TDFs Storm the Tour de France – in Cavallino 215

In the second part of our series on the 250 GT Tour de France in, appropriately, the Tour de France Automobile race, we continue in Cavallino 215 with the year 1957. The 250 GT won the 1956 event (hence its name) and did it again in 1957, with the team of Olivier Gendebien and Lucian Bianchi besting the team of Maurice Trintignant and Francois Picard.

Tour de France Auto historian and researcher Germain Malléjac presents you with a close-up and detailed accounting of this fascinating week-long event – race by race, hill climb by hill climb, sector by sector. He is the expert, just what we like in Cavallino magazine.

From the Germain Malléjac text:

“Olivier Gendebien was also expected on Thursday in Modena. He was recalling that he had decided to give the Liège-Rome-Liège race a miss (August 28th to September 1st), in order to focus on the Tour de France. He was somewhat disappointed when he heard later on that no new model 250 GT was planned for him at Maranello. However, Enzo Ferrari had proposed to him that he drive the old berlinetta (0677 GT, 14 louvre), the same one in which he had won both the Mille Miglia and the 12 heures de Rheims, but now fitted with all of the latest technical improvements. Gendebien agreed but had not yet found a co-driver to assist him in this event. Eventually, he found the young Lucien Bianchi, even though Bianchi’s employer in Belgium (a Jaguar dealer) had ordered him not to go. Fortunately, Bianchi ignored his boss!”

The complete story of this marathon and unforgettable journey is now available in Cavallino 215. Subscribe today!

Source: Historical images from the famous Maurice Louche Collection. Visit him at www.editionsmauricelouche.com