1957 12 Hours of Sebring
For weeks leading up to the event, national newspapers and magazines who fed the public's interest by reporting on the international celebrities who would drive in it, like Marquis de Portago of Spain and Count Wolfgang von Trips of Germany.
Ferrari's Peter Collins, a representative from Maserati and the organiser, Alec Ulmann then met with the FIA to discuss this problem.
Of the several media stories circulating about this race was that Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company would challenge the European dominance by entering four Corvette sport cars.
Despite looking shabby, it was very fast and in the days prior to the event, other race drivers were constantly asking Chevy competition director, Zora Arkus-Duntov for a chance to drive one of the SS's.
[citation needed] The other story ahead of Sebring, was the defection of Fangio to Officine Alfieri Maserati from the Scuderia Ferrari.
Meanwhile, back at Maranello, the burden for winning for Ferrari at Sebring fell on the shoulders of Eugenio Castellotti, who partnered Fangio in 1956.
However, on 14 March, Castellotti was testing a Formula One Ferrari at the Aerautodromo di Modena when he was crashed heavily, dying instantly from his injuries.
It seemed that Gilberte Thirion and Nadège Ferrier, who were scheduled to drive an 845cc Renault Dauphine, were posing for the press, while only few photographers were seen elsewhere down the pit lane.
[citation needed] Because there were no qualifying sessions to set the grid, the starting positions were decided according to engine size with the 4.6 litre Corvette of John Fitch and Piero Taruffi in first place.
[2] Within the first 60 minutes, the new Corvette SS began to experience brake troubles and pitted to have these checked, while there also changed their tyres.
Behra moved into the lead, now ahead of Collins by over a minute at the two-hour mark, with Portago, Moss, and Gregory completing the top five.
[3] During the third hour tragedy struck, when Bob Goldich, driving an Arnolt Bolide, crashed at the Esses and flipped his car several times.
During his spell, Behra had broken the lap record several times, and at this point, had a fairly large lead over teammate Moss.
Word from the pit lane, was that persistent overheating problems led to the withdrawal, although the official classifications show the cause to be failed rear suspension.
Because of pit stops and driver changes Moss was now in second with Hawthorn dropping to third, Gregory fourth and Walt Hansgen now in fifth.
In typical Italian fashion there was a lot of yelling and hand gestures, meanwhile, the team manager went off to find a replacement seat.
The podium was completed by the Jaguar D-Type of Hawthorn, co-driven by Ivor Bueb, the English pairing salvaging some honour for the Coventry marque.
Hansgen and Russ Boss were fifth in a Cunningham Jaguar D-Type, Collins and Maurice Trintignant were sixth in the first of the factory Ferrari 315 S, Portago and Luigi Musso were seventh in the other factory Ferrari 315 S, Art Bunker and Charles Wallace were eighth in a Porsche 550 RS, Jean Pierre Kunstle and Ken Miles were ninth in another Porsche 550 RS.
It seems that the insulation that surrounded the exhaust pipes, which ran along the driver's side of the car, had worn away, leaving Fangio's lower body exposed to very, hot temperatures.
