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

Guidizzolo Guidizzolo ( Upper Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about east of Milan and about northwest of Mantua. The bordering municipalities of Guidizzolo are Cavriana, Ceresara, ...

. When one of the tyres exploded, de Portago's car slipped to the right and crashed against a large crowd, killing ten spectators, as well as de Portago himself and American co-driver Edmund Nelson. The other 335 S in the hands of Peter Collins and Louis Klemantaski had broken down whilst in the lead giving victory to a 315 S driven by

Piero Taruffi Piero Taruffi (12 October 1906 – 12 January 1988) was a racing driver from Italy. Sports car career Taruffi began his motorsport career racing motorcycles. He won the 1932 500cc European Championship on a Norton and in 1937 set the motorcycle ...

. Due to the accident only a single 335 S in the hands of Collins and

Olivier Gendebien Olivier Jean Marie Fernand Gendebien (12 January 1924 – 2 October 1998) was a Belgian racing driver who was called "one of the greatest sportscar racers of all time". Rally racer Gendebien spent some years in the Belgian Congo. On his return ...

was entered in the next round at the Nürburgring 1000km and came second behind an

Aston Martin DBR1 The Aston Martin DBR1 was a sports racing car built by Aston Martin starting in 1956, intended for the World Sportscar Championship as well as non-championship sportscar races at the time. It is most famous as the victor of the 1959 24 Hours of ...

and although both 335 S models failed at Le Mans, Collins and Phil Hill obtained another second place at the Swedish GP behind a Maserati 450S with

Mike Hawthorn John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 – 22 January 1959) was a British racing driver. He became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958, whereupon he announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the ...

and

finishing fourth in the sister car. In the final round of the World Sports Car Championship at the Venezuelan Grand Prix, a 335 S raced by Collins and Phil Hill won with Hawthorn and Musso finishing second. These results added to the earlier Mille Miglia victory by a 315 S and the win in the Buenos Aires 1000 Km by a 290 MM gave the World title to Ferrari. The change in regulations for the World Championship to a 3-litre engine limit which was a reaction to the Mille Miglia crash and earlier tragedies rendered the 335 S ineligible for the 1958 season onwards and Ferrari replaced the model with its 250 TR. In 2016, a 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti sold for €32.1 million in an auction in Paris. In 315 S guise the car had finished sixth in the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1957 driven by Peter Collins and

Maurice Trintignant Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (30 October 1917 – 13 February 2005) was a motor racing driver and vintner from France. He competed in the Formula One World Championship for fourteen years, between 1950 and 1964, one of the longest care ...

and later driven by

Wolfgang von Trips Wolfgang Alexander Albert Eduard Maximilian Reichsgraf Berghe von Trips (; 4 May 1928 – 10 September 1961), also known simply as Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips and nicknamed 'Taffy' by friends and fellow racers, was a German racing driver. He ...

, to a second place finish at the 1957 Mille Miglia. After having its engine upgraded to a 4.0-litre model, it then set the lap record at Le Mans, finished fourth in the Swedish GP and second in the Venezuelan GP. Finally it won the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix driven by Stirling Moss.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Ferrari 335 S: Ferrari History
{{Scuderia Ferrari 335 S Sports racing cars Mille Miglia 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars