And it was successful too with an extraordinary succession of driving talent to take its wheel not just in the MM but also the Targa Florio, Nürburgring 1,000km and Buenos Aires 1,000km, Sebring 12 Hours, as well as the Swedish Grand Prix of ’56 where it was driven by Fangio. Other famous pilots over the car’s racing career included Alfonso de Portago, Olilvier Gendebien, Hans Herrmann, Phil Hill, Wolfgang Von Trips and Dan Gurney.
After 1957 the by-now famous sports racer was sold to a private team and, with the V12 now under the bonnet, it was despatched to Nassau for Bahama Speed Week. The car was entrusted to Sir Stirling Moss. He had never driven a 290 MM before and didn’t favour the central accelerator pedal, so the team changed it for him. Whereupon Sir Stirling led from the start to win the Nassau Trophy and the Memorial Trophy.
With its Scaglietti coachwork, the 290 MM is a beautiful thing, and utterly evocative of Ferrari’s golden age of 1950s sports racing barchettas. That was something captured by the photographer Louis Klemantaski who wielded his camera from the passenger seat of this actual car when he partnered Collins in the ’56 Mille Miglia. The car will also be familiar to Goodwood regulars for its appearance at Revival in 2011 to mark the centenary of the birth of Fangio.