The Porsche 550 was a racing sports car produced by Porsche
from 1953 to 1956. In that time only 90 Porsche 550s were produced, but
it quickly established dominance in the 1.1- and 1.5- liter classes.
The Porsche 550 is a mid-engine car with an air-cooled four-cylinder
engine, following the precedent of the 1948 Porsche 356/1 prototype designed by Ferry Porsche. The mid-engine racing design was further developed with Porsche's 718 model; its advantages led to it becoming the dominant design for top-level racing cars by the mid-1960s.
The Porsche 550 has a solid racing history; the first race it
entered, the Nurburgring Eifel Race in May 1953, it won. The 550 Spyder
would usually finish top 3 in its class. Each Spyder was designed and
customized to be raced.
A 1957 Porsche 550A Spyder sold at auction in 2018 by RM Sotheby's for $4,900,000 (£3,814,118) - the highest price for a 550 at auction.
The 1958 1000 km Buenos Aires took place on 26 January, on the Autódromo Municipal-Avenida Paz, (Buenos Aires, Argentina). It was the fifth running of the race, and once again, it was opening round of the F.I.A. World Sports Car Championship. For this event, it returned to the Autódromo, after having a one-off race at the Circuito de la Costanera Norte, however its layout was not generally well received.
The sport’s governing body, F.I.A. and its Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI) dictated several technical changes to the 1958 Sports Car rule book, under teams completing now see their cars’ engines limited to three litres.
A grand total of 30 racing cars were registered for this event, of which all 30 arrived for practice and 26 for qualifying for the race. Although this was the first major sports car race of the year to be run since CSI’s rule changes, but as in previous years, the race was poorly supported by the works teams. Only Ferrari sent works cars from Europe. They had entered three of the stunning Ferrari 250 TRs for Peter Collins/Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips/Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso/Olivier Gendebien.
As for the other works teams from 1957, Aston Martin opted not to do the long trek to South America, while the Jaguar D-Types were no longer eligible to under these new rules, due to their 5-litre engines. As for Maserati, it was announced that due to financial difficulties, they would not continue to operate as a works team.
After a three-hour qualifying session held on the days prior to the race, it was Collins who took pole position for Scuderia Ferrari in their 250 TR.
However, Stirling Moss and Jean Behra were originally entered to share a Maserati 300S, but when this car broke its crankshaft during a practice session, they were offered a Porsche 550 RS.
The race was held over 106 laps of the 5.888 mile, Autódromo Municipal-Avenida Paz, giving a distance of 624.162 miles (1,004.49 km). Due to the lack of opposition, it was left to Ferrari to battle amongst themselves. However, the last minute change of mount for Moss and Behra would bring some excitement to the race, added in part by what was literal invasion of Lepidopterous on race day. Butterflies tended to cover up the cars’water radiators, a problem which air-cooled cars like the Porsche did not have…
In the race, the Scuderia Ferrari of Collins and Hill, won ahead of their teammates von Trips/Gendebien/Musso. Car number 2, took an impressive victory, winning in a time of 6hrs 19:55.4 mins, averaging a speed of 98.572 mph. Second place went to the second Ferrari, albeit 3:14.4 mins. adrift. The podium was complete by the winner of the 1957 Swedish Grand Prix, Moss and Behra who despite their small engine, were just 9.8 seconds behind.
The race was marred by the death of a driver named Jorge Magnasco, following an accident on lap seven, when the driver overturned his Maserati 300S.
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