Sebring International Raceway - Historical (1952)

The 1954 12 Hours of Sebring (officially the Florida International 12-Hour Grand Prix of Endurance ) was a motor race for sports cars, staged on 7 March 1954 at the Sebring International Raceway,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, United States. It was the second race of the 1954 World Sportscar Championship and was the fourth 12 Hours of Sebring. The race was won by Bill Lloyd and Stirling Moss driving an Osca MT4 1450.

Report

Entry

A grand total 89 sports cars were entered for this event, of which only 63 arrived for practice. The race was supported by the work of teams of Scuderia Lancia, running four cars, the Aston Martin running three cars and the

Austin-Healey Austin-Healey was a British sports car maker established in 1952 through a joint venture between the Austin division of the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and the Donald Healey Motor Company (Healey), a renowned automotive engineering and des ...

team consisting of four cars, only one of which was a factory entry, under the name of Donald Healey Ltd., the others entered by private individuals. The three work's

Lancia D24 The Lancia D24 was a sports racing car introduced by Lancia in 1953, and raced in the 1953 and 1954 seasons. It kept the overall layout of its predecessor the D23—that is a multi-tubular frame chassis, double wishbones/ De Dion suspension, tr ...

’s in particular were entered for – Juan Manuel Fangio and

Eugenio Castellotti Eugenio Castellotti (10 October 1930 – 14 March 1957) was a Formula One driver from Italy. Driving career Castellotti was born in Lodi, Italy. He acquired a Ferrari at the age of twenty, from a local benefactor, and began racing sports cars ...

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 ...

and

Robert Manzon Robert Manzon (12 April 1917 – 19 January 2015) was a French racing driver. He participated in 29 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 21 May 1950. He achieved two podiums, and scored a total of 16 championship points. At the ...

and

Alberto Ascari Alberto Ascari (; 13 July 1918 – 26 May 1955) was an Italian racing driver and a two time Formula One World Champion. He was a multitalented racer who competed in motorcycle racing before switching to cars. Ascari won consecutive world titles ...

and

Luigi Villoresi Luigi Villoresi (16 May 1909 – 24 August 1997) was an Italian Grand Prix motor racing driver who continued racing on the Formula One circuit at the time of its inception. Biography Born in Milan, Lombardy, and nicknamed "Gigi", he was the older ...

, were in a class of their own. The factory Ferrari entries did not materialize, in order to defend their championship lead, but the private entries of Bill Spear and

Briggs Cunningham Briggs Swift Cunningham II (January 19, 1907 – July 2, 2003) was an American entrepreneur and sportsman. He is best known for skippering the yacht ''Columbia'' to victory in the 1958 America's Cup race, and for his efforts as a driver, team o ...

were on hand. Likewise, there was no Jaguar factory team, but eight Jaguars were listed on the entry. Some of the race participants who also were noted in other fields of endeavor included ex-US congressman Jim Simpson, “''international playboy''”

Porfirio Rubirosa Porfirio Rubirosa Ariza (January 22, 1909 – July 5, 1965) was a Dominican diplomat, race car driver, soldier and polo player. He was a supporter of dictator Rafael Trujillo, and was also a political assassin under his regime. Rubirosa made ...

, and, fresh from finishing second in the Buenos Aires 1000km, Marquis de Portago – well known equestrian at the time and also a high ranking Spanish nobility.Alec Ulmann, “The Sebring Story" (Chilton Book Company, ASIN B0006CUAP2, 1969)

Practice

It became obvious during Friday practice sessions that the race would be between the Ferraris and Lancias. The

s lapped the 5.2 mile circuit in three minutes 38 seconds and on the Saturday, Cunningham's

Ferrari 375 MM :''See Ferrari 375 F1 for the 375 used in Formula 1 racing, and 375 America, a GT car'' The Ferrari 375 MM, was a sports racing car produced by Ferrari in 1953 up to 1955 for the road cars. It was named "375" for the unitary displacement of one ...

made it in 3m 31sec. Another of Cunningham cars, an Osca MT4 1450 piloted by young English driver, Stirling Moss with his partnered Bill Lloyd, turned in lap on Friday of, 3m 56 secs, although this small engined car, no one considered this car a real threat the Lancias.

