[circuittaps]

Working on my Aintree starting grid from 1955 I have now come to this:

Team: Gould´s Garage (Bristol)
Driver: Horace Gould
Car: Maserati 250F #48

Well, I know Gould being one of the very last wealty gentlemen drivers was driving the ex-Bira Maserati 250F at two Grand Prix events that year, the Dutch and the British.

But what livery was this car sporting at Aintree? Unfortunately I can find no trace of anything. But what I can find is AUTOSPORT vol. 10 no. 25 covering the Dutch Grand Prix. I quote page 793: "Horace Gould, way back in 13th place with the blue and yellow "Bira" Maserati in which he.....".

So apparently Gould drove this car in the original Prince Bira livery in Holland, but what about Aintree one month later?

From 1955 I can find one single b/w photo of Gould driving a 250F #32, so this is from Zandvoort (and the bright colours clearly shows the famous "Bira" livery). But - keeping repeating myself - what about #48 at Aintree?

Gentlemen?

/Holger

NB! I am using a Penelope Pitlane RB28 as basis.

 

[tedm]

I think it was finished in dark blue...going by memory-sorry I have no more details!
TED....

 

[Rob J]

Holger: Can't offer you a photo but, according to one book, Gould just leased the Bira car for those two races, so he may well not have had it repainted.
It seems he wasn't vastly wealthy. Another book says that, when he bought a 250F from Maserati and raced it in 1956-58, he was "living a hand-to-mouth existence and scrounging parts from the factory to keep his machine on the grid". At least at Monaco in 1956, that car was still Italian red, so perhaps colour wasn't one of his priorities.
I wrote the above before reading Ted's post, which would be worth following up, but I'll post this anyway as background.
Rob J

 

[Rob J]

Perhaps of help on driver figure colours: At Monaco in 1956 Gould wore pale blue overalls and a black helmet with a peak and, it seems, both visor and goggles (or large dark-rimmed glasses). There's a wide brown band round the base of the helmet; the leather or fabric over the ears is pale brown or off-white and the chinstrap black.
This is from a colour pic in Formula 1 in Camera 1950-59, by Paul Parker. A great book.
Choose a broad driver figure. Gould was a heavily-built man, usually described as burly.
It was Parker's book that said Gould leased the Bira car. I've since seen an article by the usually well-informed Eion Young which said Gould bought it, and then sold it early in 1956 to Bruce Halford. However, that doesn't explain why Gould's third GP in 1955, the Italian, was in a 250F entered by Maserati.
At least all this is another example of why not to rely on a single source.
Rob J

 

[circuittaps]

Rob J - thanks a lot for your interesting input. You might be right questioning Horace Gould being a wealthy fellow. Richard Williams describes him and his companions as "living from race to race on starting money".
The descriptions of his stature and "working dress" are very interesting, and I shall try my very best to give him the right appearance. As said I have this single photo from Zandvoort taken 4 weeks before Aintree to model after. I think maybe the El Cabazon (Fat Head), Froilan Gonzales - also known as the Pampas Bull - figure from Scalex Ferrari 375 would be a good donor figure to start with?
I think Gould was an official Maserati works driver at Monza the same year. Maybe in trying to create an even bigger red army against the silver arrows on home ground? The more cars you kept running on the circuit, the more cars were available for your star drivers, if their own mounts broke down.

TED - dark blue? This is entirely new to me. But who knows? Have you any source(s) to back this up?

Keep it coming guys.

/Holger

 

[tedm]

It was a book I unfortunately no longer have. Sorry I can't remember any more....
Perhaps if you have a look at sites that sell 1/43rd static kits-they seem to make every car under the sun!
TED.....

 

[driver#8]

Holger, the Horace Gould 250F is now in the Bernie Ecclestone collection wearing 1957 bodywork and red paint. It was originally a works car in 1954. I'll try and find out what the original colour was.

 

[circuittaps]

Rob J - according to Anthony Pritchard Horace Gould was given a works drive on Monza in 1955 because he was planning to buy chassis 2514. Funny he should sell it again early 1956 to Bruce Halford?

TED - the diecast and static kit guys are always my first research sources. Unfortunately I could not manage to find anything concerning this subject.

Driver #8 - being a Dane the Queens English is not always easy for me. I am not searching for the original colour of the works Maserati in 1954 (probably red, I presume), but the colour of this particular Bira-Maser during the British Grand Prix on Aintree in the summer of 1955.

Here and now my best guess is light blue and yellow = original Prince Bira livery.

But please feel free to convince me otherwise......

