The ‘kiss of death’: the curse that ended the Spanish Ferrari driver that made Fangio tremble

2024-02-09 07:29:16
In 1956, ABC journalist Carlos Sentis defined the Marquis of Portago as a calm and good-looking guy who was always accompanied by a “leather blouse.” A boy who was in his early thirties and who, despite the fact that he sometimes spoke “like a heavy truck mechanic would,” was “on his way to being the second best runner in the world” after Juan Manuel Fangio. Unfortunately, less than a year after that interview, bad fortune cut short the aspirations and life of this red-hearted pilot. To make matters worse, he did it while driving for the Prancing Horse signing; because yes, he was the first Spaniard to get into a Ferrari and, as such, he has earned a place in Michael Mann’s latest film. The magnetism of risk May Don Enzo Ferrari forgive us, but the life of Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Ángel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquis of Portago, would well deserve a feature film. ‘Fon’, as friends and family called him, was born in 1928, and not in our country. “I was born in London, but three months later I was in Madrid, where I lived until 1936. Afterwards, I have only gone to Madrid from time to time,” he himself explained to Sentis. He was soon sponsored by King Alfonso Like many other nobles of the time, Fon felt attracted during his youth to any sport that hid a certain amount of danger. This is what Javier del Arco de Izco states in the Biographical Dictionary of the Royal Academy of History: «His desire to live intensely led him to practice all types of sports from a very young age, particularly individual and risky ones. At the age of 17, he flew a small plane over a bridge eye to win a five-hundred-dollar bet. As a result, he lost his pilot’s license. Jockey, polo… Anything was worth it to the marquis to feel the rush of adrenaline in his body. It was only a matter of time before racing appeared in his life, and so it happened after a test in 1953. The money, advantages of his position, allowed him to acquire a Ferrari 250MM with which he debuted as a driver that same year. . From then on he participated in an infinite number of races, as the ABC journalist well remembered: «The Panamericana, which was very tough, was run by Alfonso, as he has run the Twenty-four Hours of Mans. [Sic], the Twelve Hours of Reims, the Nürburgring, Monza and Buenos Aires tests. Caracas, Bahamas… Nothing could resist the marquis. Not even women, for whom he felt a passion almost as great as for the circuits. His good results put him in Ferrari’s orbit, although as a ‘privileged client’: using the brand’s cars and participating in races, but always with payment. He, in return, exuded daring at every turn. «You have to take risks to get the attention of brands. If you escape death in the first two years, half the battle is won,” he explained to a journalist. Although fortune was on his side. In the summer of 1956, a ‘Scuderia’ driver was injured and the sporting director, Sculati, offered him the long-awaited wheel of a Ferrari-Lancia D50. He had just entered Formula 1. And he didn’t do badly. In fact, in the half dozen races in which he participated he scored more points than great idols of the time. «That year, in addition, he achieved a great victory with a Ferrari 250 Sport, co-driven by his friend Eddie Nelson, in the Tour de France, a stage race that lasted a week visiting almost all the circuits and hill races in the neighboring country» , adds De Izco in his article. By then he had earned the respect of ‘Il Commendatore’, who did not respect him. On the contrary, Enzo Ferrari never had a good personal relationship with him; Rather, he considered him a scruffy-looking guy who also didn’t know anything about mechanics. Something that the same Spaniard admitted to Sentís: – «Car racers who understand too much about engines are more easily prey to fear. They always hear noises that worry and scare them. On the other hand, I don’t perceive or see anything when I lift the hood of a car. On the other hand, my mechanics prefer that I not even pour water into the radiator, nor do they let me inflate a tire. Steering wheel, nothing more than a steering wheel. The last one, with Ferrari, his toughest test was the one that ended him. The Italian Mille Miglia was not just any race; It was a legendary endurance test for demanding the maximum from man and mount. In total, about 1,600 kilometers on roads open to traffic. Portago, competitive to the extreme, received the news three days before it started: Enzo Ferrari confirmed that he would participate in the race, replacing Luigi Musso, who was suffering from a respiratory condition. Although the old fox encouraged him as only he knew how: «Marquis, you will drive the most powerful car, the new 335 S, although