Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

1957 1000 km Buenos Aires

Circuit Costanera Norte
Buenos Aires 1000 km (1957)

The 1957 1000 km Buenos Aires took place on 20 January, on the Circuito de la Costanera Norte, (Buenos Aires, Argentina). It was the fourth running of the race, and once again, it was opening round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. For this event, was moved from its previous venue, the Autódromo Municipal-Avenida Paz, only to return to the Autódromo in 1958.

Report

Entry

A grand total of 30 racing cars were registered for this event, of which all 30 arrived for practice and 24 for qualifying for the race. Although this was the first major sports car race of the year, as in previous years, the race was poorly supported by the work of teams. Again, only Ferrari and Maserati sent cars from Europe. Both teams were represented by multiple cars in the race. Ferrari send two Ferrari 290 S and a single Ferrari 290 MM, but also loaned works driver to the Americans entered 290 MM of Scuderia Temple Buell during the meeting. Meanwhile, Officine Alfieri Maserati was represented a four different cars, across five entries. The remaining bulk of the field, were cars from South American teams.[1]

Unlike the previous 1000 km Buenos Aires races, the Automóvil Club Argentino decided the race should take place at a different venue, instead of the Autódromo Municipal-Avenida Paz. They choose the Circuito de la Costanera Norte, which used the wide service roads of the Aeroparque Jorge Newbery. The reason for the change was that need to move to a “safer” track.[2][3]

Qualifying

After a three-hour qualifying session held on the prior to the race, the local hero, Juan Manuel Fangio took pole position for Officine Alfieri Maserati, in their Maserati 450S.[4]

Race

Ferrari 290 MM Spider Scaglietti - similar to the car driven to victory by Gregory/Castellotti/Musso

The race was held over 98 laps of the 6.350 mile, Circuito de la Costanera Norte, giving a distance of 622.281 miles (1,001.462 km). in front of an estimated crowd of 100,000, it was the winner of the 1956 race, Stirling Moss, Fangio’s team-mate, who took an early lead from the entire fleet of Ferraris, piloted by Eugenio Castellotti, Peter Collins, Alfonso de Portago and Masten Gregory in the Temple Buell Ferrari. Jean Behra appears next in sixth. At the end of lap one, Castellotti pits with differential problems and loses more than seven minutes, and hands the car over to Luigi Musso. During the second lap, the Maserati 300S of Oscar Cabalén skidded off the track and into the crowd, causing numerous injuries.[5][6][7]

At the end of the third lap, Collins retired his Ferrari 290 S with dangerously low oil pressure, meanwhile, Moss was marching way at the head of field, now being followed by Gregory, de Portago and Behra. Lap after lap, Moss continued to pull away from the field. On lap 24, he set the fastest lap of the race, before handing the car over to Fangio, who drove at the same feverish pace, increasing their advantage and wreaking havoc among his followers. Lap 56, was the Ferrari of Musso abandon the race with an ignition fault, meanwhile a lap later, Fangio heads into the pits with insurmountable problems with the differential.[8]

Brought about by the numerous retirements and changes in the composition of the works Italian teams, as a result of the withdrawal of the Moss/Fangio Maserati, the Temple Buell Ferrari lead the Ferrari of de Portago/Collins and the Maserati of Behra/Carlos Menditéguy. This Maserati pairing are joined by Moss. Taking all conceivable risks, Moss is able to relive the second Ferrari, now being driven by Castellotti, of second place on lap 88. At every turn, Moss reduces the lead, but the partnership of Gregory/Castellotti/Musso hold to take the spoils, winning in a time of 6hrs 10:29.9 mins., averaging a speed of 100.775 mph. In second was the sole remaining Officine Alfieri Maserati of Behra/ Menditéguy/Moss, albeit 83.5 seconds drift. The podium was complete by the Scuderia Ferrari, of de Portago/Collins/Castellotti, who were a 66.2 seconds back.[9][10]

As a result of Fangio’s retirement, Moss and Menditéguy in car number 31, took an impressive victory,[11][12][13]

Official Classification

Class Winners are in Bold text.