/Holger
/Holger

 

[tedm]

Hmmm...have a look at Jade miniatures on the Grand Prix models website..
TED....

 

[circuittaps]

TED - BULLS EYE! Jade Miniature J4316F showing the Gould Maser #48 at Aintree being dark blue metallic(?). Case settled.

But what a phantastic site for research. Jade Miniatures were not known to me.

http://www.jademiniatures.com/voitures_jade_course.html

My next three project are the Moss Maser from Monaco, Great Britian and Italy in 1955. First two races it was driven by Lance Macklin and the last by John Fitch. Especially the last has given me a lot of headache and taken a lot of topic space here on SF. And now they are on this site, all three of them. Can this be true? I repeat = PHANTASTIC!

Thanks guys.

/Holger

 

[Rob J]

Glad you've now got a good source, Holger, and thanks to Ted for the pointer to the Jade site.
As you say, the Scalextric Gonzales figure is a good starting point for Gould. The short sleeves would be another little challenge for you.
In the photo of Gould on the waterfront at Monaco in 1956 he looks more relaxed than the Pampas Bull usually did, leaning back a little and not close to the steering wheel.
The 250F that Halford bought early in 1956 was definitely the ex-Bira car, chassis no 2509/04. Whether Gould leased or bought it from Bira's team in 1955 is not of great importance, but the fact that he was in a works car at Monza, in the process of buying a car from Maserati, suggests that he only leased the Bira car.
Any progress on the Arzani-Volpini?
Rob J

 

[circuittaps]

Rob J - I agree that the short sleeves will be a challange, but what isn´t? Relying on my photo of Gould from Zandvoort 1955 at least Gonzales and Goulds helmets seems semilar. But, again, you are right, his driving style seems more relaxed and leaned back than the Bull. Maybe it is all easier to take a more neutral driver figure and start from scratch?

Concerning my Arzani-Volpini I have - after having rejected a Maserati 250F (1957) and a Ferrari 555 Supersqualo (1955) - now come to the step, where I will try and use a Mercedes W196 (1954) as basic model....... Please before you call me a complete lunatic, consider this:

- the W196 has the - more or less - correct rear end with high head rest.
- the W196 has the long smooth front bonnet. Remember the big bulge on the right side for the inlet manifold first came on the 1955 version.
- the W196 has a relativ low oil cooler/air intake at the front, a bit more square than the AV, but that should be possible to fix.

But I admit - using a German car as basic for an Italian - that doesn´t sound healthy. But hell, I´ll give it a try.

/Holger

 

[Rob J]

Holger: The Gonzales figure still seems a good one, especially if you can modify or change the arms.
Penelope Pitlane does good resin driver figures, both full-length and chest-deep, with suitable helmets, but like others that I know of they're not as broad-shouldered.
On the Arzani-Volpini, I wouldn't have thought of the W196 myself. It has an almost rectangular cross-section, and I wonder if there'd be enough resin to reshape it into an Arzani-Volpini. I know the A-V looked quite broad in the head-on photo I sent you, but less so in the two other pics I've seen, and all show a very rounded bonnet.
I'd have thought there'd be less work and more chance of success with something like a short-nose Vanwall or perhaps a Lotus 16 (one with a rounded bonnet, not Scalex shape).
Still, you probably have one or more W196s and know the shells better than I do. It'll be interesting to see the finished car.
Rob J

 

[circuittaps]

Rob J - funny you should mention the Vanwall......

Yesterday (Sunday) I used almost the whole day experimenting with my A-V project. In my view the W196 has the more or less ideal rear end, where the front end is - as you mention - too rectangular.

The ideal front end would be a Vanwall or a Lotus 16 - again as you write.

The result is now, that I am trying to make a mutant out of at Betta & Classic W196 rear end and an Airfix Vanwall front end! Again I agree that a short nose Vanwall would be better, but where do I find such one? I know of none on the market.

If this fails I still have a Pattos W196 shell, which I hope to be that flexible, that I can force it into a more rounded, smooth bonnet.

Still plenty of work to do, Holger

 

[Rob J]

Holger: I thought there was a short-nose Vanwall shell somewhere, but maybe not. Can't find one now.
A standard one in resin could probably be shortened and generally reshaped more easily than the hard plastic Airfix, especially at the angular indentations beside and behind the front wheels. In resin the cockpit and rear end might also be modified with a power-tool and/or by hand.
But it's hard to know without an example to hand, seeing the thickness of the resin shell, etc, and of course I'm not doing the work. I wish you well.
The Pattos W196 is presumably a vac shell, and reshaping those is outside my experience.
Rob J

 

[circuittaps]

Rob J - the Airfix shell was what I had on hand on an icy Sunday. And together with a fibreglass Betta & Classic shell the result was = NO GO!

