Birdcage at The Ring

I drove the Birdcage Maserati for Lucky Casner’s Camoradi Team on three occasions in 1960, beginning with the 1,000 kilometers of Buenos Aires where Masten Gregory and I led until the gearbox failed. At Sebring I was teamed with Stirling Moss and we had built up a substantial lead, but then with four hours to go, the rear end broke. That was a constant problem, so the factory worked hard to find a solution prior to the 1,000-kilometer race at the Nürburgring,

The Nürburgring in those days was a very challenging place, and dripping with historical significance that made it a huge challenge. During the race it was also dripping wet with water, but it wasn’t a downpour like you’d get in a monsoon—instead there was fog, so we had to deal with fog and mist. You had to penetrate the fog and make sure you could see where you were going, and that was yet another challenge. The quality of the pavement was consistent, although there were lots of really bumpy areas where you had to be right on your game and paying attention, big time. You had less-than-perfect vision and it was wet, but we had a car that was capable and that was doing very, very well under those conditions. Our Goodyear tires also helped.