Ferrari 315 S Kidston Book

The Ex-Scuderia Ferrari/Piero Taruffi

1957 FERRARI Chassis no. 0684 Engine no. 0684

315 S

XXIV Cheered by spectators, Taruffi rounds a corner on an uphill stretch of the 1957 Mille Miglia.

Will this be the year he finally wins the race?

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LEFT: Make way! A pristine Ferrari is guided towards the famous starting ramp on the Viale Rebuffone in Brescia

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“H

is race was a masterpiece of driving, tactics and experience and everybody was particularly happy that fortune had finally smiled on Taruffi after disrespectfully turning her back on him so many times.

“He had already promised his wife, Isabella, that he would give up his sporting career if he won the Mille Miglia. He kept his word.” Count Giovanni ‘Johnny’ Lurani describes how ‘The Silver Fox’, veteran driver Piero Taruffi, finally won the Mille Miglia on his 14th attempt.

The last-ever Mille Miglia was more than just the end of the greatest and most beautiful road race, it was the conclusion of an era for a country so passionate about motor sport.

Italian greats Alfa Romeo and Lancia had withdrawn from top-line motor racing. With its thundering 450S, Maserati produced the fastest car of 1957 but, almost bankrupt, left motor racing for good at the close of it. The old pre-War warriors had mostly retired, and the country was still mourning the death of brilliant young star Eugenio Castellotti at the wheel of a Grand Prix Ferrari only weeks before

cars accelerated off the starting ramp in Brescia.

The word was out that the sport’s ruling body would outlaw 180mph unlimited capacity sports cars, even with the fullwidth screens made mandatory after the disaster at Le Mans in 1955.

Ferrari, the man and the company, had seen it all before. Mindful of the potential of the Maserati 450S, for 1957 his designers came up with the most potent machines the company had ever made. All had four-cam, six-carburettor, twin-spark engines with outputs unequalled for nearly another decade.

Four open sports cars from Maranello boasting a total of 1,560bhp arrived in Brescia mid-May 1957. They were joined by a ferociously fast 250 GT racing berlinetta: a portent of things to come.

After 998 miles of the hardest racing in sunshine and rain, one man was victorious and he was at the wheel of this motor car.

After so many near-misses, finally, 50-yearold Piero Taruffi won the Mille Miglia driving single-handedly for 10 hours 27 minutes, often reaching speeds in excess of 170mph.

The Mille Miglia was no more, and a legend became history.

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BELOW RIGHT: The start of the 1957 Le Mans 24 Hours. Ferrari 315 S ‘0684’ rockets away from Jean Behra’s works Maserati 450S and the eventual winner, Flockhart/Bueb’s D-type Jaguar #3

THE FOUR-CAM FERRARI SPORTS-RACING CARS OF 1957 Ferrari returned to its V12 roots in 1956 after a brief spell of four- and six-cylinder cars. Veteran engineer Vittorio Jano, gifted to the Scuderia with the Lancia D50 racing cars, created the Tipo 130 S engine for the 290 MM, a single-camshaft-per-bank 3,490cc V12 with three quadruple-choke Weber carburettors, producing 320bhp.

The 290 MM raced throughout 1956, Castellotti driving one solo to victory on the Mille Miglia, while the four-cylinder 860 Monza still proved an effective racing car and Maserati’s 300S – driven by Moss and Behra in particular – was a constant thorn in the side of the Scuderia. Future Mille Miglia winner Taruffi’s 300S was leading Castellotti’s Ferrari on the 1956 Mille Miglia when it retired after a minor accident caused by brake failure. Champions Hawthorn and Fangio favoured the big 860 Monza and it was this car, backing up the rocket-ship 290 MM, that gave Ferrari domination over archrival Maserati, which revealed the dramatic 450S in practice at the last round that year, the Swedish Grand Prix, a race won by Trintignant/Hill in a 290 MM.

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The experimental Maserati V8 sports car that ran at Kristianstad in late 1956 was a handful; Stirling Moss described it as “uncontrollable”. But the heavily revised car that set the pace in Buenos Aires in early 1957 was in another league. There, the Moss/Fangio 450S could reach 100mph from standstill in 11 seconds and then power on to a maximum of 181mph. With Maserati’s clever two-speed overdrive intended for the Mille Miglia, terminal velocity was increased to an easy 190mph for the flat-out straights that characterised some sections of the route.

