> If you missed the Auto Show on last week's This American
> Life, you missed a
> good one! It's all good radio, but the last segment is a
> jewel. 11 minutes
> of Sterling Moss driving the Mercedes Benz he drove in the 1955 Mille
> Miglia! He is doing some laps at VIR as a publicity gig for
I finally heard this show on Northern Illinois Public Radio last night. The
Stirling Moss segment was great - what an excellent piece of radio
journalism! It also reminded me of a play that the BBC put on TV back in
the late 60s. It was set in Moss and Jenkinson's hotel room the night
before the race and was about the "run-through" that they did with Jenks' 15
ft long set of course notes, mentioned in the radio piece. In the play,
Moss and Jenks agreed that the car would be too noisy for them to hear each
other, so they developed a set of hand signals that Jenks could use to warn
Moss of what was up ahead, such as "Right hander, slippery surface, 3rd
gear". The play explored the personalities of the two men as they went
through this process, with Moss making Vroom-vroom noises, pretending to
drive the race and getting frustrated with Jenks, who was desparately trying
to convey information to Moss at an appropriate pace with a sign language
that they were inventing on the fly! The point of the play, I guess, was to
show the team effort that took place and that was necessary for the win,
even though Moss, as the driver, got the glory. What a great subject for a
play, and isn't it amazing that it stayed in mt mind all these years. Do
you think Fox would put on a play in prime time about the relationship
between Dale Earnhardt Jr and his crew chief, with no special effects, no
sexy women and no story line except how they won Daytona? I don't think so!
Any of our UK brethren remember this play, or am I the only one geeky enough
to do so? Jonmac?
Thanks for pointing us to this piece, Jim. It made my drive home last night
an especially fun one.
Michael J. Marr, P.E.
Naperville, IL
1960TR3A
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