Racing on a wing and a prayer – cheap and cheerful days

The Editor in Chief is right: there should be more cheap and cheerful formulas in racing. I remember many years ago when I as a piston aboard his 500 and we had gone to do a hillclimb race - the Coppa del Nevegal, near Belluno. We’d done really badly in qualifying. I felt that a valve was giving me trouble and I let him know. He, naturally, enough was very concerned but he didn’t have a mechanic with him because he didn’t even enough money for a hotel. And so he had to ask for help.
At the time there was a very famous Alfa Romeo mechanic and prepper called Sivocci who felt sorry for us and came over to have a listen to what myself and the valve were up to. He thought about it for a minute and then said: “Don’t worry. You can race – just put a glass of Vaseline oil in the petrol first”. After we’d done that, we coughed out a bit of smoke, but the valve didn’t give us another moment’s trouble. And believe it or not, the day after, we actually won!