The most famous – and fastest – Mille Miglia of all time took place in 1955. Mercedes entered no less than four 300 SLR into the fray: Fangio with number 658, Karl Kling with 701, Hans Herrmann with 704 and Stirling Moss with 722. The start number is also the start time. The 300 SLR was not an upgrade of the 300 SL, but rather a derivation of the pureblood Formula One W196 racing car.

The picture becomes clear several hours after the start and after Rome had already been passed: Hans Herrmann and his co-driver Hans Eger or Stirling Moss and his co-driver Dennis Jenkins will claim the victory. At this stage, Fangio is trailing 20 minutes behind, and Kling has already dropped out.

Herrmann and Eger have the better strategy and have carefully rationed their braking. Suddenly, Herrmann and Eger lose their fuel tank cap in their promising position and are saturated with fuel. Moss, who powers on with no consideration for purely mechanical problems, completes the final 160 km with severely worn brakes and wins the race.

Stirling Moss won probably the most famous and, indeed, legendary Mille Miglia victory in an incredible record time: 1,600 km in approximately 10 hours.