dearest classic f1blr wolfgang von trips enjoyers, do we know why wvt was nicknamed taffy? I've heard it was given by various drivers but I am yet to find a proper answer by Google? Thank you!!!
I've seen one thing say that it was Peter Collins gave him the nickname and another say that it was Mike Hawthorn so I'm not sure which of them it actually was, but the name was apparently given because they said he "looked like a taffy".
A "taffy" was another name for a Welshman, it's believed to be derived from the Welsh name Dafydd but could also be from the river Taff that goes through Cardiff, the Welsh capital. It's a name most commonly associated with a nursery rhyme that was basically written to mock the Welsh ("Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief" is the start, it dates back a few hundred years to when border raids where a thing) so not exactly a name liked by most Welshmen but considering the era, it would have been the name that young Englishmen thought of when it came to the Welsh.
So yeah, by calling him Taffy they were basically just saying that they thought he looked Welsh and honestly, I can sort of see where it came from.
