1956 12 Hours of Sebring

The 1956 Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance powered by Amoco took place on 24 March, on the Sebring International Raceway, (Florida, USA). It was the second round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. For the sixth running of the event, was a sign to many in the automotive community that this race had become North America’s premier sports car race, and from an international standpoint second only to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

However, this race came just eight months after the disaster at Le Mans. The United States was not immune to the fallout following that race, and the American Automobile Association decide to withdraw from all participation in motor sport. This left the promoters with no international recognition for the race, and therefore no FIA approval. It was very simple; no FIA approval, no international race.^[1]

Alec Ullmann, one of those promoters, and founder of Sebring, approached the Sports Car Club of America, but could not maintain its amateur status, if it supported the race. Ullmann did however obtain “special permission” from the FIA to allow him organise the event himself, through his Automobile Racing Club of Florida, and issued the international licenses.^[2]

Report

Entry

A massive total of 74 racing cars were registered for this event, of which 69 arrived for practice. Only 59 qualified for the race. Adding to the build-up to the event, was the announcement that five European factory teams were planning to race in Florida. Those teams were Aston Martin, Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati and Porsche.^[3]^[4]

With Ferrari determine to recapture the manufacturer’s championship they lost Mercedes-Benz in 1955, Scuderia Ferrari was making its first factory appearance at Sebring. Accompanying the pair of 860 Monzas and a 857 S, were some of the best drivers in the world. They included the reigning World Champion, Juan Manuel Fangio, Eugenio Castellotti, Luigi Musso, Harry Schell, Alfonso de Portago and Olivier Gendebien.^[5]^[6]

Mike Hawthorn returned after winning in 1955, driving a factory Jaguar D-Type along with Desmond Titterington, Duncan Hamilton, Ivor Bueb, Bill Spear. Hawthorn’s entrant from the previous year, Briggs Cunningham was now with the factory outfit, as was Indianapolis 500 winner, Bob Sweikert. A total of nine D-Types would start the race. The other English factory team, Aston Martin was led by Stirling Moss. He had won the opening race of the season, 1000km Buenos Aires for Maserati, but due to race for Aston Martin in Florida, partnership by Peter Collins, whom himself had switched from Ferrari. Their team-mates were Texan Carroll Shelby, Roy Salvadori, Tony Brooks and Reg Parnell with John Wyer managing the team.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Maserati was represented by a pair of 300Ss in the hands Jean Behra and Piero Taruffi driving one car while Carlos Menditéguy and Cesare Perdisa drove the other. Porsche send two of their Porsche 550 Spyder for Hans Herrmann and Wolfgang von Trips in one, and Ed Crawford and Herbert Linge in the other. In a private 550 Spyder, entered by John Edgar Enterprises were Jack McAfee and Pete Lovely.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Taking note of the press interest surrounding the race, General Motors dispatched John Fitch to Florida, in February 1956, in order to get a team of Chevrolet Corvettes sorted out for the 12-hour race. Much to Fitch’s dismay the factory prepared ‘race-cars’ were totally unsuitable for the rough Sebring airport course.^[13]

Qualifying

Because they were no qualifying sessions to set the grid, the starting positions were decided according to engine size with the 5.2 litre Corvette of John Fitch and Walt Hansgen in first place. Next was the 5.0 litre Ferrari 375 Plus of Troy Ruttman and Howard Hively. In third place should have been the 4.4 litre Ferrari 121 LM of Jim Kimberly and Ed Linken, however during practice, the car had more than once thrown a flywheel, so Kimberly withdraw the car. Scuderia Ferrari allowed Kimberly to drive with Alfonso de Portago in their 857 Monza. Next in line were three Corvettes with their 4.3 litre engines, and then came eight 3.4 litre Jaguars.^[14]

Race

The race was held over 12 hours on the 5.2 miles Sebring International Raceway. An estimated 47,000 spectators showed on a warm and dry raceday. With the race starting promptly at 10am.^[15]

As his car was effective on pole position, Fitch’s Corvette was the first car to cross the start line, but before he travelled 300 yards down to the first corner, he was passed by the fuel injected Jaguar D-Type of Mike Hawthorn. This, despite starting down in eighth. To some observes, Stirling Moss was the first to drive away from the gird, but as he started down in 26th he had his work cut out. At the end of the first lap, he was running second to Hawthorn by ten seconds. Juan Manuel Fangio was further six seconds adrift. Carroll Shelby was fourth another twelve seconds down the road. The dubious distinction of being the first retirement of the race went to the factory Corvette of Dale Duncan when the axle broke after just three laps.^[16]^[17]

