be a fine writer". Biography Early life Portago was born in London, he was educated at Biarritz, in France. He became articulate in four languages, and spoke English with a distinctive British accent. Portago was heir to one of the most respected titles in Spain and a millionaire. Among his ancestors were explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. His father was Antonio Cabeza de Vaca, 10th Marquess of Portago, who died during half time at a polo match at a young age. His paternal grandfather was Vicente Cabeza de Vaca, 9th Marquess of Portago, mayor of Madrid. His mother was named Olga Leighton and was an Irish nurse. She also had a daughter named Sol, for Soledad, who married and became known as the Marchioness of Moratalla in racing circles. She died in 2017. Olga's first husband, Frank Mackey was more than 40 years older than she was. He shot himself while terminally ill and left Olga an enormous fortune made as founder of Household Finance Corp. Portago was a first cousin of Vicente Sartorius, 4th Marquess of Mariño as well as José Luis de Vilallonga, 9th Marquess of Castellbell. Portago was dark-haired and had freckles and blue eyes. He was 1.83 m (6 ft) tall and weighed 77 kg (170 Ibs). He famously won a bet at the age of 17 when he flew his plane beneath London Tower Bridge. He participated twice in the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree as a gentleman jockey, although he found keeping his weight down to be a struggle. Race car driver Portago began racing sports cars in 1953 after his meeting with the Ferrari importer in the USA, Luigi Chinetti, who asked him to be his co-driver in the Carrera Panamericana. He later raced alone in a personal Ferrari Sport model at the 1954 1000 km Buenos Aires. Portago won six major races, including the Tour de France automobile race, the Grand Prix of Oporto, and the Nassau Governor's Cup (twice). In Nassau, during the winter of 1956, Portago trailed the car ahead of him by centimeters while travelling at 240 km/h. Portago used his skill to avert careening into a crowd after the driver ahead of him touched his brakes and both cars went into a 180 m skid. Among sports car enthusiasts, Portago was known as a two-car man, because of the many burned-out brakes, clutches, transmissions, and wrecked cars