Race
The day of the race would be warm and dry, but that would mean very little as the team prepared for the start at 4pm. As the field took off, it wouldn't be long before the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps would prove to be a greater threat, even to the best teams and drivers in the race. [2]
A number of privateers entries would fall out of contention early into the race, but then, the factory efforts and the bigger privateers began to run into trouble. Roger Laurent and Jacques Swaters would retire their C-Type with a blown engine. Fangio and Sanesi would be out following an accident in their Alfa Romeo 6C. The Ferrari pairing of Maglioli and Carini would be amongst the casualties with value troubles. It did not get any easier for the top drivers as even Ascari and Villoresi would retire with clutch failure. [2] [4]
Although two of the three works Ferraris had retired during the race, Scuderia victory was never seriously threatened. After Fangio/Sanesi accident after only 22 laps, the Ferrari was without any close competition. Farina and Hawthorn would remain in the lead throughout the whole race, even when the rain came late on in the race. At the finish, Farina and Hawthorn had an 18 lap advantage over the Jaguar C-Type of the Scottish Ecurie Ecosse. In the end, the Ferrari margin of victory amounted to about an advantage of close to 90 minutes over James Scott Douglas and Guy Gale. A Belgian-entered Jaguar C-Type of Herman Roosdorp and Toni Ulmen was a further eleven laps down and finished third. In the touring car class, the Portuguese driver Viegas Vellagao and his Belgian co-driver, Vladimir Narichkine were victorious in their Mercedes-Benz 220. However, although they were fifth overall, they were 68 laps behind the winning Ferrari. The winning partnership, won in a time of 24hr 02:07.085mins., averaging a speed of 94.910 mph. They covered a distance of 2,281.182 miles. [2] [3] [5] [6]
