Ferrari sweep the board again

From: Motor Sport, June 1957
1957 Mille Miglia

The Ferrari team received notification of only the first three positions at the Ravenna control, so that they did not realise that their only rivals were already out. The reactions to this monopoly were interesting, for Wolfgang von Trips eased up, Peter Collins was shaken to have the German leading at the first control, so went much faster, and Piero Taruffi, as always, really got into his stride down the fast leg of the Adriatic coast. Olivier Gendebien could know nothing of what was going on behind him, and just drove as hard as the car could stand. By the time Pescara was reached Collins and Taruffi had overtaken von Trips, and before they turned inland they realised the Maserati menace existed no longer, for Ferraris were still in the first five places.

By Aquila the order was unchanged and the Ferraris were conducting a clean sweep in the order Collins, Taruffi, von Trips and Alfonso de Portago, with the Gran Turismo car of Gendebien ever in fifth place. Through Rome there was no change in the order and Collins seemed certain of victory. The average to Rome was 172.965kph, so that it did not seem as though the leader was easing up at all.

On the fast winding stretches to Siena Collins continued to increase his lead and by Florence he was nearly nine minutes ahead of Taruffi. However, over the Futa and Raticosa mountain passes the leading Ferrari began to make ominous noises from the back axle, and already Taruffi’s car was showing similar symptoms, the extra power of the 4.1-litre engine being too much for the transmission.

Away from the Bologna control went Collins and Louis Klemantaski, both keeping their fingers crossed for the grinding from the back end was getting worse, and though they drove light-footed along the stretch to Piacenza they never made that city, for at Parma the grinding became too much and they came to rest with a broken rear axle.

When Taruffi went through Cremona with von Trips in close company it was obvious that they were touring in to win, both hoping that they would not suffer the same fate as Collins, while de Portago was now a long way back. Gendebien was first home of the works cars and an easy winner of the Gran Turismo class, but he had to wait until the others arrived to know his position overall. Taruffi and von Trips arrived back at Brescia running almost side by side, so that after being in the lead at some point or another almost every year in the past, but never finishing, Taruffi had at last finished a Mille Miglia, as the outright winner.

After de Portago had gone through Cremona it was clear that he could not improve on Gendebien’s time, so the Gran Turismo car was third overall, and it was just a matter of getting to the finish, to be fourth. Alas, he never managed it for while travelling at 170mph a tyre was said to have burst and the car was hurled into a ditch, to rebound across the road and into the opposite ditch, both driver and passenger being killed. This lamentable accident was a sad blow and caused the Mille Miglia to end on an unhappy note.

De Portago had been a truly sporting motorist; one with enormous courage, an ample share of skill and ability; while his friend and navigator Edmond Nelson was a truly amateur sporting type who went in these events for the sheer fun of the thing and a love of danger and excitement. DSJ

This is an abridged version of Denis Jenkinson’s 1957 report. The full version is available for free on our website