The Ferrari 335 S was a
sports racing car
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is o ...
produced by Italian manufacturer
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
in 1957. The car was a direct response to the
Maserati 450S
The Maserati 450S (Tipo 54) is a racing car made by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati for participating in FIA's endurance World Sportscar Championship racing. A total of nine were made.
Development of the 450S started in 1954 under the ...
which with its 4.5-litre engine was threatening to overpower the 3.8-litre
315 S and 3.5-litre
290 MM. Four cars were produced in total.
Development
An evolution of the
315 S, it had a
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines.
The f ...
with a greater
displacement and a maximum power of at 7400 rpm; the maximum speed was around .
This model was the protagonist of the accident in the
1957 Mille Miglia, which led to the cancellation of the race starting from the following year. In its World Championship debut in the third round of the 1957 season, a 335 S (#531), driven by Spanish driver
Alfonso de Portago
Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago, GE (11 October 1928 – 12 May 1957), best known as Alfonso de Portago, was a Spanish aristocrat, racing and bobsleigh driver, jockey and pilot.
Born in London to a prominent family ...
(who had replaced an ill
Luigi Musso
Luigi Musso (28 July 1924 – 6 July 1958) was an Italian racing driver. In 1955 he joined the Ferrari team, entering into a fierce rivalry with Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins, which boosted the performance of the team, but also encouraged ...
) was in third position, running on a long straight road sector between the
Lombard hamlets of
Cerlongo and