After 60 minutes, Hawthorn’s D-Type still held the lead followed by Moss in his Aston Martin, Fangio and Musso in their Ferrari, Hamilton in another D-Type. As it would transpire, a close battle between the factory entered D-Types and the 860 Monzas, would ensue for almost eight hours, with the lead changing nine times, as a leader would pit and almost immediately give up it to a competitor and then regain the lead when that car had to pit.^[18]

Just after the start of the third hour, the Maserati 300S of Menditéguy, hit hay bales in the Esses and flipped. As a result, he suffered serious injuries with skull fractures and deep lacerations in the face and arm. After a short delay while he laid bleeding trackside, Menditéguy was rushed to the American Red Cross mobile hospital. There, they stabilized him before transferring him to the Weems Hospital in Sebring. Meanwhile, he co-driver would transfer to the Behra/Taruffi 300S.^[19]^[20]

Around this time, Moss pitted and expressed his doubts that his car could last the distance. The mechanics did what they could and sent Collins out for his stint. Already the hot Florida day, the punishing pace and the rough Sebring track had taken their toll with seventeen cars having to be retired. At the head of the field, Hawthorn was leading from Behra, Fangio took up third, Collins fourth, with de Portago moving into fifth. For the next couple of hours, the lead changed several times between these drivers, with Shelby competing for a spot in the top five.^[21]

The D-Type of Hamilton/Bueb suffered an exploded brake cylinder and retired, around the fifth hour mark, while the Aston Martin of Moss/Collins was parked out on course with a terminal gearbox problem.^[22]

At the half-way point, the Hawthorn/Titteringham Jaguar was now back in the lead, when Fangio/Castellotti pitted. By now, more than a third of the field had retired. An hour later, Hawthorn was still leading, from Fangio, Musso, Spear and Portago, although Portago’s Ferrari, with Kimberly driving, swallowed a valve and became the first Scuderia Ferrari to retire. A valve problem also took the D-Type of Spear and Sherwood Johnston out of the race. For the next four hours, the top three positions frequently changed between the Hawthorn/Titteringham Jaguar, the Fangio/Castellotti Ferrari and the Musso/Schell Ferrari.^[23]

Finally the pace was too much for the Hawthorn /Titterington Jaguar and it retired on lap 162 with just over ninety minutes to go in the race. Their D-Type had either led or was in second place for most of the race until the very last pit stop. When Hawthorn pulled into the pits for the last time the brakes were useless. They had locked up on him going into one of the turns and then stopped working. It seems that a brake piston gave way and he lost all brake fluid. The Jaguar mechanics worked on the car for more than fifteen minutes but by then it was too late. Having lost too many laps to the Ferrari of Fangio and Castellotti, they withdrew the car.^[24]^[25]

A Ferrari 860 Monza, similar to the race winning car of Fangio & Castellotti, in the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum , Sinsheim, Germany

Castellotti began driving at a slower pace now that the Jaguar challenge was gone. He was determined that the car would finish, and started to lap slower than most of the remaining cars left in the race. However, he made sure not to slow down enough to give his team-mates Musso and Schell any chance of catching him. At 10pm, and after 12 hours of racing, Castellotti took the chequered flag, with his 860 Monza completing 194 laps, and a record distance of 1,008.8 miles, averaging a speed of 84.07 mph. This was the first time the thousand mile mark has been arching at the 12 Hours of Sebring.^[26]^[27]

Coming home in second was the Scuderia Ferrari 860 Monza of Musso and Schell, having completed 192 laps. On their first trip to Sebring, Maranello scored the first one-two sweep ever by a manufacturer. The podium was complete by the Jaguar D-Type of Sweikert, co-driven by Jack Ensley, the American pairing salvaging some honour for the English marque. In fourth, and also a class winner was the Aston Martin of Salvadori and Shelby. Only 24 of the original 59 starters were there at the finish.^[28]^[29]

Official Classification

Class Winners are in Bold text.

