Targa Florio 1955

Stirling Moss in the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR 1977 at the Oldtimer-Grand-Prix on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring . In 1955 he won the Targa Florio together with Peter Collins and this racing car model

Maria Teresa de Filippis in the Maserati A6GCS

Eugenio Castellotti at the start in the Ferrari 860 Monza

The 39th Targa Florio , also Targa Florio, Piccolo Circuito delle Madonie, Sicilia , took place on October 16, 1955. The race was the sixth and final round of the sports car world championship this year.

Before the race

When the sports car world championship was introduced in 1953 and the Targa Florio was not part of this competition, the anger of Vincenzo Florio , the leader of the event, was great. The CSI had decided for the Mille Miglia and against the race in Sicily. Also in 1954 the race was not part of the world championship, which again had a negative effect on the number of participants. Only 36 vehicles were left at the start; With the exception of the Frenchman Robert Manzon, only Italian drivers were led by the winner Piero Taruffi in the Lancia D24 . The turning point came in 1955. Again six world championship races were planned and the Mille Miglia was again the Italian championship race. The Carrera Panamericana , which was driven on public roads in Mexico , was also on the racing calendar . But the race, which had only existed since 1950 , had fallen into disrepute due to the large number of fatalities. Among others, Felice Bonetto had a fatal accident in 1953 and six people, including four race participants, died in 1954 . The organizers were no longer able to raise the necessary financial resources for the event. The race had to be canceled in July.

Florio then contacted the CSI and was finally awarded the race, but had to postpone the event to October. In order to achieve the prescribed 1000 km distance, the number of laps had to be increased to 14. It quickly became clear, however, that this meant a journey time of almost ten hours; a circumstance that was considered too dangerous for the licensed touring cars and their drivers. The organizers received a special permit and were able to make do with 13 laps and a distance of 936 km.

After five championship races, Ferrari was just ahead of Daimler-Benz AG in the world championship , although the Italian brand only won the season opening race, the 1000 km race in Buenos Aires . The superior cars of the year were the Jaguar D-Type and the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR . The Board of Management of Daimler-Benz AG had already decided and announced before the race in Sicily that the German company would withdraw completely from motorsport at the end of the year. After Juan Manuel Fangio's victory in the Formula 1 World Championship , Mercedes also wanted to achieve overall victory in the sports car. Nevertheless, Florio was not sure that the Mercedes team would participate and sent two telegrams to racing manager Alfred Neubauer , who finally agreed in writing.

The race

The Mercedes team came with three works and various training cars three weeks before the race to prepare for the race track. Factory driver Stirling Moss was the last to join the team from his vacation on the Italian Riviera . Neubauer developed a racing strategy for the three cars. After the fifth and the tenth lap, fuel and tire stops were planned. Stirling Moss and his team-mate Peter Collins should drive for victory at the highest possible pace right from the start. Fangio and Karl Kling should definitely cross the finish line. John Fitch and Desmond Titterington were considered strategic reserves who should drive on hold. The greatest opposition from Mercedes grew out of the factory Maseratis and the Ferrari 860 Monza by Eugenio Castellotti and Robert Manzon.

