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Umberto Maglioli recalled how he was in good shape, and poised togo for victory on the straight, flat-out final section from Bologna toBrescia, where the ‘Four-Nine’ could catch and overwhelm the littleLancia: “There it was very good, but the problem was always that it wasso impossible to stop the car, and therefore to relax at any stage. Webelieved there was always the danger that a tyre could blow. The rearmountedgearbox was taken from the 4.5-litre Formula 1 and the larger4.9-litre engine put it in danger… due to the extra torque. I was carefulalways to accelerate gently, not to overstress the gearbox, nor the tyres.“I was feeling fairly confident that on the flat, fast final section from Bolognato Brescia the great power of the Ferrari would give me five or tenminutes’ advantage over Ascari. I knew I had a strong chance of winningat that point as we crossed the Raticosa Pass…“Then as I was thinking this, I just accelerated at one point and theengine roared and the car did not accelerate. It was slowing down, andthere was no connection to the rear wheels. A split-pin had fallen out,a pinion bearing came loose and the gearwheels moved out of mesh.I just abandoned the Ferrari in a peasant’s yard far out in the remotecountryside, and eventually drove down to Bologna in a private car…“It was a great disappointment, but in motor racing we were all well accustomedto disappointment.”Left unchallenged, Alberto Ascari won the Mille Miglia comfortablyfor Lancia, ending a string of six consecutive Ferrari victories in theMille Miglia.Ferrari ‘0384AM’ offered here was then retrieved from its rural refuge,and with its final-drive easily repaired at Maranello it was trailered twoweeks later to Silverstone, England behind the Ferrari factory teamtransporter carrying the sister Formula 1 entries. Lead driver was to bethe spectacular Argentinian José Froilán González in the 17-lap (50-mile)sports car race supporting the Formula 1 ‘Daily Express’ InternationalTrophy at the BRDC May Meeting.The British press was spellbound by the roly-poly Argentine’s spectaculardriving and searing pace, for at Silverstone he showed it all. TheBritish journalists nicknamed González ‘The Pampas Bull’. He certainlycharged around Silverstone to tremendous effect, not only dominatingthe sports car race by leading virtually from start to finish in the ‘0384AM’ but also winning both his Formula 1 race Heat in his factory Ferrari‘Squalo’ and the 35-lap Final in a substitute Ferrari 625 to make it a hattrickof wins that day in May.He also set fastest Formula 1 lap at 95.79mph (in the 625) while in the375-Plus he had averaged 83mph on a damp and treacherous track.His fastest lap in ‘0384’ was 85.68mph,137,872 km/h. He lapped thelast-placed of the 27 starters three times, and by chance as he passedthe pits to complete his 16 th lap ‘0384 AM’ was completely alone on theSilverstone track…Fully 15 seconds of eery silence then passed before driver/constructorGeorge Abecassis came blaring through in his second-placed HWM-Jaguar. ‘The Fearsome Four-Nine’ had just eaten all its rivals alive.Motor Cars | 123