Caracas 1000 km race in 1957

Maserati 300S

The 1957 Caracas 1000 km race , also known as the Venezuelan Grand Prix, Caracas 1000 km , took place on November 3rd and was the seventh and final round of the sports car world championship of that year.

Before the race

The Caracas 1000 km race did not appear on the racing calendar of the World Sports Car Championship until late summer 1957. After the RAC Tourist Trophy was canceled, they turned resolutely Federation Internationale de l'Automobile , the long-distance race in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas to be regarded as the world championship race. The season was marked by the duel between the Ferrari and Maserati factory teams , as well as the private teams who fielded vehicles of the two brands, as it was irrelevant in the world championship of the brands which team entered the cars of the respective manufacturers.

The first race of the season, the 1000 km race in Buenos Aires , ended with the victory of the Ferrari 290MM , entered by US Scuderia Temple Buell and driven by Masten Gregory , Eugenio Castellotti and Luigi Musso . In the following Sebring 12-hour race , Maserati celebrated a double victory with the teams Juan Manuel Fangio / Jean Behra and Stirling Moss / Harry Schell .

Following the success of Piero Taruffi at the Mille Miglia , there were two overall victories for British teams; Tony Brooks and Noël Cunningham-Reid triumphed in an Aston Martin DBR1 / 300 at the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring , and the Ecurie-Ecosse Jaguar D-Type of Ivor Bueb and Ron Flockhart was the first to cross the finish line at the 24-hour race Le Mans race .

After Maserati's second win of the season at the Kristianstad 1000 km race, the world championship decision had to be made at the last race in Caracas, where Ferrari (28 points) came three points ahead of Maserati (25 points).

The race

The Caracas 1000 km race was held for the third time and covered almost nine kilometers of public roads; including parts of the city highway, an underpass and chicanes on the long straights to minimize the high speeds of the sports cars. The course did not even come close to the already inadequate security concept of the 1950s. US Ferrari factory driver Phil Hill said: “The whole circuit was a laughing stock; like a surrealistic nightmare. It had no markings, apart from the fact that people were standing on the side of the road and pointing in many directions. "

Before the race, Maserati race director Nello Ugolini amazed his drivers with a strange message. The factory management in Modena had already sold the factory cars and the racing cars were not allowed to be damaged in any way. All Maserati, which were significantly faster than the Ferrari in training, were promptly partially completely destroyed by accidents. Stirling Moss in the 450S crashed into a wall while attempting to avoid a slow vehicle and severely damaged the racing car. The second 450S, which was driven by Harry Schell, broke a tire while overtaking teammate Joakim Bonnier , who was driving a 300S ; the cars collided, causing the Schell car to catch fire and burn out completely.

After Masten Gregory in the privately registered 450S failed on the first lap after an accident in the underpass, Maserati had no chance of winning the world championship. Ferrari celebrated an undisputed quadruple victory and won the title.

