The 166 Mille Miglia’s three biggest victories of that year were undoubtedly at the Mille Miglia (Clemente Biondetti and Ettore Salani for Scuderia Ferrari), the Le Mans 24 Hours (Luigi Chinetti and Paul Mitchell-Thompson in Chinetti’s privateer example) and the Spa 24 Hours (Chinetti again, this time co-driven by Jean Lucas).

In addition, further victories were achieved at the Luxembourg Grand Prix (Luigi Villoresi for Scuderia Ferrari), the Coppa Adriatica at Senigallia (Franco Cornacchia in his privateer machine), the Circuito di Trieste (Cornacchia again) and the Coppa Gallenga (the Vermicino-Rocca di Papa Hillclimb where Giannino Marzotto for the Marzotto racing stable which would quickly become Ferrari’s biggest buyer of sports racing cars).

For 1950, Ferrari introduced a new big block V12 engine which was used on a couple of occasions and the 2.4-litre 195 Sport which replaced the 166 engine for most works entries and those of a couple of VIP customers such as the Marzotto brothers.

Nevertheless, more 166 Mille Miglias continued to emerge from the factory and the little two-litre car had another great season with outright wins at the Luxembourg GP and Silverstone International 1 Hour Trophy (both Alberto Ascari for Scuderia Ferrari), the Paris 12 Hours at Montlhery (Luigi Chinetti / Jean Lucas), the Coppa d’Oro della Dolomiti (Giannino Marzotto), the Circuito di Senigallia (Antonio Stagnoli), Mar del Plata (Carlos Menditeguy), the Corsa al Monte Pellegrino Hillclimb (Luigi Musso) and the Aosta-Gran San Bernardo Hillclimb (Antonio Stagnoli).

1951 saw the introduction of an even larger Colombo-engined Ferrari competition car, the 2.6-litre 212 Export, but the 166 Mille Miglia was still competitive in the popular under two-litre class where it continued to rack up a plethora of victories.

In terms of outright wins that year, the 166 Mille Miglia won the Coppa d’Oro di Sicilia, the Carese-Campo di Fiori Hillclimb and the Bolzano-Mendola Hillclimb (all thanks to Antonio Stagnoli whose car was now in Zagato Spyder trim). Perhaps most significantly, Giannino Marzotto and Marco Crosara took victory in that year’s Coppa della Toscana.

Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ferrari – https://www.ferrari.com