Buenos Aires-la Costanera Norte

The 1957 Buenos Aires 1000Kms was held on a temporary road course near the airport in the city’s Palermo district. The track used both sides of the tree lined Avenida Costanera Rafael Obligado with oncoming traffic at speeds of 150mph or more only separated by straw bales. It ran around parks at either end of the course. Stirling Moss later described it as “bumpy, poorly marked and extremely dangerous” and a chicane was inserted behind the pits after first practice on safety grounds. Juan Manuel Fangio qualified a Maserati 450S on pole position and co-driver Moss led convincingly before retiring. That left the Ferrari 290MM of Masten Gregory, Luigi Musso and Eugenio Castellotti to win. Moss took over the third-placed Maserati 300S and snatched second-place in the closing laps. The track had been the venue of the Peron Cup races in 1951, a year before the permanent Autodromo October 17 opened ten miles across town.