For 1957, then, with the prospect of 400bhp Maserati 450Ss driven by Moss, Behra and Fangio, Ferrari needed to raise its game. The result was the exotic fourcam 290 S, 315 S and 335 S racing cars, carrying the most powerful and advanced V12s yet seen at Maranello, each unit a visual delight with 24 plug leads, four coils, six twin-throat Solex – clear evidence of Vittorio Jano’s Lancia influence – C40 P11 carburettors, four camshafts and two distributors. Young engineer Andrea Fraschetti, working under Jano’s direction, was a key member of the design team. He and Franco Rocchi developed the rugged

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The scene before 998 miles and 10 hours 27

Lampredi V12 into a highly advanced, powerful, yet reliable racing engine to take the fight to Maserati. As always, it was a unit constantly improved throughout the year in the white heat of competition.

This most exotic Tipo 140 engine was mated to a four-speed transaxle, installed in a robust Tipo 520 multitubular frame and clothed in typical racing spider bodywork by Scaglietti: wide (to accommodate the massive engine), low and utterly seductive. To meet the new Appendix C regulations, a full-width but minimum-height Perspex screen was fitted.

Ferrari, like Maserati, continued with substantial drum brakes and the cars ran on wide, alloy-rim Borrani spoked wheels.

The new four-cam Ferraris were ready to run in early 1957 in what was to become all-out war with Maserati, an arms race that continued throughout the year and resulted in all-new 3.0-litre regulations for 1958. The days of unlimited-capacity sports car racing were over until the Ferrari P3s, P4s and Ford GT40s of the mid-1960s.

THE 1957 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Despite (or perhaps due to) its searing pace, the new 450S retired with transmission failure in the Buenos Aires 1000km, the first round of the World Championship. Ferrari entered two new 3.5-litre 330bhp 290 Ss and a single two-cam 290 MM. After the four-cams experienced engine trouble, it was the

Gregory/de Portago 290 MM that took the chequered flag ahead of the relentlessly driven Maserati 300S of Moss, Behra and Menditeguy.

This was the only race for the 290 S as, for the next round at Sebring in March, Ferrari debuted the 315 S. With a capacity of 3,783cc (achieved by boring out to 76mm), the new motor produced 360bhp at 7,800rpm in an otherwise similar car.

The two 315 Ss were piloted by Collins/ Trintignant and de Portago/Musso, who were joined by Gregory/Brero and Hill/von Trips in 290 MMs. For once, Maserati made good on its pre-race promise and finished 1-2, Fangio/Behra in the 450S leading Moss/Schell in a 300S home. Third were Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb in a special semi-works 3.8-litre Jaguar D-type entered

by Briggs Cunningham. The Gregory/Brero 290 MM was fourth and the new 315 Ss finished a disappointing sixth and seventh.

Mid-May in Northern Italy meant only one event: the Mille Miglia. With the chance of it being the last-ever running of the dangerous race, and the threat posed by 1955 winners Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson in a Maserati 450S, Ferrari introduced its largest and most powerful four-cam yet – the Tipo 141 motor, bored and stroked to 4,023cc and now pushing out 390bhp. These new cars carried the name 335 S. Beating Moss on the road was the aim, and the prospect of besting his 97.98mph overall average from 1955 in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR was a very real one with such potent cars and skilled drivers.

minutes of the hardest driving: the famous Mille Miglia starting ramp

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The Ferrari team in Modena before setting

The Scuderia lined up as follows: 1. Race no. 531 de Portago/Nelson, Ferrari 335 S 2. Race no. 532 von Trips, Ferrari 315 S (with 4.0-litre engine) 3. Race no. 534 Collins/Klemantaski, Ferrari 335 S 4. Race no. 535 Taruffi, Ferrari 315 S (with 4.0-litre engine) 5. Race no. 417 Gendebien/Wascher, Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta The race entry was limited to ‘just’ 350 cars that year due to safety concerns.

Maserati’s challenge was halved on the eve of the event, when Jean Behra collided with a lorry in a late practice session; his car was ruined and the fiery Frenchman badly injured. Starting at 5.37am, Moss and Jenkinson lasted just 12km outside Brescia, when the brake pedal sheared while the brilliant driver was taking a corner at 145mph...

