1959 Tourist Trophy at Goodwood

[DNQ]

Can anyone tell me more about the 1959 Tourist Trophy at Goodwood? Does anyone have any pictures or race reports. So far, all I have found is this report, and the attached picture:

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The International Tourist Trophy was held in the September of 1959 and was the fifth and final round of the World Sportscar Championship. The Championship was going right down to the wire, with Aston Martin on 16 points, Ferrari on 18 points and Porsche on 15. Aston needed an outright win to capture the world crown. In an effort to capture the crown, Aston entered 3 works cars. The race was started in blustery conditions with Moss jumping out to an early lead and after twenty laps had 30 second lean on the second Aston of Shelby.

At the end of the 43rd lap, Strling brought the leading Aston in for a driver change, with Salvadori jumping in for his fist stint. At the end of this stint the Aston Martin caught alight, while at rest in the pitlane. The fire quickly took hold of the wooden pit facilities and the re-fueling rig. It was quite a hairy situation, as Salvadori's overalls were on fire at one stage and the plumes of black smoke could be seen visibly from the back of the circuit.

Anyway, David Brown brought Aston number two in so that Strling could take over that car. In a very sporting gesture, Aston privateer, Graham Whitehead vacated his adjacent pit so that the works team could continue as the works pits were too badly damaged by the fire. In the end, Moss and Aston went on to take a famous victory in so bringing the World Sportscar Championship to England for the first time.

[Ray Bell]

Specifically what more do you want?

I have the Motor Racing report on the race, Mossy has written plenty about it, I suppose David Wyer covered it at some time, Roger will have Motor Sport...

Seems you have a fair handle on it anyway.

[Joe Fan]

This race was part 3 of Masten Gregory as Superman. Masten was sharing a Tojeiro-Jag with Jim Clark for this event when his steering broke at Woodcote corner. Masten jumped out of the car shortly before impact into a earth embankment, and received a shoulder injury and a few other minor cuts but he survived. If anyone has seen the picture of the crashed Tojeiro-Jag, they would be able to see that Masten would have been killed had he stayed in the car. Besides that, the car burst into flames after the contact so if the impact didn't kill him, the fire more than likely would.

[DNQ]

Ray, Joe - thanks.

Basically, I want to know if anyone has any links to race reports or pictures on the internet.

[UAtkins]

If you have a copy of the Roy Salvadori Racing Driver book he has a bit on the fire and the race with pictures of the car right before the fire with the fuel pouring out of the refueling pipe and then a picture of himself sitting on the pit counter after the fire. I can type up the race account and scan the photos if you would like.

Ursula

[Peter Mallett]

I believe we've failed to welcome you to our cosy forum Ursula. Please feel free to post anything you like on the subject of motorsports history or indeed historic motorsport. We're fortunate to have some extremely knowledgable members here.

[Vitesse]

Came across this while re-reading "Jim Clark Remembered" by Graham Gauld for the first time in many years ...

"The race saw Clark lapping as fast as Gregory, and the joyful realisation came to Jimmy that he could beat his hero in the same car and on the same circuit. Just when it looked aa though they were going to be well placed, Gregory arrived at Woodcote far too fast and continued straight over the road, ramming the banking head-first. I was an eye witness to this particular accident and, when the car hit the banking, Gregory shot from the cockpit like a pea out of a pod and flew about 15 feet into the air, clearing the whole banking and breaking his arm as he landed. Some time later I spoke to Ferrari driver Olivier Gendebien, who happened to be slightly ahead of Gregory going into the corner, and he remarked that he couldn't understand how Masten was going to manage to overtake him on the outside and, when he glanced across, he was amazed to see the American struggling to get up on the seat of the car. Had he stayed in the car, Masten Gregory would not have become the diamond merchant he is today."