*** Welcome to piglix ***

1954 12 Hours of Sebring


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, 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.

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 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’s in particular were entered for – Juan Manuel Fangio and Eugenio Castellotti, Piero Taruffi and Robert Manzon and Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi, 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 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 playboyPorfirio Rubirosa, 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.


...
Wikipedia

...