FON DE PORTAGO

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Wow, Vincent, that's great!
Where do you get all those vintage photos from? You scan them from your books?
Greet,
Joren

 

1957 and last

 

No, never scan any picture.....

got them from the net, put them in maps - year - race - car - # - driver.....

as some of us do of the chat community.

greetings, vincent

 

Now lets wait for Boudewijn...

 

Here we go.
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another one....

 

continue

 

last one

 

Strange, same race but different number.
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the Hutton archive says n°4 is 1955 GB grand prix ...............help me please.

 

According to Alan Henry in his book "Ferrari The Grand Prix Cars" in the British Grand Prix of 1956 De Portago finished 2nd sharing his car with Peter Collins, who retired with his own car, while Eugenio Castelloti finished 10th sharing his car with De Portago. You understand what I'm saying. Those were the days.........

 

Yep, those beautiful days.............

 

As mentioned recently, I am just finishing a detailed biography of Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca, Marquis de Portago, a gentleman who focussed the mundane media of the fifties due to his aristocratic craddle, endlees means, glamourous way of living and a natural, uncommon gift for the risky sports such as horse steeple chase, bobsleigh or motor racing during his short, lightning life. No wonder he still personifies the golden days of motor racing.
Will try to clarify a couple of doubts you mention
- During the qualifying laps previous to the BRDC Int. GP held at Silverstone, Fon's own #24 Ferrari -tipo 625 A/ 0540- singleseater, skidded at Copse Corner due to rain. Fon suffered head concusion and a broken leg so spnt the summer recovering and setting up the first-ever Spanish Bobsleigh team to compete at the Olympic Winter Games of 1956.
- During of 1956 British GP, Fon handed his SF D50 #4 to teammate P. Collins retired in the early stages of the race. Later on, Castellotti' front damaged D50 # 3 retired and Fon, sitting iddle on the SF pits, asked permision of race marshalls to resume the race with it. He eventually went into the track to stop soobn afterwards due likely to overheating. Typically Fon, parked exhausted horse# 3 just before to the finish line, had a couple of cigarettes and crossed the line pushing it just before the GP ended, in tenth position.
Images joined on thread show somewhat the sequence of facts.
As Collins arrived in second place with Fon's # 4 original car, he shared three of the six points obtained with him. Fon qualify officially twice i.e. second and tenth.

 

Thanks Manel for the detailed explanation. Received your Pegaso Z-102 book yesterday and I must say: very interesting history, though my spanish is not that good. Period photography is excellent as well, as is the coloured section in the rear. Just 1300 copies have been printed, right? It is a nice addition to the other Pegaso book I have by Carlos Mosquera. When is the Portago book released? May be an english version as well?

 

non racing

 

What was the purpose of that fairing behind the driver's head? Streamlining? That doesn't seem feasible because in nearly every photo of those old cars, the driver's head is entirely above top of the fairing. And most of those cars would seem to have been a certain death trap in the event of a rollover....driver's head a foot above the top of the fairing and the windshield. A helmet would seem to be little protection against the weight of a 2000 pound car pushing down on the driver's head.

 

I believe he was killed in the mid-fifties, in the Mille Miglia. How old was he?
Bob Z.

 

although the scholarship re: aerodynamics was only a fraction of what it is today, I think that engineers of the day had a rudimentary understanding of "dirty air" and that there would be a lot less buffeting of the driver's head with a nacelle behind the driver's head to remove the big low-pressure zone that would result absent the nacelle. As for the height of it, that would obviously have depended on the driver. I guess de Portago was a lot taller that Porfirio Rubirosa whose head barely poked over the nacelle.

I don't think that driver safety even entered into their thinking in 1957 - not even the basic concept of seat belts had shown up in these cars yet. The support for the nacelle is nothing more than some small-diameter steel tubes. Looking at the construction of the sports racers, you were probably better off being thrown from the car - better than getting a steering column through the chest or an engine in your lap. There was literally nothing between you and the motor excpet a sheet of aluminum. The formula cars were worse since they wrapped the driver w/ fuel tanks.

I remember reading a story about wiry little Masten Gregory and how he would put his foot up on the seat when he saw a shunt coming to spring himself out of the car.

 

I was interested in Manel's post about writing about de Portago. I am engaged in writing such a book at the moment for a UK publisher. Perhaps he would like to contact me.
Thanks
Ed McDonough

 

Manel or EdMcD, would you care to provide more information? I would be interested in having a copy of either one.