Pos No Class Driver Entrant Chassis Laps Reason Out
1st 10 S+3.0 United States Masten Gregory
Italy Luigi Musso
Italy Eugenio Castellotti Scuderia Temple Buell Ferrari 290 MM Spider Scaglietti 6hr 10:29.9, 98
2nd 28 S3.0 France Jean Behra
United Kingdom Stirling Moss
Argentina Carlos Menditéguy Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati 300S 6hr 11:53.4, 98
3rd 8 S+3.0 Spain Alfonso de Portago
Italy Eugenio Castellotti
United Kingdom Peter Collins Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 290 MM 6hr 12:59.6, 98
4th 14 S+3.0 Argentina Roberto Mieres United Kingdom Ninian Sanderson Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type 95
DNF 38 S3.0 Brazil Celso Lara-Barberis Brazil Eugenio Martins Scuderia Madunina Brasil Ferrari 750 Monza 91 Engine
5th 16 S+3.0 Argentina Roberto Bonomi Italy Luigi Piotti Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati 350S 91
DNF 56 S2.0 Brazil Severino Silva Brazil Pinheiro Piris Scuderia Madunina Brasil Maserati A6GCS 90 Accident
6th 62 S1.5 Argentina Alejandro de Tomaso United States Isabel Haskell Automobili O.S.C.A. Osca S1500 88
7th 52 S2.0 Italy Piero Drogo Venezuela Julio Pola Madunina Venezuela Ferrari 500 TR 87
8th 68 S1.5 Guatemala Jaroslav Juhan Argentina Antonio von Döry Jaroslav Juhan Porsche 550 RS Carrera 86
9th 36 S3.0 Brazil Herminio Ferreira Filho Brazil Godofredo Vianna São Paulo Automovil Club Ferrari 750 Monza 85
10th 50 S3.0 Brazil Carlos Danvila Uruguay Omar Terra Orlando Terra Mercedes-Benz 300 SL 78
11th 48 S3.0 Argentina Nestor Salerno Argentina César Reyes Nestor Salerno Ferrari 212 Inter 74
12th 70 S1.5 West Germany Curt Delfosse Argentina Ernesto Tornquist Curt Delfosse Porsche 550 RS Carrera 71
DNF 64 S1.5 Venezuela Sergio Vivaldi Venezuela Lino Fayen Venezuela Sports Group Osca TN 1500 71 Engine
DNF 2 S+3.0 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati 450S 57 Gearbox
DNF 4 S+3.0 Italy Eugenio Castellotti West Germany Wolfgang von Trips Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 290 S 55 ignition
DNF 18 S3.0 Argentina Luis Milán Argentina Jorge Camaño Argentina Racing Ferrari 375 Plus 51 Gearbox
DNF 66 S1.5 Brazil Christian Heins Brazil Cyro Cayres Scuderia Madunina Brasil Porsche 550 RS 45 Gearbox
DNF 30 S3.0 United States Harry Schell Sweden Jo Bonnier Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati 300S 25 Clutch
DNF 58 S2.0 Argentina Enrique Arrieta Argentina Carlos Guimarey Argentina Racing Osca 2000S 14 Engine
DNF 6 S+3.0 United Kingdom Peter Collins United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 290 S 2 Oil pressure
DNF 54 S2.0 Argentina Oscar Camaño Argentina Miguel Jantus Argentina Racing Maserati A6G 1 Accident
DNF 34 S3.0 Argentina Oscar Cabalén Argentina Carlo Tomasi Scuderia Madunina Brasil Maserati 300S 1 Accident
DNS 32 S3.0 Italy Giorgio Scarlatti Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Officine Alfieri Maserati Maserati 250S Withdrawn
DNS 20 S+3.0 Argentina Carlos Najurieta Argentina César Rivero Argentina Racing Ferrari 375 MM Accident
DNS 12 S+3.0 United Kingdom Ron Flockhart Argentina Roberto Mieres Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar D-Type Accident
DNS 22 S+3.0 Argentina Clemar Bucci Argentina Oscar de Petris Argentina Racing Ferrari 375 MM Accident
DNS 40 S3.0 Argentina Alvaro Piano Argentina Franco Bruno Ferrari 625 TF
DNS 26 S+3.0 Argentina Carlos Bruno Argentina Angel Pinotti Argentina Racing Allard-Cadillac J2

[14][15]

Class Winners

Class Winners
Sports +3000 10 Ferrari 290 MM Spider Scaglietti Gregory / Castellotti / Musso
Sports 3000 28 Maserati 300S Behra / Menditéguy / Moss
Sports 2000 52 Ferrari 500 TR Drogo / Pola
Sports 1500 62 Osca S1500 de Tomaso / Haskell

[18]

Standings after the race

Pos Championship Points
1 Italy Ferrari 8
2 Italy Maserati 6
3 United Kingdom Jaguar 3
4 Italy Osca 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 4 results out of the 7 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.

References


World Sportscar Championship
Previous race:
1956 Swedish Grand Prix
1957 season Next race:
12 Hours of Sebring