Pos	No	Class	Driver		Entrant	Chassis	Laps	Reason Out
1st	17	S5.0	Juan Manuel Fangio	Eugenio Castellotti	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 860 Monza	12hr 00:31.198, 194
2nd	18	S5.0	Luigi Musso	Harry Schell	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 860 Monza	192
3rd	14	S5.0	Bob Sweikert	Jack Ensley	Jack Ensley	Jaguar D-Type	188
4th	27	S3.0	Roy Salvadori	Carroll Shelby	David Brown & Sons, Ltd.	Aston Martin DB3S	187
5th	24	S3.0	Jean Behra Cesare Perdisa	Piero Taruffi	Officine Alfieri Maserati S.p.a.	Maserati 300S	186
6th	41	S1.5	Hans Herrmann	Wolfgang von Trips	Porsche K.G.	Porsche 500 Spyder	182
7th	43	S1.5	Jack McAfee	Pete Lovely	John Edgar Enterprises	Porsche 550 Spyder	179
8th	16	S5.0	Alfonso Gomez-Mena	Santiago González	Alfonso Mena	Jaguar D-Type	176
9th	1	S8.0	John Fitch	Walt Hansgen	Raceway Enterprises	Chevrolet Corvette Special	176
10th	33	S2.0	Porfirio Rubirosa	Jim Pauley	Porfirio Rubirosa	Ferrari 500 Mondial	172
DNF	28	S3.0	Reg Parnell	Tony Brooks	David Brown & Sons, Ltd.	Aston Martin DB3S	169	Engine
11th	31	S3.0	Phil Stiles	George Huntoon	Ship & Shores Motors	Austin-Healey 100 S	168
12th	11	S5.0	Briggs Cunningham	John Gordon Bennett	B. S. Cunningham	Jaguar D-Type	168
13th	39	S2.0	Bob Ballenger	Phil Stewart	S. H. Arnolt	Arnolt -Bristol Bolide	158
DNF	8	S5.0	Mike Hawthorn	Desmond Titterington	Jaguar of New York Distributors Inc.	Jaguar D-Type	162	Brakes
14th	66	S1.5	Mike Marshall Huschke von Hanstein	Jan Brundage	Porsche KG	Porsche 550	158
15th	6	S5.0	Max Goldman	Ray Crawford	Raceway Enterprises	Chevrolet Corvette C1	157
16th	58	S750	Paul Armagnac	Guillaume Mercader	Automobiles D.B.	D.B. – Panhard HBR 5	155
17th	40	S2.0	Jim Peterson	Ted Boynton	S. H. Arnolt	Arnolt-Bristol Bolide	154
18th	37	S2.0	Joseph Hap Dressel	William F. Woodbury	J. H. Dressel	AC Ace	154
19th	50	S1.5	William Kinchloe	Stephen Spilter	Hambro Automotive Company	MGA	151
20th	49	S1.5	David Ash John van Driel	Gus Ehrman	Hambro Automotive Company	MGA	151
21st	55	S1.1	Leech Cracraft	Red Bryon	Cooper Car Co.	Cooper-Climax T39	147
22nd	38	S1.5	Fred Allen	Sid W. Blackman	Hambro Automotive Company	MGA	139
DNF	19	S5.0	Jim Kimberly	Alfonso de Portago	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 857 S	137	Valve
23rd	3	S5.0	Don Davis	Robert Gatz	Carl Beuhler III	Chevrolet Corvette C1	136
DNF	67	S2.0	Jack Ryan		John Ryan	Arnolt -Bristol Bolide	108	Out of fuel
DNF	22	S3.0	Chester Flynn	George Reed	Chester Flynn	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL	126	Camshaft
DNF	10	S5.0	Bill Spear	Sherwood Johnston	Jaguar of New York Distributors Inc.	Jaguar D-Type	127	Value
DNF	12	S5.0	Jake Kaplan	Russ Boss	Jake Kaplan	Jaguar D-Type	120	Brakes
DNF	56	S1.1	Ed Hugus	John Bentley	Cooper Car Co.	Cooper-Climax T39	117	Flat battery
DNF	29	S3.0	Lance Macklin	Archie Scott Brown	Donlad Healey Motors Co. Ltd.	Austin-Healey 100 S	110	Starter
DNF	42	S1.5	Ed Crawford Huschke von Hanstein	Herbert Linge	Porsche K.G.	Porsche 500 Spyder	108	Wheel
24th	54	S1.1	M. R. J. Wyllie	Margaret Wyllie	Dr. M. R. J. Wyllie	Lotus-Climax Mark IX	99
DNF	30	S3.0	Roy Jackson-Moore	Elliot Forbes-Robinson	Donald Healey Motor Co. Ltd.	Austin-Healey 100 S	90	Engine
DNF	35	S2.0	Mike Rothschild	George Hunt	Morgan Motors	Morgan-Triumph Plus 4	87	Steering
DNF	32	S3.0	Gene Greenspan	Bruce Kessler	William Greenspan	Ferrari 250 MM	82	Engine
DNF	47	S1.5	Bobby Burns	Norman Scott	Allen Guiberson	Maserati 150S	77	Gearbox
