Adenau, May 26th.
With a race of the nature of the 1,000-kilometres at Nurburgring the practice periods are more in the nature of proving and testing periods than practice as applied to a Grand Prix race. The Nurburgring, with its 22.81 kilometres of twists and turns, demands the utmost from drivers and cars, and a race over 1,000 kilometres requires careful attention to such things as suitability of car, pairing of drivers, tyre and fuel consumptions, pit work and general long-distance race tactics. In consequence there were two and a half days of training before the race, and though many people put great store on lap times recorded, they bore little or no relationship to the ultimate structure of the race. While a very fast lap showed the prowess of the driver and the performance of the car, it was continuous lap speeds that were of more interest to the team managers. With the race counting towards the Manufacturers' Championship and all the big works teams competing, it was rather a waste of time following the detailed movements of any particular team, for what happened in practice, in many cases, bore no resemblance to the activities or arrangements for the actual race.
On paper the race looked to be a walk-over for Maserati, with Fangio and Moss teamed together in one of the fabulous 4.5-litre V8 cars, and though there was opposition from Ferrari, Aston Martin, Jaguar and Porsche, none seemed likely to be able to challenge the Scuderia Maserati. During training Fangio twice recorded laps in 9 mm. 43 sec., a bare two seconds off the Formula 1 lap record, while Moss was content to lap around 9 min. 50 sec. The real eye-opener was the new Aston Martin DBR1/300 which Brooks took round in an effortless 9 min. 48 sec., a seemingly impossible speed for any Aston Martin, even the new one. Apart from Brooks' superb driving and uncanny natural ability, the new chassis seemed ideally suited to the Nurburgring and the 240 b.h.p. was just enough, so that it could be used all the time. In contrast, the big Maserati with its 400 b.h.p. meant that the drivers were being continually troubled with too much power for the circuit, especially on the twisty parts. The works Ferraris were also having this trouble, and it was found that most of their drivers were little slower in an experimental car fitted with a relatively woolly Gran Turismo engine.
