The Phil Hill Trophy Race celebrates the 50-th anniversary of Hill’s victory at Monza and GP World Championship title.
Round Four of the FIA Historic Formula One Championship Series, the 59-th Coppa InterEurope Storica, at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, June 3-5, will include a race to celebrate the legacy of Phil Hill. Scuderia del Portello and exotic car collector, Lawrence Auriana, are organizing the Phil Hill Trophy Race for 1.5-liter Grand Prix cars. Alma Hill, Phil’s widow, and son Derek, will present the trophy and honor America’s first Formula One Champion who in 2008 at 81 succumbed to Parkinson’s disease.
In September 1961 at Monza, Phil Hill clinched the Formula One World Championship at the wheel of a Ferrari 156, above. Hill, a quiet, unassuming Californian, lead the way to Europe for a group of young American sports car racers, including Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby.
“My mother and I are so pleased to be asked to present the Phil Hill Trophy at Monza,” said Derek Hill. Not only was my father the first American to become a Formula One World Champion, but he also defeated the odds by walking away from the sport a living man. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for his main rival and teammate, Wolfgang von Trips, who was killed on the very day he clinched the Championship.
“Death was very much a risk you took every time you sat in one of those cars,” continued Hill. To be here at Monza, a circuit my father had significant victories at driving for Ferrari, means a lot to our family. Monza is where my father won his first GP race in 1960, and again in 1961, when he clinched the World Championship.
The car in which Phil Hill won the Title, and the Ferrari team dominated the 1961 Championship, was known as the “156,” (1,500-cc/Six-cylinder engine). It was also known as the Ferrari “Sharknose” because of its beautiful streamlined shape and shark-like nose. Unfortunately, at the end of the 156’s second season in 1962, Enzo Ferrari had all the models destroyed. For many enthusiasts, the 156 is one of the most iconic Ferrari racecars. Belgian enthusiast Jan Biekens has created a replica Ferrari 156, using many original parts including an engine and the complex transmission, and it will be on display and in action at Monza throughout the Historic Championship weekend.
Another of Phil Hill’s Grand Prix cars, the ATS 100, above with Ferrari 156 at Goodwood, which Hill competed in the 1963 US and Mexican GPs and was later modified to 1964 specification will be driven by ex-Ferrari team driver, Arturo Merzario
In addition to the Phil Hill Trophy race, the Monza event will feature 400 historic racecars, divided into groups for Formula One, Formula Two, Can Am, World Endurance Prototypes, and GT and Touring Cars. Vintage racing enthusiast Derek Hill, who has competed in racing series in the U.S. and Europe, will be driving an AC Cobra with his teammate Rob Hall in the GTSCC class.
Phil Hill was also a serious photographer and a compilation/photo-biography of his pictures and career will be produced by Doug Nye and published by GP Library this fall. This book of Hill's unique collection of motor racing photographs, taken from 1948 to 1962, promises to be a must-have for motor racing aficionados.
For more information about Phil Hill, please visit,www.PHILHILL.com
For further information on the FIA Historic Championships, please contact, info@scuderiadelportello.org