Race

The race was held over 12 hours on the 5.2 miles Sebring International Raceway. The early morning rain cleared to leave a cold, windy but dry day. However, throughout the race, the strong wind blowing directly out of the north created a nasty crosswind on the fast back stretch. With the race starting promptly at 10am, 59 cars scrambled for positions. Cunningham in his own Cunningham C-4R was the first across the line, but was soon headed by Erwin Goldschmidt in his Allard-Cadillac J2R. However, before the end of lap one, the three Lancias, of Fangio, Ascari and Taruffi had sorted themselves out and headed the field, running one, two and three with Spear's Ferrari close behind. The Cunningham Ferrari of Phil Walters, stopped for a replacement spark plug and lost several minutes. Moss was keeping the bigger cars on their toes holding down 4th. Around mid-distance, trouble hits Spear's Ferrari, crippled by a broken oil seal. Last year's winner's, John Fitch and Walters, in their Ferrari had been marking up time, and with Spear's retirement, the only threat to the flying Lancias. Fitch and Walters had been pushing the car hard, and this too would not finish, going out late afternoon with a bad connecting rod bearing. As darkness fell on the former Hendricks Army Airfield, the Lancias of Ascari and Villoresi, and Fangio and Castellotti had retired due to brakes and gearbox issues respectively, leaving the burden on the shoulders of Taruffi and Manzon. This D24, was still lapping swiftly on the now night-blackened circuit, at an average speed of 82 mph – more than seven mph faster than the 1953 record-breaking Cunningham C-4R – albeit with only one headlight. As Taruffi and Manzon streaked out of sight, chief race steward, Alec Ulmann announced that the Lancia would be black-flagged if it continued to race with just one light. The team's race director, Attilio Pasquarelli put out a red flag, and leaned far out onto the course to block the car's path. When the car finally pitted, Manzon protested: “''The car wouldn’t go any faster – oil pressure was off''”. He thought the red flag was a pit signal that their lead was in danger. 1954 O

Despite, as Moss said, the Lancias were “''wiping the floor with the rest of us''”, Lloyd and Moss soon took advantage of the Osca's beautiful handling, by throwing the car sideways, into the corners to scrub off as much speed as they started to countering the high brake wear. The three Aston Martins had retired quite early János L. Wimpffen, ''Sebring 12 Hours - David over Goliath'', Time and Two Seats, 1999, pages 147 to 150 and the leading

being driven by Manzon, stopped on the circuit with engine trouble an hour from the end of the race.Anthony Prichard, ''The Blue and White of Turin'', The Racing Sports Car, 1970, pages 129 to 130 Manzon returned to the pits on foot, but co-driver Taruffi acted to push the car for the mile and a half back to the pits. The Lancia was finally pushed across the finish line but was disqualified and the Osca, driven by Moss and Lloyd, won the race. The Osca survived a slightly suspect clutch and a tremendous rain storm to take a totally unexpected win. They covered 168 laps (873.6 miles), averaging a speed of 72.800 mph. Second place went to the

and Gino Valenzano, albeit five laps adrift. Third place was awarded to the

Austin-Healey 100 The Austin-Healey 100 is a sports car that was built by Austin-Healey from 1953 until 1956. Based on Austin A90 Atlantic mechanicals, it was developed by Donald Healey to be produced in-house by his small Healey car company in Warwick. Heal ...

entered by Donald Healey and driven by

Lance Macklin Lance Noel Macklin (2 September 1919 – 29 August 2002) was a British racing driver from England. He participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1952. He was infamously involved in the 1955 Le Mans disaste ...

and George Huntoon. Although there were no fatalities during the race, James Brundage, died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on his way home when the Allard he was driving hit a tree.

Official Classification

''Class Winners are in Bold text.'' * Fastest Lap:

, 3:32.0secs (88.302 mph)

Class Winners

Standings after the race

*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.