‘Thinking he might need a snifter after 12 hours at the wheel, his pit crew brought him in for a few glasses of Champagne’
Rob Walkerʼs passport gave his profession as ʻGentlemanʼ. Quite right. Charming, courteous and honourable, he was probably the last gentleman in Formula One. Certainly, he was its last successful private entrant. In todayʼs billion-dollar F1 circus you canʼt imagine someone buying a chassis and an engine for a few thousand quid, getting three or four people in a shed to put it together, turning up at a Grand Prix, and beating the works Ferraris and Maseratis to victory. This was in 1958, a different era; but the Walker Racing Team remained a force in F1 into the 1970s.
Rob came from Johnnie Walker whisky wealth. While still at Cambridge, he bought a magnificent Delahaye 135S and ran it in the 1939 Le Mans 24 Hours. After a leaking exhaust burned his co-driverʼs feet, he drove the majority of the race single-handed. Wearing goggles but no helmet, he started the race in a dark pinstripe suit, suitable wear for a gentleman on a Saturday afternoon. But one canʼt really wear a pinstripe on a Sunday morning, can one? So during a pitstop he changed into a Prince of Wales check.
At one stage he missed his braking point at Mulsanne Straight and went down the escape road, so his pit crew, thinking he might need a snifter after more than 12 hours at the wheel, brought him in for a few glasses of Champagne. He finished eighth.
After a brave war flying in the Fleet Air Arm, he promised his new wife heʼd stop risking his neck racing. Instead he offered his cars, always painted dark blue with a white stripe around the nose, to his friends to race. They included Tony Rolt, Peter Collins, Reg Parnell, Tony Brooks and Jack Brabham. Then Stirling Moss, impressed by the spotless preparation of Robʼs cars and the happy atmosphere in his little team, offered his services. He went on to win Grands Prix for Rob in Argentina, Portugal, Monaco (twice), the USA, Germany and Italy.
Theirs was a friendship based on mutual trust: they had no written contract, just a handshake. Pursued by every works team, Stirling refused to leave Rob; but Ferrari was determined to get him. In 1962 Enzo offered to supply his latest car for Moss, bowing to Robʼs insistence that it be painted blue with a white noseband. Stirlingʼs
