Driving with Dan

I have had many co-drivers in my career…John Fitch, Juan Fangio, Peter Collins, Harry Schell, Tony Brooks…but Dan Gurney was the best co-driver I ever had, along with Fangio. There was no question that he was a superb driver. I only did a very few races with him but have always rated him very highly.

It was only toward the end of my long involvement with Maserati that I actually did a race with Dan. I had started with Maserati in 1954, and had pretty much finished with them in the beginning of 1957 in Grand Prix races, though I did most of the sports car races that season with either the 200S, the 300S, or the 450S. In 1958 I did a few minor sports car races and the Race of the Two Worlds at Monza and thought that was pretty much the end of driving Masers. Although by 1959 the company was in serious financial trouble, Alfieri and Bertocchi were still coming up with some very interesting ideas. I was invited to go to Modena to test the amazing new Tipo 60 “Birdcage” with its complex spaceframe chassis and de Dion rear end. As soon as I drove it I knew it would be a superb car; the handling was good, the steering very light and the brakes were fantastic.