So it was likely that a Ferrari would take the chequered flag some 1,000 miles ahead, but which one?

At Siena, after 1,101km, Collins was in front and had so far beaten Moss’s 300 SLR average. At Bologna, after traversing the passes, he had a lead of 10 minutes over Taruffi, driving solo thanks to his intimate knowledge of the route. Von Trips was third. All the sports-racing Ferraris were suffering from transmission troubles and Collins retired at Parma, 227km from the end. All the while, Gendebien was thrashing the experimental 250 GT Berlinetta mercilessly, putting up times

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equal to or faster than the prototypes, particularly when rain came later that day.

At the finish, the artful ‘Silver Fox’ stroked his 315 S, chassis 0684 bearing race number 535, over the line three minutes ahead of von Trips, at an average speed of 94.86mph. Gendebien was an incredible third in the GT, only five minutes further behind. Disastrously, with the end almost in sight, de Portago and Nelson’s 335 S left the road at a speed approaching 175mph. The ensuing accident killed both and took the lives of nine spectators, including five children. It was the death knell of the Mille Miglia.

off for Brescia on the eve of the 1957 Mille Miglia. Gendebien leans on his ‘hot rod’ 250 GT Berlinetta, de Portago adjusts his camera, gaining the attention of Peter Collins – with hat, who drove with photographer Louis Klemantaski. Car 535, chassis 0684, is in the background. Taruffi, back to the camera in dark top, considers his chances

Tragedy notwithstanding, the teams regrouped two weeks later for the Nürburgring 1,000km. On the twisting Eifel circuit, Tony Brooks’ 3.0-litre Aston Martin DBR1 with disc brakes was uncatchable. The 335 S of Collins/ Gendebien finished second with Hawthorn/ Trintignant’s 315 S third. Stirling Moss, a master at the ’Ring, ended up driving three Maseratis, the 300S he shared with Horace Gould and ‘Paco’ Godia finishing fifth. Both 450Ss retired.

At Le Mans, Ferrari’s main opposition was the Jaguar D-type, a model that had won in 1955 and 1956. With a little more power (now 298bhp from a fuel-injected 3.8-litre motor on loan from Jaguar), superb aerodynamics and disc brakes, the British car more than made up for the disparity in outright bhp compared with the four-cam Ferraris, three of which were entered by Maranello. Two 335 S sports-racers went

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LEFT: The Ferrari team at Le Mans, June 1957.

Chassis 0684 wears race number 8 BELOW: The winning Ferrari 315 S powers past spectators in the final stages of the Mille Miglia

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to Hawthorn/Musso and Collins/Hill, while Englishman Stuart Lewis-Evans was paired with factory tester Martino Severi (some sources suggest Gendebien also drove the car) in the Mille Miglia-winning 315 S. The Scuderia backed the big guns up with a prototype 250 Testa Rossa for Gendebien and Trintignant. Maserati was in some disarray with an oddball 450S low-drag berlinetta by Zagato and an open car.

Neither lasted long in the race.

After the flag dropped, Hawthorn was searingly fast in his 335 S during the early hours of the race, setting a 200km/h+ lap record that lasted until 1962. He was timed at 289.55km/h (179.9mph) on the long straight. The car retired after five hours of this treatment. Collins also ran at a punishing pace – for one lap, before a cracked piston caused a misfire and retirement two laps later. The 250 TR was withdrawn at midnight after a strong showing in the top three, another works Ferrari that experienced piston problems.

The fourth factory car, though, was handled with great care and intelligence by its Anglo-Italian drivers, and 315 S chassis 0684 was skilfully brought home to finish fifth overall behind four D-types.

One championship event – later amended to two – remained on the 1957 calendar and the Scuderia decided to concentrate on its 335 Ss backed up by the new 250 Testa Rossa, thus gaining invaluable track time ahead of a tilt at the championship run to new regulations in 1958.