From start to finish, the race was a duel between the two British Mercedes drivers Moss and Collins and the Ferrari of Castellotti and Manzon. Moss led away from the start and achieved one record time after the other when he went off track on the fourth lap and only got the slightly damaged car to drive again after a while. After repairs to the pits, Moss and Collins started a race to catch up which brought them back into the lead on the eleventh lap. Just behind was Castellotti's Ferrari, which also had a minor accident on the last lap after the car had not started again for a long time. As a result, Fangio and Kling achieved second place. For Daimler-Benz AG, the double victory also meant overall victory in the world championship.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	S + 2.0	104	Daimler-Benz AG	Stirling Moss Peter Collins	Mercedes-Benz 300SLR	13
2	S + 2.0	112	Daimler-Benz AG	Juan Manuel Fangio Karl Kling	Mercedes-Benz 300SLR	13
3	S + 2.0	116	Scuderia Ferrari	Eugenio Castellotti Robert Manzon	Ferrari 860 Monza	13
4th	S + 2.0	106	Daimler-Benz AG	Desmond Titterington John Fitch	Mercedes-Benz 300SLR	13
5	S 2.0	76	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Carlo Manzini Francesco Giardini	Maserati A6GCS	13
6th	S 2.0	82	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Giuseppe Musso Giuseppe Rossi	Maserati A6GCS	13
7th	S 1.5	64	Automobili Osca	Giulio Cabianca Piero Carini	Osca MT4 1500	13
8th	S 2.0	78	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Giorgio Scarlatti Osvaldo Lippi	Maserati A6GCS	13
9	S 2.0	92	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Luigi Bellucci Maria Teresa de Filippis	Maserati A6GCS / 53	13
10	S 2.0	84		Gaetano Starrabba Salvatore La Pira	Maserati A6GCS	12
11	TS + 1.3	6th		Elio Zagato Ovidio Capelli	Fiat 8V Zagato	12
12	S 2.0	72		Alberico Cacciari Vincenzo Sorrentino Azzurro Manzini	Maserati A6GCS	12
13	TS + 1.3	4th		Giuseppe de Sarzana Clemente Ravetto	Fiat 8V	12
14th	S 1.1	42	Automobili Osca	Domenico Rotolo Luigi di Pasquale	Osca MT4 1100	12
15th	GT	36		Francesco Arezzo Gennaro Alterio	Fiat 8V Zagato	12
16	S 2.0	88		Guido Perrella Mario Sannino	Alfa Romeo 1900	11
17th	S 2.0	86		Enzo Lopez Ferdinando Lopez	Maserati A6GCS	11
18th	GT	52		Guy Michel Alfredo Fondi	Renault 4CV	11
19th	S 2.0	70		Bruno Cavazzoni Gastone Crepaldi	Maserati A6GCS	11
20th	TS + 1.3	20th		Vincenzo Arena Gianfernando Tomaselli	Lancia Aurelia	11
Failed
21st	GT	16		Armando Zampiero Luigi Villotti	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL	12
22nd	GT	30th		Ottavio Guarducci Mario Lietti	Fiat 8V	11
23	S + 2.0	120	Scuderia Ferrari	Umberto Maglioli Sergio Sighinolfi	Ferrari 750 Monza	10
24	S + 2.0	100		Luigi Piotti Franco Cornacchia	Ferrari 750 Monza	9
25th	TS + 1.3	12		Guido Cestelli-Guidi Guerci	Alfa Romeo 1900TI	8th
26th	S 1.1	56		Hans Finke Fritz Kornekauer	Kieft	8th
27	GT	22nd		Domenico Tramontana Giuseppe Alotta	Lancia Aurelia	7th
28	S 2.0	74		Franco Cortese Antonio Pucci	Ferrari 500 Mondial	7th
29	S 1.1	40		Francesco Spinel Armando Soldano	Siata 1100GT	6th
30th	S 1.1	54		Bruno Ricciardi Angelo Sbordone	Osca MT4 1100	6th
31	S 1.5	62		Giovanni Buoncristiani Piero Altini	Ermini	6th
32	S + 2.0	102	Franco Bordoni-Bisleri	Mario Ricci Giancarlo Scotti	Gordini T24S	6th
33	GT	24		Alfonso Vella Pietro Termini	Jaguar XK120	5
34	S 1.1	48		Francesco Mentesana Gaetano Marotta	Cisitalia 202	5
35	S + 2.0	110	Scuderia Ferrari	Carroll Shelby Gino Munaron	Ferrari 750 Monza	5
36	TS + 1.3	10		Baldassare Taormina Pasquale Tacci	Alfa Romeo 1900TI	4th
37	GT	28		Mennato Boffa Giuseppe Ruggero	Lancia Aurelia	4th
38	GT	94	Tony Parravano	Fernando Mancini Benoît Musy	Maserati 150S 2.0	4th
39	S + 2.0	118	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Luigi Musso Luigi Villoresi	Maserati 300S	4th
40	TS + 1.3	2		Nicola Musmeci Alessandro Perrone	Alfa Romeo 1900TI	2
41	TS + 1.3	14th		Charles de Cortanze Léon Dernier	Peugeot 403	2
42	S 1.1	38		Ugo Mauthe Rosario Montalbano	Siata 1100GT	2
43	S 1.1	44		Francesco de Roberto Pietro Fiordelisi	Stanguellini Bialbero	2
44	S 1.1	58		Francesco Siracusa Pasquale Placido	Stanguellini Bialbero	2
45	GT	32		Vittorio Colocci Gioacchino Vari	Lancia Aurelia	1
46	S 2.0	80		Mike Young Geoff Richardson	Lotus Mark VIII	1
47	S 2.0	90	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Giovanni Bracco Franco Bordoni-Bisleri	Maserati 200S	1
Not started
48	TS + 1.3	8th		Raffaello Matteucci Alfonso Thiele	Alfa Romeo 1900TI	1
49	GT	18th		Franco Bertani	Alfa Romeo Giulietta	2
50	GT	26th		Natale Gotelli Bensi	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL	3
51	GT	34		Ignazio Consiglio Rocco Finocchiaro	Fiat 8V	4th
52	S 1.1	46		Otello Biagiotti Piero Altini	Ermini	5
53	S 1.1	50		Mario Piccolo Giuseppe Sapienza	Giaur	6th
54	S 1.5	60		Ernst Lautenschlager Rudi Scholl	Porsche 550	7th
55	S 1.5	66		Wolfgang Seidel	Osca MT4	8th
56	S 2.0	96		Azzurro Manzini	Maserati A6GCS	9
56	S + 2.0	98		Hauret	Talbot-Lago Sport	10
57	S + 2.0	108		Luigi Bordonaro Enrico Anselmi	Ferrari 750 Monza	11
58	S + 2.0	114		Melchiorre Scaminaci Antonio di Salvo	Ferrari 750 Monza	12
59	GT	T	Daimler-Benz AG	Juan Manuel Fangio Karl Kling Desmond Titterington Hans Herrmann Stirling Moss Peter Collins John Fitch	Mercedes-Benz 190 SL	13
60	GT	T	Daimler-Benz AG	Juan Manuel Fangio Karl Kling Desmond Titterington Hans Herrmann Stirling Moss Peter Collins John Fitch	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL	14th
61	GT	T	Daimler-Benz AG	Juan Manuel Fangio Karl Kling Desmond Titterington	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	15th
62	GT	T	Daimler-Benz AG	Juan Manuel Fangio Karl Kling Desmond Titterington Stirling Moss Peter Collins	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	16
63	TS + 1.3	T	Daimler-Benz AG	Juan Manuel Fangio Karl Kling Desmond Titterington Hans Herrmann Stirling Moss Peter Collins John Fitch	Mercedes-Benz 220	17th

