1956 World Sportscar Championship
The 1956 World Sportscar Championship was the fourth annual FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was a contested by sportscars over a series of five races from 29 January to 12 August 1956.
Following the major accident at the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans that killed 80 spectators, 1955 champions Mercedes-Benz officially withdrew from motorsports and thus did not defend their title. This led to the fewest factory-backed competitors for many years.
The championship was won by Ferrari.
Championship summary
The 1956 World Sports Car Championship was ultimately contested over only five races, again starting with the early overseas events of Buenos Aires and Sebring. European rounds started with the Mille Miglia in late April.
The German Nürburgring, the worlds longest purpose-built race track, finally returned with the 27 May 1956 1000 km Nürburgring race that first was held in 1953 with poor attendance after Mercedes discontinued the 300 SL that had been successful in 1952. In 1954, Mercedes was focussed on F1 only, and the 1000km did not take place. In 1955 the 1000km was among the events cancelled due to the Le Mans disaster.
While much of the controversy surrounding the tragedy at Le Mans had subsided by January 1956, those in the international racing community were still contending with the fallout. The organisers of the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans postponed their race to late July and introduced regulations reducing the maximum engine capacity for prototype cars to only 2.5 litres, which caused the race to lose 1956 championship status, but it would return to the championship in 1957.
The Targa Florio in 1954 had been run for 8 laps, 576km and over 6 hours. To be added to the 1955 championship, the CSI demanded the usual 1000km distance, which would have been over 10 hours for 14 laps of 72 km mountain roads. Eventually the 1955 Targa was run in October 1955 for 13 laps and 9:43 hours. For the Targa on 10 June 1956, the CSI asked for a return to 8 laps, but 73 year old Vincenzo Florio insisted on his 10 laps compromise proposal, and the permission to have single drivers run the whole race, which was already unusual at the time. Championship status was not granted.
The organisers of both the British RAC Tourist Trophy and the Mexican Carrera Panamericana were given championship calendar slots, but neither event was run amid safety concerns. The RAC Tourist Trophy would never return to the Dundrod Circuit after the 1955 RAC TT fatalities, and the Carrera Panamericana would never return. Since championship regulations required at least five qualifying events actually be held, and with only four rounds secured after four others had dropped out, the Swedish Grand Prix was upgraded to championship status in recognition of the successful race with a Mercedes 300 SLR 1-2 win in 1955.[1][2][3]
The championship remained as a contest for manufacturers, with the factory teams of Scuderia Ferrari, Maserati, Aston Martin and Jaguar leading the way. As in previous seasons, the majority of the fields were made up of amateur or gentlemen drivers, often racing against professional racing drivers with experience in Formula One.
For Ferrari's assault on the 1956 championship, they settled on using virtually identical chassis with either four or twelve-cylinder engines of nearly 3.5 liter capacity. Both car types shared exactly the same chassis and similarly styling. Carrozzeria Scaglietti built the aluminum bodies for both. The more successful of the two was the V12-engined 290 MM, which was driven to a debut victory in the Mille Miglia by Eugenio Castellotti which earned the car the MM. In the season finale, Phil Hill and Maurice Trintignant added a second win to the 290 MM's tally in only its third major race. The less powerful sister 860 Monza had an equally impressive first outing, with a one-two victory in the Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance. During the remainder of the season, the big fours supported Ferrari's chase for the championship with valuable podium finishes. With three very convincing wins in the five rounds, Ferrari were crowned World Champions at the end of the season. For the third time in four seasons, the title had gone to Maranello.[2][4]
Ferrari's chief rivals Maserati hired Stirling Moss for the season, and prepared a works team for all the rounds of the championship. At the opening round, the 1000 km Buenos Aires, the factory efforts paid off, when all the large 4.0-litre Ferraris suffered mechanical problems, and Moss and local hero, Carlos Menditéguy took overall victory, in a 300S. For the next rounds at Sebring and the Mille Miglia, Maserati prepared the 350S. The cars were on pace but succumbed to the competition. The Internationales ADAC 1000 Kilometer Rennen auf dem Nürburgring changed this when Moss and Jean Behra took over a second car and drove it to victory. The championship ended at the Sveriges Grand Prix and Maserati had high hopes to gain enough points to win over Ferrari. Despite bringing five cars, all the Maseratis retired, leaving Ferrari to take all the top five places and the championship.[2][5]
Race schedule
| Round | Date | Event | Circuit or Location | Winning driver | Winning team | Winning car | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 29 |  1000km of Buenos Aires |
Autódromo Municipal-Avenida Paz |  Stirling Moss Carlos Menditéguy |
 Officine Alfieri Maserati |
Maserati 300S |
Results |
| 2 | March 24 | .svg.png){kind=small} Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance |
Sebring International Raceway | Juan Manuel Fangio Eugenio Castellotti |
Scuderia Ferrari |
Ferrari 860 Monza |
Results |
| 3 | April 29 | Mille Miglia |
Brescia-Rome-Brescia | Eugenio Castellotti |
Scuderia Ferrari |
Ferrari 290 MM |
Results |
| 4 | May 27 |  Internationales ADAC 1000 Kilometer Rennen auf dem Nürburgring |
Nürburgring | Piero Taruffi Harry Schell Jean Behra Stirling Moss |
Officine Alfieri Maserati |
Maserati 300S |
Results |
| 5 | August 12 |  Sveriges Grand Prix |
Råbelövsbanan | Phil Hill Maurice Trintignant |
Scuderia Ferrari |
Ferrari 290 MM |
Results |
Points system
Championship points were awarded for the first six places in each race in the order of 8-6-4-3-2-1.[6] The best result per marque at each race counted.[6] Only the best 3 results out of the 5 races could be retained.[7]
Championship standings
| Pos.[8] | Make [8] | BUE |
SEB |
MMI |
NÜR |
SWE |
Total [9] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ferrari |
(6) | 8 | 8 | (6) | 8 | 24 (36) |
| 2 | Maserati |
8 | 2 | 8 | 18 | ||
| 3 | Jaguar |
4 | 3 | 7 | |||
| 4 | Aston Martin |
3 | 2 | 5 | |||
| 5 | Porsche |
1 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 6 | Mercedes-Benz |
1 | 1 | 2 |
Note:
- Points earned for race results but not counted towards the championship totals are shown within brackets in the above table.
- As the fourth and fifth placed cars at the Sveriges Grand Prix were ineligible for points, the sixth placed Jaguar was awarded points as if it had finished fourth.[7]
The cars
The following models contributed to the net championship point scores of their respective makes.[10]
References
- ↑ Posthumus, Cyril (1961). World Sports Car Championship.
- 1 2 3 "World Sportscar Championship - Championships - Racing Sports Cars".
- ↑ "Reference at www.sportscardigest.com".
- ↑ "1956 World Sportscar Championship winning Ferraris".
- ↑ "1955 Maserati 300S | Maserati". 18 April 2016.
- 1 2 Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 260
- 1 2 Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 264
- 1 2 World Sports Car Championship (1953-1961), FIA Yearbook of Automobile Sport, Grey section, pages 118 & 119
- ↑ "1956 World Sportscar Championship, www.wspr-racing.com, as archived at web.archive.org". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27.
- ↑ "World Championship 1956, www.wspr-racing.com, as archived at web.archive.org". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29.
Further reading
- János L. Wimpffen, Time and Two Seats, 1999, pages 170–200
- The Automobile Year Book of Sports Car Racing, 1982