The Swedish GP for sports cars was held on 11 August. Before a final round in Venezuela was announced for 3 November, this was set to be the final race of the year, one in which Ferrari only needed a top five placing to secure the title. So the Scuderia was content with a second for Hill and Collins in a 335 S and fourth for the similar car of Hawthorn and Musso. Moss split his driving between a 450S and a 300S and finished first and third. The late addition of the Caracas GP meant the teams travelling to the difficult and dangerous South American road circuit at the end of the year would settle the championship.

With both of its 335 Ss now converted to ‘pontoon fenders’ to aid brake cooling, the Scuderia looked in good shape. Despite being in severe financial difficulties, Maserati entered four cars, including a 4.7-litre version of the 450S. All retired after accidents in the race and the company immediately withdrew from racing. The four-cam Ferraris ran like clockwork: Collins/Hill and Hawthorn/ Musso 1-2 in 335 Ss, von Trips/Seidel and Trintignant/Gendebien 3-4 in 250 Testa Rossa prototypes.

Ferrari won the 1957 World Championship, scoring 36 points against Maserati’s 25, Jaguar’s 17 and Aston Martin’s eight.

The 315 S was part of that legend, winning the ‘most beautiful race in the world’ for the last-ever time and finishing a fighting fifth over 24 hard-fought hours at Le Mans.

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LEFT: Wearing tinted goggles to protect his eyes from the sun, Taruffi checks into a time control en route to victory

PIERO TARUFFI ENGINEER, RACING DRIVER AND RACING MOTORCYCLIST RECORD BREAKER TEAM MANAGER CHAMPION SKIER AND ROWER

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nzo Ferrari accords Piero Taruffi the great honour of writing a preface to the racing driver’s 1962 autobiography, ‘Bandiera a Scacchi’ (‘Chequered Flag’). In it, il Commendatore pays tribute to Doctor Pompeo, the father of the last man ever to win the Mille Miglia, stating that Taruffi Snr “brought his boy up to be not only a sportsman, not only one of the leading drivers, but also a serious and creative engineer”.

Taruffi himself dedicates the book to his surgeon father, the giver of “adequate means and moral support to carry on the fight”. Above all, Piero Taruffi was a family man, dedicated to his nearest and dearest and most of all his wife, Isabella. Born on 12 October 1906, his was a comfortable Italian middle-class upbringing in Albano Laziale, some 16 miles from Rome. His father’s first car was a solid 50hp SPA, but it was only when the SPA made way for a rakish Martini, and then a Fiat 501S, that the family’s obsession with speed was satisfied A 17-year-old Piero Taruffi won his first ever event, the Rome-Viterbo reliability trial, in the Fiat and it was from these early beginnings that he demonstrated his analytical approach to motor racing. Even on his debut, he calculated that one corner could be taken without lifting. During practice for the Mille Miglia in later years, he worked out ‘key corners’ where, by adopting a different line from normal, perhaps using parts of the road normally occupied by parked cars or market stalls, the bend could be straightened

with safety at the very high speeds of which the racing Ferraris and Lancias were then capable.

His 1958 book ‘The Technique of Motor Racing’ is a masterclass in racing lines, slip angles and the science of competition driving.

It was in the world of two wheels, though, that Taruffi first found fame. Riding AJS 350s, Guzzi 500s and 250s, Norton 500s and Gilera 500s, he soon became a top-class rider with many wins and a fastest lap of 112mph in the 1931 Monza motorcycle Grand Prix. The latter feat brought him to the attention of Enzo Ferrari and the offer of a works-supported 8C 2300 sports car for a regularity event at Bolsano. The combination won, beating world-class driver Clemente Biondetti, another racing motorcyclist and future four-time Mille Miglia winner, in a Bugatti.

Taruffi was signed up for the Scuderia and drove Alfa Romeos for the next two years until falling out with Enzo Ferrari, ironically over the result in a motorcycle race: Taruffi and his Norton beat Ferrari’s favoured rider Aldrighetti on a Rudge by using the Roman’s usual method of ‘scientific’ cornering.

For the rest of the decade, Taruffi drove his own Maserati, Bugattis and occasional works-loaned Alfa Romeos in Grands Prix and sports car races, while also managing the Gilera motorcycle racing team.

He had a massive crash in the 350bhp Maserati V16 GP car at Tripoli that left him with injuries that were to trouble him into old age. He also tested an Auto Union at Monza, though the German team decided it did not need his services.