DNF	38	S2.0	S. H. Arnolt	Bob Goldrich	S. H. Arnolt	Arnolt -Bristol Bolide	77	Accident, steering
DNF	15	S5.0	Lou Brero	Sam Weiss	A. A. Brown	Jaguar D-Type	68	Clutch
DNF	9	S5.0	Duncan Hamilton	Ivor Bueb	Jaguar of New York Distributors Inc.	Jaguar D-Type	63	Brakes
DNF	20	S5.0	Phil Hill	Masten Gregory	George Tilp	Ferrari 857 S	61	Bearings
DISQ	53	S1.1	Warren Smith	Joe Sheppard	Joe Sheppard	Lotus-Climax Mark IX	51	Illegal repairs
DNF	26	S3.0	Stirling Moss	Peter Collins	David Brown & Sons, Ltd.	Aston Martin DB3S	51	Gearbox
DNF	63	S1.1	Ralph Miller	Harold Fenner	Ralph Miller	Lotus-Climax Eleven	49	Oil system
DNF	2	S5.0	Troy Ruttman	Howard Hively	Howard Hively	Ferrari 375 Plus	48	Transmission
DNF	25	S3.0	Cesare Perdisa	Carlos Menditéguy	Officine Alfieri Maserati S.p.a	Maserati 300S	39	Accident
DNF	62	S5.0	Loyal Katskee	Roger Wing	Loyal Katskee	Jaguar D-Type	39	Accident
DNF	64	S3.0	William Brewsterbill	Bill Rutan	William Brewster	Austin-Healey 100 S	39	Clutch
DNF	59	S750	Gérard Laureau	Hal Ullrich	Brooks Stevens	D.B. – Panhard HBR	36	Clutch
DNF	52	S1.1	Curtis Attaway	Ralph Parkinson	Robert Brown	Cooper-Climax T39	26	Valve
DNF	60	S750	Harry Kite	François Crouzet	Harry Kite	D.B. – Panhard HBR	25	Accident
DNF	7	S5.0	Ernie Erickson	Charles Hassan	Ernie Erickson	Chevrolet Corvette	22	Piston
DNF	48	S1.5	Alejandro de Tomaso	Isabelle Haskell	Alessandro de Tomaso	Maserati 150S	15	Gearshift linkage
DNF	46	S1.5	Bill Lloyd	Karl Brocken	William B. Lloyd	Maserati 150S	13	Gearbox
DNF	57	S1.1	Mauricio Marcotulli	Ed Munoz	Touring y Automovil Clude de Venezuela	Osca MT4 1100	11	Differential
DNF	61	S750	Jean Lucas	John Norwood	Ecurie Lafayette	D.B. – Panhard HBR	8	Gearbox
DNF	34	S2.0	Julio Pola	Enrique Muro	Touring y Automovil Clude de Venezuela	Ferrari 500 TR	8	Accident
DNF	5	S5.0	Dale Duncan	William Eager	Raceway Enterprises	Chevrolet Corvette C1	3	Real wheel
DNS	3A	S5.0	Jim Kimberly	Ed Lunken	Jim Kimberly	Ferrari 121 LM		Transmission
DNS	21	S3.0	Paul O’Shea	Dick Thompson	George Tilp	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL		Oil leak
DNS	23	S3.0	Charles Wallace	Duncan Black	Jack Pry	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL		Engine
DNS	36	S2.0	John Weitz	Manuel Bos	Morgan Motors	Morgan-Triumph Plus 4		Accident in practice
DNS	44	S1.5	Rees Makins	Frank Bott	Automobili Osca S.p.a.	Osca MT4 1500		Withdrawn
DNS	46	S2.0	Colin Chapman	Len Bastrup	Lotus Engineering Co.	Lotus-Climax Eleven		Accident in practice
DNS		S5.0	Fred Dagavar	Al Garz	Lillian Sands	Jaguar XK140		did not start

^[30]^[31]^[32]

Fastest Lap: Mike Hawthorn, 3:27.2secs (90.347 mph) ^[33]^[34]

Class Winners

Class	Winners
Class B - Sports 8000	1	Chevrolet Corvette Special	Fitch / Hansgen
Class C - Sports 5000	17	Ferrari 860 Monza	Fangio / Castellotti
Class D - Sports 3000	27	Aston Martin DB3S	Salvadori / Shelby
Class E- Sports 2000	33	Ferrari 500 Mondial II	Rubirosa / Pauley
Class F - Sports 1500	41	Porsche 500 Spyder	Hermann / von Trips
Class G - Sports 1100	55	Cooper-Climax T39	Cracraft / Byron
Class H - Sports 750	58	D.B. HBR - Panhard	Armagnac / Mercader

^[35]

Standings after the race

Pos	Championship	Points
1	Ferrari	14
2	Maserati	10
3	Jaguar	4
4	Aston Martin	3
5=	Mercedes-Benz	1
	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 4 results out of the 6 races could be retained by each manufacturer. Points earned but not counted towards the championship totals are listed within brackets in the above table.