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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
64	S 1.5	68		Luigi Messedaglia Diego Capelli	Porsche 550

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
S + 2.0	Stirling Moss	Peter Collins	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	Overall victory
S 2.0	Carlo Manzini	Francesco Giardini	Maserati A6GCS	Rank 5
S 1.5	Giulio Cabianca	Piero Carini	Osca MT4 1500	Rank 7
S 1.1	Domenico Rotolo	Luigi di Pasquale	Osca MT4 1100	Rank 14
GT	Francesco Arezzo	Gennaro Alterio	Fiat 8V Zagato	Rank 15
TS + 1.3	Elio Zagato	Ovidio Capelli	Fiat 8V Zagato	Rank 11

Racing data

• Registered: 64
• Started: 47
• Rated: 20
• Race classes: 6
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: warm and dry
• Route length: 72,000 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 9: 43: 14,000 hours
• Overall laps of the winning team: 13
• Total distance of the winning team: 936,000 km
• Winner's average: 96.291 km / h
• Pole position: none
• Fastest race lap: Stirling Moss - Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (# 104) - 43: 07.200 = 100.178 km / h
• Racing series: Round 6 of the 1955 World Sports Car Championship

literature

• Alain Bienvenu: Endurance. 50 ans d'histoire. Volume 1: 1953-1964. Éditions ETAI, Boulogne-Billancourt 2004, ISBN 2-7268-9327-9 .
• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .
• Pino Fondi: Targa Florio - 20th Century Epic. Giorgio Nada Editore Vimodrone 2006, ISBN 88-7911-270-8 .

Web links

Commons : Targa Florio 1955  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Results and data for racing sports cars

Predecessor race RAC Tourist Trophy 1955

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 1000 km race in Buenos Aires 1956