Taruffi’s first outing on the Mille Miglia was

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RIGHT: “But you’ve won, darling! You’ve won!”

Isabella Taruffi congratulates her husband on achieving his lifetime’s ambition. Newly appointed Ferrari team manager Romolo Tavoni (glasses) looks on

at the wheel of a Bugatti in 1930. It ended in retirement. Overall success eluded him during further attempts in 1932 (Alfa Romeo 8C 2300, retired), 1933 (Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza, 3rd overall), 1934 (Maserati, 5th overall, 1st in 1,100cc class) and 1938 (Fiat, 1st in 1,500cc class).

Motor racing resumed only a year after the war ended and that year Taruffi was invited to Turin

by Piero Dusio to be racing manager, technical consultant, tester and racing driver for his new company Cisitalia. It was a successful relationship and he won many races, including the Berne GP in 1948, but a win on the Mille Miglia evaded him despite entries in 1947 and 1948. As a guest in the all-conquering Alfa Romeo GP team, Taruffi finished 4th at the 1948 Italian Grand Prix, while still involved with Gilera. A one-off drive in a works Ferrari 166 MM at the Mille Miglia the following year resulted in another retirement – but this time when leading, eight minutes ahead of eventual winner Biondetti.

Taruffi’s official return to Maranello came in 1951, where he drove sports and Grand Prix cars until 1953. His most notable victory during this period was on the 1951 Carrera Panamericana in a Ferrari 212. It was a typical long-distance race at which he excelled, finishing 4th in an Alfa Romeo in 1950 and 11th in an Oldsmobile in 1952. Taruffi’s absence from the Scuderia at the 1951 and 1952 Mille Miglias might explain his departure for Lancia at the beginning of 1953. The cars from Turin were state-of-the-art but, although

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he finished second in Mexico in 1953, Taruffi’s spell with Lancia only really came good in 1954, when he won the Giro di Sicilia and Targa Florio outright. As for the Mille Miglia, it was the usual story: in 1953 his Lancia’s engine blew early in the race, in 1954 he led by five minutes at Rome but crashed overtaking a slower car.

Following Gianni Lancia’s decision to withdraw from racing at the end of 1954, Taruffi spent 1955 racing in Formula 1 for Mercedes (a 4th and a 2nd), while driving Ferrari sports cars for Maranello.

Another brilliant win on the Giro di Sicilia gave hope for the Mille Miglia, but transmission failure put the big six-cylinder car out when well-placed. Taruffi missed the tragic 1955 Le Mans 24 Hours due to illness. “Fate willed that I should not be there,” he later said. Another fall-out with Ferrari led to him joining Maserati for 1956, and it was only at this time that he left Gilera – the team so dominant it no longer needed his attentions.

Now approaching his fiftieth year, Taruffi was chosen for his prowess in sports cars, though he was entered by Maserati in the French Grand Prix that year and had a one-off drive for Vanwall at the1956 Italian Grand Prix. A win at the Nürburgring 1,000km was a highlight of 1956, but his Mille Miglia in a 300S lasted until Savignano near Bologna where, while in a good position, water in the drum brakes caused a small accident that broke the steering.

With thoughts of retirement, the veteran approached the new year in thoughtful mood, all

the more after finishing second in April 1957 in a damaged Maserati 300S to a brilliant Gendebien in a works Ferrari 250 GT ‘hot rod’ on the Giro di Sicilia. “Was I still young, over-young and ‘press-on’, or was I simply heedless?” he reflected on the small mistake that cost him the race.

Enzo Ferrari still had faith in the ‘Silver Fox’ and offered him a factory sports-racing car for the Mille Miglia. Taruffi repaid that confidence, making good on his promise to Isabella that he would retire should he win the famous event on his 14th attempt. It was his final race.

No longer racing, Taruffi devoted himself to record-breaking in his own Tarf twin-boom cars. He also managed the Camoradi Maserati ‘Birdcage’ team at the 1959 Nürburgring 1,000km and later spent much of his time coaching young drivers, considering just what makes a winning car and driver. The Technique of Motor Racing could have been penned by thinking champions of later generations such as Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost or Niki Lauda. He was a frequent contributor to motoring magazines.

