PREPARATIONS FOR 1962 MOTOR RACING SEASON

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29797, 13 April 1962, Page 9

PREPARATIONS FOR 1962 MOTOR RACING SEASON

(By

BRUCE McLAREN]

I WAS beginning to think life was really worth living out here among all the sunshine and water ski-ing in New Zealand and Australia, but when I flew back to England I was jarred back to grim reality with what awaned me at the airport Snow'.'

It was bitterly cold there, but I was soon in the warmth of the drawing-office at the Cooper Car Company, which incidentally is in a new office in a penthouse on top of the factory.

There were plenty of the little Cooper Minis on the

road coming in from the airport—but the main thing was that the two designers had done terrific work on the 1962 Coopers during the winter. Chassis Our chassis for this season is entirely new, with new and improved suspension.

Some of the bits are already in the process of manufacture.

The castings for the new 6-speed gearbox designed for the 1500 c.c. V 8 Climax are coming into the drawingoffice and are a big improvement over last year’s boxes. Perhaps one of the major reasons for Cooper’s efforts over the winter is that there is a rival concern in Surbiton and what is more one Jack Brabham who used to drive Coopers has been reported as intending to drive a Lotus in Formula One races! I saw the new Formula Junior for the first time, and was quite impressed.

We made arrangements for two days of serious testing at Goodwood, but a heavyfall of snow delayed things somewhat.

The F. J. Cooper really is only an improvement on "last year’s car, but the body has been slimmed down considerably.

John Cooper felt that the car was equal to the other Formula Junior team cars and his major aim was to reduce size and improve the shape. But he has also made a few changes to the suspension. eradicating small faults which showed up last sea-

Before the testing in snowy England, however. I went out for a few days of sunshine, testing with the American sports car magnate. Briggs Cunningham, on the banked

Monza track near Milan. He had a Type 64 VI2 rearengined 3-litre Maserati with de Dion-type rear suspension but modified to a special Maserati patent making it a combination of independent rear suspension and de Dion. It is one of the best I have used.

This sports car was similar to the Type 63 CunninghamMaserati which I was to have driven at Le Mans last season, but it was five seconds a lap quicker around Monza. Cunningham also had a Cooper Monaco with a 2.8litre Maserati motor in the back. With this I managed to take two seconds off the previous lap record at Monza. American drivers and motoring personalities, Walt Hansgen. Roger Penske and Alfred Momo were also at the tests with Altieri and Bertocchi and mechanics and engineers from the Maserati factory. Down in Modena I drove one of the new Stanguellini Formula Junior cars fitted with a Fiat engine. Cunningham had raced one of these cars at Daytona, and was toying with the idea of entering one at Sebring and he wanted me to test it.

The Stanguellini was a lot of fun to drive and it had a lot of feel. I even managed to knock a second and a half off that lap record, much to Signor Stanguellini’s delight. I told one of the reporters that I thought the Stanguellini was quite a good car, and that it handled almost as well as last year’s Cooper Junior.

To my surprise, I learned later that the fellow had phoned John Cooper in England to pass on my innocent remark!

Socially, the week-end was a great success. I was able

to catch up with all the news on the American scene, and we also had a fairly extensive visit to the Maserati factory. I think it must be the only factory in the world where hand-finishing is employed to any great extent in motor manufacture.

We saw craftsmen working with files and fine grinders on precision fittings—you don’t see that on big assembly lines any more. I w-as also fortunate enough to spend a few hours with Ing. Colotti, the designer of the gearbox we used in the C. T. Atkins Cooper last season in New Zealand.

Colotti is supplying sixspeed gearboxes to B.R.M.'s, Lolas, Rob Walker (Moss), and Jack Brabham for his new “Brabhams.”

I still think the new- Cooper box is O.K. though, and I’m quite prepared to stick with it. Former Drivers While at Monza I had the pleasure of meeting racing drivers from the days when motor-cars were monsters, including Dr. Farina, who won a world championship in 1950, and “Gigi” Villoresi, also an ex-world-champion driver.

Even though Villoresi is in his late sixties, he was keen to try the Vl2 Maserati. Driving goggles would not fit over his thick-lensed spectacles so he drove without the goggles, and did a very creditable job we had trouble calling him back into the pits. Briggs Cunningham really had a buying spree while he was in Italy. Besides the Type 64 Maserati and the Cooper Monaco Maserati he bought a beautiful five-litre silver-grey Maserati coupe.