Szisz drove the same Renault in the 1907 French Grand Prix, but by then it had been updated with fenders to protect the driver by deflecting the tar and other debris thrown up into his face by the front wheels the previous year. Still, he could manage only 2nd place behind winner Felice Nazzaro.
Heroes

Ferenc Szisz

Unlike those of Jim Clark, Mario Andretti and Michael Schumacher, not a name at the forefront of all our minds. Yet it was one that had been hovering about in my subconscious for years, though I never took the trouble to find out who the hell he was. Then Renault did it for me: to mark Fernando Alonso’s win in the 2006 Grand Prix of Canada driving their R26, the company issued Szisz’s report on his landmark victory in the world’s very first Grand Prix 100 years earlier.

The report is a must-have for every reader of Vintage Racecar, and I shall reproduce it here later, word for word.

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Steve Natale has been playing with cars ever since he was old enough to first hold a matchbox car in his hand. A lifelong enthusiast of anything old with an engine in it or wheels on it, Steve has been active in the hobby for over 35 years. Currently he owns a successful marketing company with his wife Mary, is an automotive photographer, blogger and writer for several automotive magazines and regular contributor to various automotive websites. Steve has attended vintage car events and visited car museums and collections around the world.
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