Sebring 12 hour race in 1956
The fifth Sebring 12-hour race , also known as the 12-hour Sebring Florida International Grand Prix of Endurance powered by Amoco, Sebring , took place on March 24, 1956 at the Sebring International Raceway and was the second round of the sports car world championship of that year.
The race
Before the race
After four events - the first race was held in 1952 - the Sebring 12-hour race had developed into the most important sports car race in the USA. The number of viewers increased continuously and in 1956 reached the 30,000 visitor limit. For the US sports journalists, the race was the second most important individual race after the Indianapolis 500 mile race . The importance of the race was also evident from the entry list. Factory teams from Italy, Great Britain, France, Germany and the USA came to Florida . At Ferrari , Juan Manuel Fangio , Eugenio Castellotti , Luigi Musso and Harry Schell drove the factory 860 Monza . Maserati reported two 300S that were driven by Jean Behra , Piero Taruffi , Cesare Perdisa and Carlos Menditéguy .
Jaguar reported the D-Types to the company's representation in New York, with Mike Hawthorn and Desmond Titterington's car being equipped with gasoline injection. Porsche entered the sports car class with a displacement of up to 1.5 liters with the 550 Spyder .
The first time Chevrolet competed in a major sports car race was of great interest . The Corvettes were convertibles that were used by Raceway Enterprises with great support from Detroit.
The course of the race
John Fitch's lead in the Corvette only lasted up to the first corner , then the duel between Ferrari and Jaguar began. After 3 hours of racing, 17 vehicles had already retired, including the Aston Martin from Stirling Moss and Peter Collins and the works Jaguar from Ivor Bueb and Duncan Hamilton . From halfway through the race Mike Hawthorn could no longer follow the pace of the factory Ferrari and retired after 162 laps with a brake failure. In the end, the Scuderia celebrated their first overall success in Sebring with a double victory.
Results
Final ranking
Item | class | No. | team | driver | vehicle | Round | ||
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1 | S 5.0 | 17th |
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Ferrari 860 Monza | 194 | ||
2 | S 5.0 | 18th |
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Ferrari 860 Monza | 193 | ||
3 | S 5.0 | 14th |
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Jaguar D-Type | 188 | ||
4th | S 3.0 | 27 |
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Aston Martin DB3S | 187 | ||
5 | S 3.0 | 24 |
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Maserati 300S | 186 | ||
6th | S 1.5 | 41 |
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Porsche 550 Spyder | 182 | ||
7th | S 1.5 | 43 |
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Porsche 550 Spyder | 179 | ||
8th | S 5.0 | 16 |
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Jaguar D-Type | 176 | ||
9 | S 8.0 | 1 |
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Chevrolet Corvette Special | 176 | ||
10 | S 2.0 | 33 |
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Ferrari 500 Mondial | 172 | ||
11 | S 3.0 | 31 |
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Austin Healey 100S | 168 | ||
12 | S 5.0 | 11 |
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Jaguar D-Type | 168 | ||
13 | S 2.0 | 39 |
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Arnolt Bolide | 158 | ||
14th | S 1.5 | 66 |
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Porsche 550 | 158 | ||
15th | S 5.0 | 6th |
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Chevrolet Corvette | 157 | ||
16 | S 750 | 58 |
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DB HBR5 | 155 | ||
17th | S 2.0 | 40 |
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Arnolt Bolide Bristol | 154 | ||
18th | S 2.0 | 37 |
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AC Ace | 154 | ||
19th | S 1.5 | 50 |
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MGA | 154 | ||
20th | S 1.5 | 49 |
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MGA | 151 | ||
21st | S 1.1 | 55 |
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Cooper T39 | 147 | ||
22nd | S 1.5 | 51 |
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MGA | 139 | ||
23 | S 5.0 | 3 |
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Chevrolet Corvette | 136 | ||
24 | S 1.1 | 54 |
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Lotus Mk9 | 99 | ||
Disqualified | ||||||||
25th | S 1.1 | 53 |
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Lotus Mk9 | 60 | ||
Failed | ||||||||
26th | S 3.0 | 28 |
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Aston Martin DB3S | 169 | ||
27 | S 5.0 | 8th |
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Jaguar D-Type | 162 | ||
28 | S 5.0 | 19th |
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Ferrari 857S | 137 | ||
29 | S 2.0 | 67 |
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Arnolt Bolide | 133 | ||
30th | S 3.0 | 22nd |
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Mercedes-Benz 300 SL | 127 | ||
31 | S 5.0 | 10 |
