It’s 22 January 1956, minutes before four of a warm and cloudy Buenos Aires afternoon. Juan Manuel Fangio, Eugenio Castellotti and Luigi Musso have lined up their Lancia-Ferraris on the first row of the grid for the start of the Argentinian Grand Prix, alongside Jean Behra’s Maserati 250F. Behind them – in the middle of row two on the 4-3-4 grid – is Carlos Menditeguy aboard one of the five works-entered Maseratis, sandwiched by team-mates Stirling Moss and Jose Froilan Gonzalez.
Down comes the flag and, as the field accelerates away, Menditeguy edges past Fangio, Castellotti and Behra, trailing Musso and Gonzalez into the right-hand swerve at the bottom of the main straight. Third place becomes the lead four laps later, and this is where he’ll remain during the next 70 minutes or so (nearly 40 laps), until a broken half shaft violently pitches Menditeguy into the outer wire fencing of that same right-hander.