Away from the circuits, the tremendously fit and competitive Taruffi was a world-class skier, tried a bobsleigh at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo and rowed in an Eight at national level.

Unlike most of his contemporaries, although he had his share of bad accidents and severe injuries, Piero Taruffi died peacefully, aged 81, on 12 January 1988.

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BELOW: 12 May 1957. Piero Taruffi and 315 S ‘0684’ scream past excited spectators over the last few kilometres to the finishing line in Brescia. On his 14th attempt, Taruffi finally won the Mille Miglia

12 May 1957: Piero Taruffi’s last and greatest-ever race “There is nothing impromptu about the Mille Miglia: it requires serious preparation of both man and machine.” – Piero Taruffi in his autobiography, Works Driver

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lthough Taruffi had little need of practice for an event he had entered 13 times and on roads he knew so well, his pre-race planning for the May 1957 Mille Miglia was meticulous.

Enzo Ferrari’s invitation to join the team came at short notice, following the 14 April Giro di Sicilia. It was a generous offer, as the relationship between the two had cooled since 1955 when a trivial dispute led to the racing driver joining Maserati for 1956.

Taruffi spent much time in Maranello before the race, speaking with Enzo Ferrari, the mechanics and the other drivers. And the Scuderia went out of its way to look after the returning Silver Fox: compartments in the doors of the 315 S to hold spare goggles and thirst-quenching sweets; the addition of an adjustable auxiliary windscreen that could be raised when travelling close behind another

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car; a bespoke seat with foam rubber to protect Taruffi’s heavily scarred leg, the legacy of the pre-War accident at Tripoli.

His wife Isabella was always at his side, and it was at this time he made the undertaking to stop motor racing should he win the Mille Miglia. The pair was inseparable and Isabella, with goggles and helmet, accompanied Taruffi in a spare 315 S for a complete circuit of the route two days before the race. They did this in two stages, starting at 4.00am each time with an overnight stop at Gualtieri’s famous albergo near the Raticosa where they ate veal cutlets alla fiorentina with Wolfgang von Trips. Taruffi never approached the powerful car’s 175mph maximum, but frequently cornered at over 100mph and it was on this reconnoitre that he found another ‘key’ corner to help him win the 1,000-mile race.

The day before scrutineering, the cars were driven over to Modena where they were photographed with the drivers: Collins with woolly bobble hat, de Portago in suede jacket, cine camera in hand. The team drove the cars to Brescia, Enzo Ferrari in the lead, the racing cars behind and the lorry with mechanics at the rear. Scrutineering was conducted in a teeming Piazza della Vittoria with thousands of keen fans eager to see and touch their heroes.

As was his routine, Taruffi would have kissed the Virgin of Guadalupe medallion

that Isabella always held out before a race, then started the engine, driving slowly onto the ramp in the Viale Rebuffone. At 5.35am – corresponding to his race number ‘535’, drawn by lots – he was the last factory Ferrari driver to leave Brescia. Of the serious opposition, only Moss in his Maserati departed later.

Although confident of his own abilities and the potential of the car, Taruffi remembered the transmission failures that had plagued previous Mille Miglias when driving for Ferrari.

He caught and passed von Trips (start number 532) after 390 miles, and before Pescara, but soon noticed heavy, ‘skittery’ tyre marks on the road. It could only be Collins driving to the max, some five minutes ahead according to the team at a fuel stop in Rome. The Englishman’s rough treatment of the car could well cause gearbox failure. Taruffi took heed, driving carefully and in higher gears than normal.

His own transaxle began to make noises on the home stretch before Bologna, when it started raining. Concerned about a seized transmission causing a high-speed crash on the wet roads, Taruffi considered retiring the car, but Enzo Ferrari told him at another halt that the rain was stopping some 20 miles further on.

So Taruffi continued, keeping under 130mph on all but the flat-out, level sections of the route.

With 60 miles to go, von Trips, lights ablaze, caught Taruffi and passed him, maintaining

a lead of some 200 yards. Approaching the esses at Piadena, 20 miles outside Cremona, Taruffi knew he had his chance. It was here that in practice he, with Isabella, spotted a ‘key’ corner. Taking a different line and without lifting at three-quarter throttle, Taruffi passed von Trips on the exit of the bend. Realising he was up against a better driver on the day, the German took heed of Taruffi’s hand signals to ease off and the two scarlet Ferraris reached the finishing line in Brescia together, car 535 first, car 532 second. Collins was out with a broken gearbox.

