of 220 bhp (fresh from beating Mercedes and Jaguar in the Mille Miglia) and one of the smaller 2.7L '225 Sport' that had just taken the top five places at the Monaco Grand Prix (this year a sports-car race) a fortnight earlier. The '250 S' was to be driven by Enzo Ferrari's GP drivers Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi, while the smaller works '225 S' was driven by Tom Cole Jr., latterly with Allard. Even Louis Rosier had jumped from Talbot to a pair of Ferrari 340 Americas. He was entered in one (racing with fellow French F1 racer Maurice Trintignant) and the other for his son. Lancia's first foray the year before had been a win, and the works team returned with a pair of updated B20 Aurelias to again contest the 2-litre class. Another pre-war veteran, Luigi Fagioli, was to have driven (after scoring a 3rd place in the Mille Miglia) but had been critically injured at the same Monaco GP that Ferrari had won and could not compete. (Tragically, he died of his wounds less than a week after the Le Mans race) Another future Italian stalwart of the race made its debut this year: OSCA had been set up by the three Maserati brothers after selling their namesake company, and arrived with their first sports car, the pretty little MT-4. Its 1.3L engine developed 90 bhp, putting it in a competitive contest against the Jowetts and Porsche. Briggs Cunningham returned with his own cars and regular team-drivers John Fitch and Phil Walters. This year they had two new C-4R roadsters and one with a closed coupé body (C-4RK) designed by renowned pre-war aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm. Made over 500 kg lighter than the 1951 C-2, they claimed the biggest engines just ahead of the Allards, with the burly 5.4L Chrysler 'Firepower' V8 putting out 320 bhp. Potential works entries from Alfa Romeo (for Juan-Manuel Fangio and José Froilán González) and Pegaso were scratched amid concerns about the cars being able to last the distance. Practice The remodelled Jaguars soon showed up overheating problems what were to plague them through the race, despite some hasty modifications. A Le Mans star of the future, Phil Hill drove one of the Cunninghams in practice, but not in the race. In the second practice session, Griffith heavily crashed his Aston Martin into the sandbank at Tertre Rouge, but team manager John