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Jaguar D-Type | 126 | ||
32 | S 5.0 | 12 |
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Jaguar D-Type | 120 | ||
33 | S 1.1 | 56 |
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Cooper T39 | 117 | ||
34 | S 3.0 | 29 |
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Austin-Healey 100S | 110 | ||
35 | S 1.5 | 42 |
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Porsche 550 | 108 | ||
36 | S 3.0 | 30th |
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Austin-Healey 100S | 90 | ||
37 | S 2.0 | 35 |
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Morgan Plus 4 | 87 | ||
38 | S 3.0 | 32 |
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Ferrari 250MM | 82 | ||
39 | S 1.5 | 47 |
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Maserati 150S | 77 | ||
40 | S 2.0 | 38 |
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Arnolt Bolide | 77 | ||
41 | S 5.0 | 15th |
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Jaguar D-Type | 68 | ||
42 | S 5.0 | 9 |
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Jaguar D-Type | 63 | ||
43 | S 5.0 | 20th |
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Ferrari 857S | 61 | ||
44 | S 3.0 | 26th |
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Aston Martin DB3S | 51 | ||
45 | S 1.1 | 63 |
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Lotus Mk.9 | 49 | ||
46 | S 5.0 | 2 |
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Ferrari 375 Plus | 48 | ||
47 | S 3.0 | 25th |
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Maserati 300S | 39 | ||
48 | S 5.0 | 62 |
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Jaguar D-Type | 39 | ||
49 | S 3.0 | 64 |
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Austin-Healey 100S | 39 | ||
50 | S 750 | 59 |
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DB HBR | 36 | ||
51 | S 1.1 | 52 |
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Cooper T39 | 26th | ||
52 | S 750 | 60 |
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DB HBR | 25th | ||
53 | S 5.0 | 7th |
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Chevrolet Corvette | 22nd | ||
54 | S 1.5 | 48 |
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Maserati 150S | 15th | ||
55 | S 1.5 | 46 |
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Maserati 150S | 13 | ||
56 | S 1.1 | 57 |
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Osca MT4 1100 | 11 | ||
57 | S 750 | 61 |
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DB HBR | 8th | ||
58 | S 2.0 | 35 |
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Ferrari 500TR | 8th | ||
59 | S 5.0 | 6th |
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Chevrolet Corvette | 3 | ||
Not started | ||||||||
60 | S 5.0 |
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Jaguar XK 140 | 1 | |||
61 | S 5.0 | 3 |
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Ferrari 121LM | 2 | ||
62 | S 3.0 | 21st |
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Mercedes-Benz 300 SL | 3 | ||
63 | S 3.0 | 23 |
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Mercedes-Benz 300 SL | 4th | ||
64 | S 2.0 | 36 |
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Morgan Plus 4 | 5 | ||
65 | S 1.5 | 44 |
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Osca MT4 | 6th | ||
66 | S 1.5 | 45 |
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Lotus Eleven | 7th | ||
67 | S 5.0 | T |
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Cunningham C6-R | 8th | ||
68 | S 3.0 | T |
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Mercedes-Benz 300 SL | 9 | ||
69 | S 3.0 | T |
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Mercedes-Benz 300 SL | 10 |
1 not started 2 damage to power transmission 3 oil leak 4 engine damage 5 accident during training 6 withdrawn 7 accident during training 8 engine damage 9 oil leak 10 training car
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 |
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70 | S 5.0 |
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Maserati 300S | |
71 | S 3.0 |
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Ferrari | |
72 | S 8.0 | 1 |
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Kurtis 500K |
73 | S 2.0 | 32 |
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Ferrari 500TR |
74 | S 1.5 | 52 |
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Alfa Romeo Giulietta |
Class winner
Racing data
- Registered: 74
- Started: 59
- Valued: 24
- Race classes: 7
- Spectators: 30,000
- Race day weather: warm and dry
- Route length: 8.369 km
- Driving time of the winning team: 12:00: 31.198 hours
- Total laps of the winning team: 198
- Total distance of the winning team: 1623.506 km
- Winner's average: 135.195 km / h
- Pole position: unknown
- Fastest race lap: Mike Hawthorn - Jaguar D-Type (# 8) - 3: 29.700 = 143.666 km / h
- Racing series: 4th round of the 1956 World Sports Car Championship
literature
- Ken Breslauer: Sebring. The official History of America's Great Sports Car Race. David Bull, Cambridge MA 1995, ISBN 0-9649722-0-4 .
Previous race 1000 km race of Buenos Aires 1956 |
Sports car world championship |
Successor race Mille Miglia 1956 |