STORY OF THE DAY: Ascari’s four-wheel debut in Enzo Ferrari’s first independent racer

On 28 April 1940, Alberto Ascari and Giovanni Minozzi started car number 66 in the Gran Premio di Brescia delle Mille Miglia, the wartime edition of the Mille Miglia contested over nine laps of a fast road circuit linking Brescia, Cremona and Mantua. Ascari led the 1,500-cc sports category early in the race, but a failure in the engine’s valve gear forced the car to retire. Although the supplied title calls the model “817,” surviving race records consistently identify number 66 as the Auto Avio Costruzioni Tipo 815.

The appearance of the two Auto Avio Costruzioni entries was more consequential than their results. Number 66 gave the 21-year-old Ascari his first start in an automobile race, after his initial career on motorcycles, and immediately showed competitive speed before its mechanical failure. The sister 815 of Lotario Rangoni and Enrico Nardi subsequently led the class by a wide margin but also retired, leaving the promising new design without a finish.

Designed under Alberto Massimino’s direction, the 815 combined a production-derived chassis based on the Fiat 508 C with a specially constructed 1,496-cc straight-eight engine. Its designation referred to eight cylinders and approximately 1.5 litres. The engine drew heavily upon Fiat 1100 components, while Touring clothed the two-seat chassis in light, streamlined Superleggera bodywork. Compact dimensions, low weight and a four-speed transmission suited the rapid Brescia road course, although the unproven mechanical package lacked endurance.

Alberto Ascari was an Italian from Milan and the son of celebrated Grand Prix driver Antonio Ascari, who had been a friend and racing associate of Enzo Ferrari. Alberto established himself first with the Bianchi motorcycle team before Ferrari offered him the 815 for this transition to four wheels. The retirement concealed the importance of the occasion: after the war, Ascari became a leading Ferrari driver and won consecutive World Drivers’ Championships in 1952 and 1953, making this brief 1940 appearance the starting point of one of Ferrari’s defining racing partnerships.