Once again on the crowded Viale Rebuffone, escorted by policemen, Isabella Taruffi struggled through the well-wishers. She greeted her husband, not fully aware of his victory, only relieved to have finished, with the words: “But you’ve won, darling! You’ve won!”

The day after the race, Taruffi travelled to Modena to see Enzo Ferrari. The purpose of the visit was not one of thanks or congratulation, simply to give his condolences for the tragedy that befell Alfonso de Portago, co-driver Ed Nelson and the Italian families caught up in their accident. Taruffi remembers just one sentence from the encounter, when Enzo Ferrari said: “Ingegnere, I beg of you to remember your promise to your wife.”

Taruffi honoured that vow, retiring from the sport with immediate effect.

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THIS MOTOR CAR

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ABOVE: Viva Taruffi! The veteran driver receives

encouragement from knowledgeable spectators as he drives ever onwards to victory

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Ferrari 315 S chassis 0684 was built for the 1957 Mille Miglia. Although prepared as a 3.8-litre 315 S, as was von Trips’ similar car, the official entry by Ferrari lists all four sports-prototypes as 4.0-litres.

Piero Taruffi drove ‘0684’ to victory in the Mille Miglia, having practised in 315 S ‘0656’, the Hawthorn/ Trintignant Nürburgring car. In the race, ‘0684’ bore start number 535 and temporary cardboard Bologna licence plate BO 81071. Following de Portago’s fatal accident, the race winner and the other surviving works sports-racing cars were temporarily impounded by the Italian authorities but released in time for Le Mans.

On 2 June 1957, the car was inspected in Modena by ACI/CSAI engineer Vittorio Fano to confirm its eligibility for the French 24-hour race. A copy of the Fiche de Cylindrée prepared by Fano on behalf of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, organiser of the long-distance classic, states the capacity of chassis 0684 as 3783.40cc, also confirming its engine number as 0684.

In the race, chassis 0684 finished fifth overall driven by Lewis-Evans/Severi.

On 7 September 1957, Ferrari finally completed a build sheet for ‘0684’ prior to its sale to the United States, noting its 3.8-litre capacity. Chinetti Motors sold ‘0684’ to William ‘Gene’ Greenspun of New York City, who paid $32,000. He had previously owned a 250 MM Vignale Spider.

Greenspun immediately entered probably the best American driver of the day,

Phil Hill, in the car for the 8 September 1957 Road America 500 at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Hill beat the country’s secondranking driver Carroll Shelby in John Edgar’s Maserati 300S by 2min 44sec to take the winning flag.

Greenspun himself drove the big Ferrari a few more times, including outings at the December 1957 Bahamas Speed Week, before selling it back to Chinetti in January 1958. Edward Gelder of Bridgeport, Ohio, became the next owner, paying Chinetti $12,000 for something the New York Ferrari distributor described as “too much a powerful car” for Greenspun to drive.

In Gelder’s hands, ‘0684’ was placed in some low-key SCCA events and made the trip to Nassau again in December 1960.

By then, the Ohio man was interested in selling, advertising it for $8,500 but finally settling on an offer of $3,500 on 7 August 1964 from his long-term mechanic Al Allin, who owned the car until April 1980. In a letter addressed to potential suitors for the powerful Ferrari dated 4 May 1979, Allin, of Grand Haven, Michigan, confirmed: “Yes, I will part with the machine for an arrangement that suits me.”

“Yes, I will consider certain trades in p/x.”

“The above questions will be discussed by phone or in person only.”

He goes on to relate that on purchase, he dismantled the car with the intention of racing it in 1965. This never happened, so all parts including the body, now stripped of paint but still mounted on the chassis, were carefully put into storage. The letter

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LEFT: The Phil Hill 315 S in for a pit-stop during the

confirms ‘0684’ “has never suffered any damage. The suspension has never been damaged. There were no makeshift repairs on parts excepting the pistons and the brake drum liners.”

