1962 "Moss-Walker" Ferrari 156 For VRAA Proxy

[old23]

I fully intended to make a Ferrari 158 as my entry in the the VRAA for 2013/14, but inspiration steered me on an alternate course. Lately I've been on a bit of a Moss/Walker theme (Lotus 18/21 and Cooper T53 in recent proxies) and there was at least one more car to build in that vein: the "what if" Ferrari 156 that Moss was to drive in the 1962 F1 Championship until his career-ending accident in the pre-season Goodwood Glover Trophy race on April 24th of that year.

It is written in legend that Enzo Ferrari, after seeing his otherwise dominant 1961 World Championship winning cars humbled by Stirling in an underpowered privateer Lotus 18 at Monaco and the Nurburgring , had enticed Moss to drive one of his racers in the 1962 season. Moss had agreed, but only on the condition that the Ferrari would be entered and raced under the Scottish blue and white colours of the RRC Walker Racing Team. Alas, it was never to be as Moss was in a coma and clinging to life in a London hospital as the new season began, never to return to F1 competition. And even if he had, Stirling would surely have been disappointed (again!) with the competitiveness of the 1962 Ferrari. The factory V8 Climax-powered Lotus 25 and V8 BRM P578 would leave the V6 Ferrari in the dust that year.

Oh well, here is my "what if" RRC Walker team Ferrari 156 entry...

I started with a Scalextric shell. Conveniently, Pendle's sells the body and chassis "clamshell" sans running gear for a reasonable price so I didn't have to cannibalize one of my running examples.

The first step was to carefully remove all the detail bits and strip the paint. I then glued the top and bottom of the body/chassis together.



Next step was to cut out the bottom to make way for a scratchbuilt chassis.



In the past I have built several simple chassis linking BWA front and rear brass brackets with lengths of piano wire. This time I wanted to try to build in some offset between the motor shaft and rear axle centres in order to lower the centre of gravity. My first attempt had a conservative drop of about 1.5 mm.



Subsequent versions went a little more radical at 2.5 mm. Suspension detail was added by gluing thin piano wire bits to the chassis. I just don't have sufficient skills to solder these fine details in place. Some silver paint covers a lot of the clumsiness and ties the whole thing together visually.



The finished car has been sent off to compete in the new season of the VRAA Proxy, my sixth annual entry in this fine event.







I hope my entry is a little bit more competitive than the real life 1962 Ferrari 156!

Old23

[f143]

Lovely rendition of what could have been.
Regards
Nigel

[Dave Wisdom]

This really is a very nice impression of what no one got to see. It would have been fascinating to see how Moss and the 156 would have performed together and at least you've been able to provide us with a tantalising glimpse of just how it may have looked.

[abbo]

I wonder if the British team would have stuck with the wire wheels... I'm sure I read somewhere that was just ONE of the reasons the car lacked pace against the Brits?

[Mark Huber]

The wire wheels were certainly one of at a have dozen or more items that made the Ferrari 156 uncompetitive in 1962. Most of the other teams had the Coventry Climax V8s or BRM V8s so Ferrari had lost the edge in horsepower. In addition the British cars generally handled better than the Ferrari; that had also been true in 1961, but the Ferrari had a clear power advantage that year.

Of course Moss had proved over the years that he could win races with an inferior car. He may have been one of the best at that.

Stewart, you have finished that car beautifully. I note that Stirling has the same gaze as Seppi had in my Brabham last year.

[Aurora]

Beautiful finish, very nice! But the stance is what worries me. It looks low and fast...too fast! That chassis is really hugging the track. Maybe all the other competitors will catch a break and the gearbox will explode! ;D