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The 1954 Le Mans 24-Hour race followed. Maglioli and Paolo Marzottoco-drove this Silverstone-winning ‘0384 AM’ while González/Maurice Trintignant and Louis Rosier/Robert Manzon handled sister‘Four-Nines’. British journalist Gregor Grant of ‘Autosport’ wrote:“The big 4.9-litre cars came to the Sarthe with a dreadful reputationfor handling properties. Stories were freely circulating that driverswere averse to piloting them, and that it was as good as signing theirdeath warrant to go to Le Mans.“Admittedly they are brutal-looking devices, but one could scarcelybelieve that the genius who has been responsible for the developmentof the wonderful Ferrari racing cars, would risk the lives ofdrivers with a dangerous contraption.“Paolo Marzotto admitted that, at first, the cars are terrifyingly fast,but constant practice made them as easy to control as any modernsports-racing car…“Watching them in action, it was obvious that the more experienceddrivers, such as González and Trintignant, preferred to use the ‘slowin, fast out’ method of cornering, and not to risk using up theirbrakes to try to save seconds. They were perfectly aware that theycould out-accelerate anything on the circuit, and that they couldmatch the better streamlined (D-Type) Jaguars for sheer maximumspeed on the straights.”Paolo Marzotto ran second in ‘0384 AM’ during the opening stagesof the great race, as González led from the young Italian with Manzon’ssister works 375-Plus third.‘The Autocar’ reported how: “Gonzalez, lights on to encourage theslower cars to give room, tore past the stands on the outside of theslight bend, cut across fairly quickly and took the right-hander underthe Dunlop Bridge about eighteen inches from the side line, exhaustcrackling until his foot went down again; the Ferrari was rock-like inits steadiness. Tony Rolt’s Jaguar was equally impressive, his lineunder the Bridge being one long, beautiful swerve (while) Marzottowas carving closer in, pulling his Ferrari over immediately after thecrisp down-change for the bend.”Young Marzotto then moved this Ferrari, race number ‘3’ into thelead, swopping first place to-and-fro with team leader González asrain began. At the end of the second hour’s racing González/Trintignant’s375-Plus led the Marzotto/Maglioli car with the Stirling Moss/Peter Walker Jaguar D-Type third. On lap 27 Marzotto regained thelead and when he eventually stopped to refuel he rejoined withouthanding over to his senior co-driver Maglioli. Problems striking theworks Jaguars then left the Ferrari fleet in full control. After four hoursthe Ferrari 375-Plus trio were circulating 1-2-3 – González, Marzottoand Robert Manzon. Although the rain was abating, the trackremained slick and treacherous.13Motor Cars | 125