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, in 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 Rubicone. 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 marred by many severe accidents resulting in 6 deaths and 14 people injured, largely due to heavy rain throughout Italy in the early hours of the race. 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 on the Adriatic coast 260 miles (416 km) into the race, 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 him instantly, while Busch suffered only minor injuries, also one spectator injured. A third accident also claimed the life of Swiss driver Max Berney who was killed just outside Ravenna after his Alfa rolled after having hit a house in pouring rain at four o' clock in the morning. His co-driver Ivo Badaracco was seriously injured but survived. In addition to the 3 competitors 3 spectators were also killed. An Alfa Romeo 1900 driven by Aldo Giacobi went off the road barely 20 miles into the race- and 2 spectators, Egidio Pincella and Igino Leoncelli were both killed on impact. The car then crossed the road, hit a parked vehicle and injured other five other spectators. Later on in Pescara 400 miles (640 km) into the race a Stanguellini 750 Sport driven by Giorgio Cecchini hit and killed spectator Guerrino Sciarra.[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 completing 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 with an average speed of 85.403 mph.[4][3][1][2]

Pos	Make	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.

Points towards the 1956 World Sportscar Championship 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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mille Miglia 1956.

• 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