1956 1000 km of Nürburgring

Their stars drivers, headed by the young Englishman, Stirling Moss, were in the 300Ss with a smaller 3.0 litre 6-cylinder engine, but it still produced 245 bhp.

On lap 11, after Behra had replaced Moss after the first pit stop, the rear transverse leaf spring of their 300S broke, forcing the Frenchman to the wheel of the second 300S.

On lap 26 of the 44 scheduled, Fangio was unhappy with his car’s handling, so he got his mechanics to check its suspension while refueling, losing about a minute in the process.

Sensing the threat to his victory, Fangio delayed handed the car over to Castellotti, as long as possible, in an attempt to stave off Moss’s assault.

However, the fate of the race was sealed, when the lap 40, the “Maestro” re-entered to pits for fuel, the 300S of Moss charged on towards an astounding victory.

Porsche snatched fourth place with Wolfgang von Trips/Umberto Maglioli, but their 550 RS finished almost 20 minutes adrift of the Maserati.

Moss’s pace was so quick that he lapped event he fifth placed Aston Martin DB3S of Peter Collins and Tony Brooks.

[4][5][6] To add to Fangio’s woes, Ferrari mechanics checked his after the race and found his 860 Monza did not actually problem with its suspension, as the quirky handling had simply been caused by the wrong tyre pressures.