Ascari and that cold hand

“I’m not going to go beyond this age,” he confided with his friend and rival Gigi Villoresi, as he turned 37. A disturbing expression uttered by a driver who had already taken so many risks in his life. A driver who had claimed the first two World Titles for Ferrari and who had also won the Mille Miglia when, after leaving Maranello, he had switched to the colours of Lancia. A driver who was just as famous for his obsessive superstition that led him to a stubborn attachment to the tools of his trade: his shoes, gloves and above all that light blue helmet he never raced without.