Argentina F1 Grand Prix - Vol. 1 - 1953

Authors: Cristián Bertschi & Estanislao Iacona
Date of publishing: January 2010
Publisher: whitefly
Pages: 150 softback pages
Photos: 100 black & white, duotone
Cover: Softback
Size: 8 by 5.5 in
Language: English / Spanish
www.whitefly.cc
ISBN 978-987-23378-1-0.
The book actually covers two races, the world championship round and a Formula Libre race two weeks later, both held on the brand new Autodromo in Buenos Aires, replacing various road circuits that had been used in the previous two decades in and around the capital city. President Peron decreed that there should be no entry fee (a typically populist gesture) so an estimated 300,000 people attended the Grand Prix and there were no proper barriers. The crowd came right to the edge of the circuit as can be seen in many photos in the book. Sadly people also tried to cross the road and this caused a severe accident involving Farina’s Ferrari in which several spectators were killed.
This book contains descriptions of the two races but is primarily a photographic record including pictures of the back markers like Gordinis and Cooper-Bristols which are not normally seen in magazine race reports. In the section on the Formula Libre race, there are photos of locally owned single seater Ferraris, Maseratis and Alfa Romeos that did not comply by that time with the F1 regulations – in fact Ferrari took a 1951 4.5 litre GP car for Ascari (which failed early on) and 2.5 litre engines to fit into the Tipo 500 GP cars as a test for the 1954 formula.