For Maserati, the outing in Caracas was one of the last outings as a works team at an international motorsport event. The loss of the three works cars, which despite existing contracts could no longer be sold, increased the annual loss to 455 million lire and plunged the Italian brand into a major crisis.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	S + 2.0	14th	Equipo Ferrari	Peter Collins Phil Hill	Ferrari 335 Sport	101
2	S + 2.0	12	Equipo Ferrari	Mike Hawthorn Luigi Musso	Ferrari 335 Sport	100
3	S + 2.0	16	Equipo Ferrari	Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips Wolfgang Seidel	Ferrari 250TR	97
4th	S + 2.0	18th	Equipo Ferrari	Maurice Trintignant Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250TR / 58	97
5	S 2.0	66	Equipo Porsche	Fritz Huschke from Hanstein Edgar Barth	Porsche 718 RSK	91
6th	S + 2.0	30th	Escuderia Madunina Venezuela	Mauricio Marcotulli Ettore Chimeri	Maserati 300S	91
7th	S 1.5	68	Ed Crawford	Ed Crawford Ed Hugus	Porsche 550 RS	90
8th	S 2.0	38	Escuderia Madunina Venezuela	Julio Pola Piero Drogo	Ferrari 500TR	90
9	S 2.0	60	Escuderia Cuba	Julio Batista Falla Jan de Vroom	Ferrari 500TRC	88
10	S 1.5	65		Art bunker Carel Godin de Beaufort	Porsche 550 RS	88
11	S 1.5	76	Equipo Montecarlo	Umberto Masetti André Testut	Osca MT4	86
12	S + 2.0	22nd	Equipo Corvette	Dick Thompson Dick Doane	Chevrolet Corvette	85
13	S 1.5	70	Denise McCluggage	Denise McCluggage Ruth Levy	Porsche 550 RS	85
14th	S + 2.0	40	Escuderia Madunina Venezuela	C. Martinez Ramón Lopez	Ferrari 500TR	79
15th	S 1.5	64	Equipo Cuba	Santiago Gonzalez Manuel Garcia	Porsche 550 RS	78
16	S 2.0	74		Augusto Gutierrez Deblin	AC Ace	77
17th	S 2.0	50	Equipo Colombia	Antonio Izquierdo Juan Uribe	AC Ace	76
18th	S 2.0	31		Joao Rozende Dos Santos Francisco Borjes	Aston Martin DB3S	76
19th	S 2.0	52	Equipo CADV	Sergio Gonzalez Alberto Gutierrez	Maserati 200S	75
20th	S 2.0	32	Equipo CADV	Lino Fayen Jacques Oliver	Trans-Oliver	74
21st	S 2.0	58	Equipo CADV	Renny Ottolina Fredy Brandt	AC Ace	72
Failed
22nd	S + 2.0	2	Equipo Maserati	Jean Behra Harry Schell Stirling Moss	Maserati 450S	55
23	S + 2.0	24	Equipo Corvette	John Kilborn Tom Pistone	Chevrolet Corvette	55
24	S + 2.0	6th	Equipo Maserati	Joakim Bonnier Giorgio Scarlatti	Maserati 300S	54
25th	S 2.0	46	Escuderia Madunina Venezuela	Silvano Turco Ugo Tosa	Maserati A6G	34
26th	S + 2.0	4th	Equipo Maserati	Stirling Moss Tony Brooks	Maserati 450S	32
27	S + 2.0	26th	Equipo Corvette	Jim Jeffords Fred Windbridge	Chevrolet Corvette	31
28	S 2.0	54	Equipo AC Bristol	Joseph Dressel Frank Pohanka	AC Ace	25th
29	S 1.5	78	Escuderia Madunina Venezuela	Luis Ojanguren Peter Monteverdi	Lotus Eleven	23
30th	S 2.0	56	Equipo CADV	JL Droullers Juan Fernandez	AC Ace	18th
31	S 2.0	62	Escuderia OSCA	Alejandro de Tomaso Isabelle Haskell	Osca MT4	16
32	S + 2.0	10	Equipo Buell	Masts Gregory Dale Duncan	Maserati 450S	1
Not started
33	S + 2.0	8th	Equipo Maserati	Augusto Gutierrez Paco Godia Giorgio Scarlatti Tony Brooks	Maserati 350S	1
34	S + 2.0	28	Escuderia Madunina Venezuela	Guido Lollobrigita E. Soriani	Ferrari	2
35	S 2.0	34	Escuderia Madunina Venezuela	Azzurro Manzini	Maserati A6G	3
Not qualified
36	S 2.0	44	Escuderia Madunina Venezuela	RJ Dominguez C. Martinez	Ferrari	4th
37	S 2.0	48	Equipo CADV	Oscar Oropeza Marcelo Hernandez	AC Ace	5

¹ Gearbox damage in training ² not started ³ not started ⁴ not qualified ⁵ not qualified

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
38	S + 2.0	20th	Equipo Corvette	Troy Ruttman Johnnie Parsons	Chevrolet Corvette
39	S 2.0	36	Escuderia Madunina Venezuela	M. de Peppo C. Barbato	Ferrari
40	S 1.5	72	Lucille Davis	Lucille Davis Carrol	Porsche 550 RS
41	S 1.5	74	Escuderia OSCA	Carlo Tomasi Alejandro de Tomaso	Osca MT4

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
S + 2.0	Peter Collins	Phil Hill	Ferrari 335 Sport	Overall victory
S 2.0	Fritz Huschke from Hanstein	Edgar Barth	Porsche 718 RSK	Rank 5
S 1.5	Ed Crawford	Ed Hugus	Porsche 550 RS	Rank 7

Racing data

• Registered: 41
• Started: 32
• Rated: 21
• Race classes: 3
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: hot and dry
• Route length: 9.930 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6: 31: 55.800 hours
• Overall laps of the winning team: 101
• Total distance of the winning team: 1002.930 km
• Winner's average: 153.537 km / h
• Pole position: Stirling Moss - Maserati 450S (# 2) - 3: 41.100 = 161.682 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Stirling Moss - Maserati 450S (# 2) - 3: 38.499 = 163.681 km / h
• Racing series: Round 6 of the 1957 World Sports Car Championship

literature

• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to international Motor Racing. A Complete Reference from Formula One to Touring Cars. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

• Results at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ^ 1000 km race of Buenos Aires 1957
2. ↑ Sebring 12-hour race in 1957
3. ↑ Mille Miglia 1957
4. ↑ 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1957
5. ^ 1957 Kristianstad 1000 km race
6. ^ Karl Ludvigsen: Ferrari vs. Maserati. Relentless motorsport rivals. Heel, Königswinter 2008, ISBN 978-3-86852-051-4 , p. 217.
7. ^ Karl Ludvigsen: Ferrari vs. Maserati. Relentless motorsport rivals. Heel, Königswinter 2008, ISBN 978-3-86852-051-4 , p. 218.

Previous race 1000 km at Kristianstad 1957

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 1000 km race in Buenos Aires in 1958