1956 Mille Miglia

Enzo Ferrari before or after the race with three of his participating Ferraris (0602M, 0606 and this years winner 0616)

Ferrari’s race plan was, on the first half of the race, Castellotti and Fangio would push hard in their faster cars, with Collins and Musso, saving their strength for the return leg, arriving fresh in Rome, then able to attack over the rough and winding mountain passes of Radicofani, Futa and Raticosa. Despite this plan Maserati of Taruffi took the lead between Ravenna and Forlì, but problems with wet brakes forced him to stop at Savignano sul Ruibcone. The Mercedes of Wolfgang von Trips took over the lead, ahead of Castellotti and the Mercedes of Fritz Reiss. The early race sensation were the two Osca drivers Giulio Cabianca and Umberto Maglioli that were laying in fifth and seventh in their little 1.2 litre 4-cylinder cars. But von Trips left the road in Pescara, while Moss did the same in Antrodoco. By Rome, Reiss would be the only threat to Ferrari, but he too was forced to slow down, eventually finishing tenth overall. Castellotti went on to win the event. In the fast mountain passes down to Pescara, the Osca drivers could keep up the pace and soon fell back the standings.[4][3]

However, the event was a terrible race with heavy rain throughout Italy which led to many crashes. In spite of the attempt by the organisers to make the event safer, there were still a number of fatal accidents, including one that resulted in the death of the Englishman, John Heath. He came off the wet road before Ravenna and overturned into a ditch. He died the next day from his injuries in a local hospital. Another fatality occurred in the small town of Montemarciano, when the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, driven by the German pairing of Helmut Busch and Wolfgang Piwco. At the time of the accident, Piwco was driving when the car hit a wall, killing he instantly, while Busch suffered only minor injuries, also one spectator injured. A third accident also claimed the life of Swiss navigator, Max Berney.[4][5][6]

When Castellotti arrived back in Brescia, he had more than a ten-minute advantage over Collins. With Musso in third, Fangio in fourth and Gendebien fifth competing a top five clean sweep for Ferrari. Maserati experienced a debacle with only Jean Behra making back to Brescia after making several repairs on his way to 20th overall. Behind the Ferrari, were three Mercedes of Paul von Metternich, Wolfgang Seidel and Jacques Pollet, in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Cabianca would eventually finish in ninth after a spirited drive. Reiss was plagued by engine problems late in the race, arrived in tenth. Castellotti reached Brescia at 17:25; 11 hours and 37 minutes after he left Brescia at 05:48, arriving a speed of 85.403 mph.[4][3][1][2]

Pos	Championship	Points
1	Ferrari	22
2	Maserati	10
3	Jaguar	4
4	Aston Martin	3
5	Porsche	1

• Note: Only the top five positions are included in this set of standings.

Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1. Manufacturers were only awarded points for their highest finishing car with no points awarded for positions filled by additional cars. Only the best 3 results out of the 5 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.

• Anthony Pritchard. The Mille Miglia: The World’s Greatest Road Race. J H Haynes & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1844251391
• Leonardo Acerbi. Mille Miglia Story 1927-1957. Giorgio Nada Editore. ISBN 978-8879115490