Allin then notes: “The body has not been modified and is the only 315/335 S with the original body shape as first constructed in 1957… the fuel tank and oil tank are perfect… the radiator and twin oil cooler radiators are as new. The disassembled parts were, and still are, all carefully packaged and oiled for storage.

The chassis is clean and covered. All parts and the chassis/body have always been stored in a heated, dry and sheltered area.”

In short, it was a time-warp factory-run Ferrari sports car from the 1950s, one of only a handful not crashed or modified in no-holds-barred West Coast racing. On 17 April 1980, ‘0684’ passed to Darryl G Greenmayer of Reno, Nevada, who kept it for four years before selling it to legendary Ferrari connoisseur Albert Obrist of Gstaad, Switzerland, whose collection numbered the greatest Ferraris ever built.

In Obrist’s care, from 1985 to 1986, ‘0684’ was carefully restored by Carrozzeria Fantuzzi of Modena, Italy.

Upon the disposal of the Obrist collection in the early 1990s, the Mille Miglia winner passed with many other of Obrist’s superlative Ferraris to Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. Two years later, the current North American owner bought ‘0684’ from Ecclestone. It joined one of the world’s finest car collections.

During his ownership, ‘0684’ was again

1957 Road America 500 at Elkhart Lake. The future World Champion would go on to win by 2min 44sec from Carroll Shelby in the John Edgar – who took the photo – Maserati 300S BELOW: Gene Greenspun in ‘0684’ sits on the front of the grid at Bridgehampton during an SCCA National race in September 1957

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BELOW: The best of the best. Ferrari 315 S lines up with other superlative classics in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace in 2014 RIGHT: Crossing the famous ramp at Pebble Beach in 2017. Chassis 0684 won its class and was runner-up

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for Best of Show

prepared in 2001-2002 to its May 1957 configuration, including iconic race number 535. On completion, an entry at Pebble Beach in August 2002 won it First in Class.

It has since been exhibited at Ferrari’s 60th at Maranello, where it again won its class. At Pebble Beach in 2017, yet again it won its class and was runner-up for Best of Show.

Of the four cars raced by the Scuderia with 3.8-litre 315 S engines, chassis 0684 is the most successful and most original. To summarise: 1. Chassis 0646. Originally a 290 MM raced in Buenos Aires 1956, re-engined as a 315 S for Sebring 1957. In May 1957, re-engined as a 335 S for de Portago/Nelson on the Mille Miglia. Fatal accident and car destroyed.

2. Chassis 0656. Originally a 290 S at Buenos Aires in January 1957, upgraded to 315 S for the May Nürburgring race and later repaired by the factory with pontoon fenders when raced in the US. Currently carrying a correct 315 S reproduction body from a 1980s restoration. 2021: in Switzerland.

3. Chassis 0674. Originally 1956 290 MM chassis 0626, renumbered 0674 and re-engined as a 315 S for Sebring 1957, subsequently running as a 4.0-litre on the

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Mille Miglia. In June 1957, reconfigured as a 335 S for Hawthorn/Musso at Le Mans.

Converted to pontoon fender bodywork by the factory for the Venezuela GP in 1957, later converted back to original Scaglietti 335 S configuration. 2021: in the USA. 4. Chassis 0684. Built new as a 315 S, raced by the factory once as a 4.0-litre, once as a 3.8-litre, and then briefly in the US without modification before long-term storage and careful restoration in the modern era. This motor car.

Of the racing cars only ever existing as 335 Ss, ‘0700’, the Collins/Klemantaski Mille Miglia entry, was a pontoon car at Caracas in November 1957, then returned to Mille Miglia 1957 specification during its 1990s restoration. Chassis 0764 was sold new post-season to the US with pontoon bodywork and never raced by the factory.

The cars are in long-term ownership in the USA and Europe, respectively.

Immensely powerful, with seductive and aggressive competition bodywork by Sergio Scaglietti, Ferrari 315 S ‘0684’, the car that won the last-ever Mille Miglia, remains one of the most significant and exciting Ferraris in existence.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All text: Steve Wakefield Contemporary photos: Evan Klein Period photos: Farabola, Getty, Klementaski, Keystone, Quattroroute Archive, Revs Design: Julian Balme at Vegas Design © Kidston SA 2021. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of this information, Kidston SA cannot guarantee it.

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