Good Old Valves

1959 Portuguese Grand Prix, at Monsanto.

Portugal was once a synonym for fast, full on racing pedigree as far as Formula 1 is concerned, up until we lost the great street circuits both in Lisbon and Oporto — and then Estoril. It’s like the country dumped F1 for good.

So today it is quite endearing for us to watch clips like these, which remind us of what we once had and how a country, in serious need of development back in the days, stopped to a halt just to get a glimpse of what it felt like to live life really really fast.

This event was won by Stirling Moss (Cooper/Climax) with our own portuguese pilot Mário Araújo Cabral coming in 10th (Cooper/Maserati).