it is one the finest pieces of sports journalism ever.

[Ray Bell]

Required reading... with comments like "We had time to look at each other..." or "We had wondered what it would be like with the roads closed..." and "Moss told me he didn't think he'd be able to keep his foot flat, but I noticed..."

More than that, the closing comments about their record time, "we had ruined it for anyone else, there's not likely to be another totally dry Mille Miglia for years..."

Where is it? I feel like reading it again?

Anyone not read it? Maybe somebody should scan it and post it...

[Wolf]

Ray- we meet again... BTW, would it be asking too much if I asked You to do so? As You know, such gems are all too rare over here.

[Ray Bell]

Wolfie... you old Croation Stirling Moss fan!

Give me a break... I already said I didn't know where to find it!

[Jeroen Brink]

Originally posted by Carrie
I'm not contributing anything useful to this topic, just a pic of Moss and Jenks going up the Hill at Goodwood in 1995

It was in the actual car in which they drove around in Italy in 1955. After this weekend Jenks eyes were reportedly moist when he spoke: "I can die happy now"...
Is that not fantastic?

[Ray Bell]

Mention of him dying happy, it reminds me of a comment somebody made when he went... about his well-defined agnosticism and his approach to St Peter or something... 'twas said that Jenks would claim this wasn't real, despite the evidence of what was before him...

I wonder?

[Jeroen Brink]

As an agnostic “believer” myself, I cannot give you a clue. Since agnosticism leaves it all intelligently open, who knows.....

[Kpy]

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Mention of him dying happy, it reminds me of a comment somebody made when he went... about his well-defined agnosticism and his approach to St Peter or something... 'twas said that Jenks would claim this wasn't real, despite the evidence of what was before him...

DSJ was no agnostic. He was a profound atheist. I remember the quote in an obit., but can't remember who wrote it. It concerned him arguing with God (not St Peter) to the effect that He did not exist.
I'll have a ferret round to see if I've saved the relevant mag.

[Marshal]

I think it was Cannon Lionel Webber (is that his name??) who is Chaplin to the BRDC, a huge race fan, and blesses the track at Goodwood each year, giving his views at Jenks's memorial service.