I will be surprised if it goes faster than [su compañero de equipo] Olivier with his berlinetta GT. The Spaniard knew he was being watched by the boss and lacked experience with his new car, but he didn’t say a word about giving up. Portago left Brescia on May 12, 1957, at dawn, with the American Edmund Nelson next to him as co-pilot. He did so after giving statements to the Spanish press that did not denote tension, but caution: «This is the first time that he participated. The course is hard and you need to have physical endurance, but, above all, tact to adjust the possibilities of the machine to the demands of the competition. “I’ll be happy if it doesn’t rain.” Unfortunately for him, he put aside his own rules and prepared to give the maximum of man and machine from the moment he started the engine. Condition of Portago ABC’s Ferrari In principle, our Spaniard kept pace with the lead and prevented Piero Taruffi and Wolfgang von Trips from escaping in time. He even led the race. But the passing of the hours condemned him to maintain a fratricidal fight for third position against the Belgian Olivier Gendebien, his teammate and immediate adversary. Ferrari’s words must have echoed over and over again in his mind: “I’ll be surprised if I go faster than him.” When he arrived in Rome he felt that he still had a chance of surpassing the berlinetta GT, but he stopped for a couple of minutes to dedicate himself to his other great passion: romances. In front of the photojournalists, the Spaniard kissed his lover, the Mexican actress Linda Christian, on the lips. In later interviews, Ella Christian stated that she noticed something strange about the Spanish: “I had a strange feeling with that kiss. It was cold, and when I looked at Nelson, he looked like a gray mummy. He was like hypnotized. That was a premonition. In the following kilometers, the Marquis had a problem with a wheel, but he did not allow his mechanics to change it in Mantua so as not to lose time. He innocently thought that he could finish third, when it was almost impossible. And in the end, the nightmare happened. That cocktail of tension and pressure led to an accident that cost the lives of the marquis and his co-pilot. This is how the newspaper ABC reported it with great pain in its edition of May 14, 1957: «The accident occurred when the 3.8-liter Ferrari, which was carrying Portago, one of the most powerful in the test, was rolling dizzily at 240 kilometers per hour, in Guidizzolo, near Mantua, 40 kilometers from Brescia, final goal. Suddenly, a tire burst and the car, uncontrollable due to the high speed, left the road and crashed into a parapet. Three people were physically cut and killed instantly. The car crashed into the left side of the road and, after causing the death of other spectators, broke a telegraph pole and fell into a ravine. “Five children, between five and seven years old, were atrociously mutilated fifty meters from the hole in which Portago’s red car appeared to have overturned.” Portago died instantly; His body was found under the hood. The American fought for his life for a few more minutes, but it was of no use. “He died shortly after the first rescuers arrived, who could do nothing but collect the bodies and help the injured,” ABC revealed. In Spain, the news was received with grief by the family. «The mother of the deceased Spanish pilot has arrived. “Many people have gone to the small chapel in the Cavriana cemetery, where the bodies of the two athletes are found,” the newspaper added. His death was also that of the Mille Miglia; The accident was confirmation that open races were too dangerous and should go down in history. The same as the reddish pilot. To make matters worse, his encounter with the Mexican woman, photographed by journalists, began to be known as ‘the kiss of death’: a kind of curse. Related News standard No ‘Masters of the air’: this was the crew of the colossal B-17 superbombers Manuel P. Villatoro standard No Historical ‘Bluf’? The expert who destroys the thousand lies about Joan of Arc Manuel P. Villatoro After her death, a harsh controversy was generated. On the one hand, Ferrari insisted that the car had not caused the accident. The Italian, as he appears in the film, placed all the blame on the quality of the tire. However, Olivier himself explained in a series of subsequent interviews that the “front left shock absorber bracket” was to blame. In his words, this part of the 335 S gave way between the regions of Cremona and Mantua, which caused “the tire to rub against the body” and, in the long run, to wear out and burst. And the same thing has happened with the mechanics’ supposed request to change the tire. Unfortunately, the film does not clarify either doubt. We will have to wait for the second part, if there is one…
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