But Tony Condon has promised me to deliver Vanwall version 1955 resin shells just after New Year, so maybe I should order an extra and try to combine that with a David Sykes W196 resin shell I also have as spare. Resin vs. resin should work better than plastic vs. fibreglass.

I really don´t know. But give up, never!

Last hope is the mentioned Pattos W196, which as a clear vac shell is indeed very flexible and bend-able.

Don´t miss next episode.....

/Holger

NB! Maybe I should end here and start a brand new Arzani-Volpini Special topic?

 

[Rob J]

Holger: Yes, two resin shells sound a better idea than a fibreglass and hard plastic, if one resin doesn't work.
When I suggested a Vanwall, I was thinking of the 1956-58 cars with the high tail, like the Airfix model, the idea being that in resin it might be modified as a single shell. However, they do have those scalloped sides around the front wheels.
I wouldn't be game to "cut and stitch" but, if you are, the 1955 Vanwall front half is probably better, though the front half of other cars such as the 250F or a Connaught, perhaps even a 1958-59 Ferrari, would seem just as good.
I did think of switching back to your earlier thread on the Arzani-Volpini, but it's headed something like "Ferrari Squalo", so maybe you should start a new one, especially if you're able to post photos. Perhaps a combined one on your two 1955 grids. Just a thought.
Rob J

 

[circuittaps]

Rob J - actual I am trying to re-create three different starting grids from 1955. Monaco, Aintree and Monza. Unfortunately I am too stupid to figure out how to place photos on this media here.

But when Tony deliver his Vanwalls early next year I will start up a brand new topic called Arzani-Volpini Special.

In the meantime I will take a closer look at the front end of a Connaught B-Type resin shell from Penelope Pitlane, I have in my spare box, and compare it with the rear end of David´s W196 resin shell. Maybe I do not have to wait for Tony´s Vanwalls.....

/Holger

 

[circuittaps]

Guys - sorry to rip up in this topic again, but a new Horace Gould challange has arisen at the horizon.

We all agree on Horace Gould being an official Maserati driver at the Italian GP on Monza in 1955. So in my mind his car would be easy to build for my Monza grid. Plain red as the other five factory cars entered by Officine Alfieri Maserati - including the streamliner car driven by Jean Behra - then add #38 and voila = the Gould car.....

But no! On page 137 in MASERATI by Anthony Pritchard there is a b/w photo from this race showing Jean Behra (#36, Maserati 250F STR) leading Harry Schell (#42, Vanwall VW2), Horace Gould (#38, Maserati 250F) and a Gordini T16 (text says it is Jean Lucas #24, but either the photo is from the practice period or the driver of this T16 is either Hernando da Silva Ramos #22 or Jacques Pollet #26, since Jean Lucas drove the new Gordini T32 during the race. Race number can not be identified on the photo).

Back to the subject. On this very photo the Horace Gould car clearly shows a large, bright triangle down the red front bonnet. What now? What colour shall I suppose this triangle to be?

My first guess would be yellow, since for some reason Francisco Godia-Sales drove with a yellow front bonnet in some races during 1957, when he was a semi-works driver for Maserati. Maybe Gould was after all more a semi then a full works driver that day on Monza? But - as stated - this is simply a guess.

Anybody has some facts about this bright triangle?

/Holger

 

[Rob J]

Holger: Might the "bright triangle" on Gould's car at Monza in 1955 be green? Taking another look at the colour photo of him in his own 250F at Monaco in 1956, I realise there's a narrow green stripe along the top of the bonnet. It seems on the light side of mid-green, certainly not dark.
The 250F Gould drove at Monza was entered by Maserati, but that one-off drive was apparently tied in with him buying a car and it may have been what would later be called a "pay-drive".
Godia's yellow bonnet on a red Maserati in 1957 is no guide. Godia was Spanish, the Spanish racing colours were red and yellow, and in 1957 he was entering the 250F under his own name.

The 1955 Monza photo you describe was probably taken during practice, when Lucas did some laps in the #22 T16. He was the Gordini team manager and only "occasional" driver. He drove the T32 in the race because Robert Manzon was called away on "urgent business matters". Source: the Steve Small book I've quoted before.

You're building cars for three 1955 GP grids. What are you doing about car-driver combinations which appeared in more than one of the three? Race numbers differed at almost every GP.
Rob J