Juan Jover Sañés represented somehow the kind of original amateur driver whose personal wealth allowed him to compete in a couple of sports, all of them with a mechanical base, much in line with Rolls, Henry and Maurice Farman, the Voisin brothers and so many others.
Jover was the most notorious Spanish driver of his time, together with Joaquín Palacio (1901-1989). Both had very similar careers. Jover made his debut on two wheels, on the early twenties, but very soon cars attracted him more and he switched to four wheels. He can be found on the entry list of the III Trofeo Armangué in 1923, where he drove a Cyclecar “Rally Chic” wearing number 3.
As time went by, and after WWII, he took part in some European Grand Prix races, at tracks like Bari, Montlhéry, Reims-Gueux, Pedralbes, Monza or La Sarthe. In 1949 he finished second in the Le Mans 24 Hours, sharing a Delage 3 litres with Henri Louveau, trailing the winning Ferrari of Luigi Chinetti/Peter Selsdon. Later in the year the same team of Louveau and Jover, with the addition of Mouche, finished second in the Spa 24 hours.
In the races organised by the Penya Rhin, also after the war, Jover was a usual presence, very enthusiastic but with rather hectic results. In the 1946 Grand Prix, he shared a Maserati 6CM with Alberto Puig Palau, that was a complete rookie too. After a race plagued with incidents, they both finished in a surprising third place, although 15 laps away from the winning driver, Giorgio Pelassa, and 11 from the second placed drivers, Ciro Bassadona and Arnaldo Ruggieri (all of them driving Maserati 4CLs).
It has not been until quite recently that this fact – Jover sharing the Puig Palau car – has been known. Paul Sheldon doesn’t acknowledge the entry, and it has been Pablo Gimeno Valledor’s amazing The International Penya Rhin Grand Prix that has shed some light over this, whereas previous biographical notes on Jover used to mention that his debut in Grand Prix racing happened in 1947, at the Bari Grand Prix.
In 1948, in the IX GP Penya Rhin-VI Copa Barcelona, he drove a Maserati 4CL under the Escudería Autoespañola banner, but was forced to retire on lap 12. In 1950 (our picture) he was driving a Maserati 4CLT/48 prepared by Speluzzi and known as the “Milano”.
The story of the “Milanos” apparently starts in 1949, when the organizers of the Italian Grand Prix decided to offer some serious starting money to any constructor presenting cars of new design for the race. The Ruggieri brothers, who were the owners of the Scuderia Milano, made a couple of modifications to two Maseratis 4CLT/48 that they owned at the time (1594 and 1602) and they entered them as Maserati-Milanos.
The basic modifications were shorter wheelbases, larger brakes and a re-tuned engine (via an increased blower pressure) of which Mario Speluzzi was responsible. Taruffi and Farina drove the cars. Not everybody agrees on whether the organizers understood that these cars were or were in fact not “new cars”, hence making dubious whether the “special prize” was awarded to them.
The idea, however, was kept alive, and the Ruggieris decided to make a further step in 1950. Two chassis 4CLT/50 were bought (1611 and 1612) and some experiments took place on them. To cut the long story short, one of the cars, probably the 1611, became the Milano “1” (with a de Dion axle) whilst the second one was never raced during the season, and its rear did not adopt the de Dion. At the same time, Speluzzi conveniently modified the Maserati engine with a large single Roots blower in place of the two-stage original one and a completely new cylinder head with two plugs per cylinder.
Compatriots Paco Godia and Juan Jover drove for the team in the 1950 Penya Rhin race, but sources seem to indicate that the second car was not the Milano “2” but one of the 1949 cars. Also thanks to Gimeno’s book, this can be confirmed, as this shot of Godia’s car shows the obvious differences with Jover’s Milano.
With money running short for continuing with the ideas, that was the end of the Milanos. Or was it?
Well, not exactly. Somehow sources agree that car number “2” (probably the original 1612) happened to be sold to a young amateur driver named Mario Alborghetti, whose enthusiasm was such that he commissioned Gianpaolo Volpini and Egidio Arzani to “create” a car of their own for him to drive at “top” level, based on the chassis that he had bought.
The car, now named “Arzani-Volpini”, which external aspect was very much of “Squalo” lines, was supposed to be ready by March 1955, so an entry was made for it at the Turin Grand Prix at Valentino Park. Just a bit too soon, as the car was not ready in time.
A fortnight later, in April, the combination appeared in Pau for the Grand Prix. The odds stacked against him, Alborghetti was incredibly slow in practice, and was well at the back of the grid, having posted practice times similar to Storez and Armagnac and their DB’s supercharged monomilles, the three of them some ten seconds slower than the next guy up there. We know he drove a very slow race, made three pitstops and then, on lap 19, he crashed heavily into the straw bales at the tight Station corner, apparently without making any attempt to round it. Alborghetti was killed, with nine spectators injured.
Whilst some authors have never found a reasonable explanation for this accident others suggest that Pollet was involved in it, as he would have been overtaking Mario on the inside at that particular moment.
How the car went into Piotti’s hands for Monza later in the year and was practised but not raced is part of the mystery, but unfortunately we have never heard or read a reasonable explanation.
Back to Jover. In 1951 he took part in the Spanish Grand Prix, again at Pedralbes, this time driving the Maserati 4CLT/48-1612 (in Milano fashion?) but did not qualify. It was a pretty irritating experience for Jover who was unable to squeeze a reasonable practice time from the car, whilst Godia, at the wheel of the other car – the one that Jover drove in 1950 – had no such problems. Now, another mystery surrounds this (non) participation. Many sources credit Jover with a time enough to have qualified for the race, being just a fraction slower than Godia and faster than Bira and Rosier. But it is a fact that he did not start the race, and no explanation is given to the fact, except for a source that suggests that the engine died in practice hence making it impossible for Jover to start.
Jover went on racing, and in May 1953 he took part in the La Rabassada hillclimb, driving a F2 Maserati and a Cisitalia 1100, finishing second and third on scratch, in front of Paco Godia who, driving the same cars, finished fourth and fifth. Both drivers were beaten fair and square by their compatriot Joaquín Palacio, who drove a Pegaso Z102 spyder 2,5l. From that race onwards, that Pegaso model was to be known as “Rabassada”.
Later in the year, and driving one of those Pegasos, Jover suffered a very serious accident in practice for Le Mans 24 Hours. The car was travelling at around 200km/h when, having just overtaken a Cunningham, Jover misjudged the speed at which he was approaching the corner after the Dunlop bridge and hit the barriers. Jover was expelled from the car, and his left leg was very seriously damaged. It was only due to the ability of his friend, Doctor Soler-Roig (father of the Spanish driver of the late sixties and seventies) that he didn’t suffer the amputation of his leg.
This was, as Jose Luis Otero recalls, one of those cases where some press reports – some of them very serious, as that of MotorSport magazine – went simply wrong and said Jover had died as a result of the accident. This was not the first case, though. Otero tells us about similar cases in which drivers seriously hurt have been reported dead, like Helmut Fath (Nürburgring 1961), Heinz Luthringhauser (Brno 1972), motorcycle champion Víctor Palomo (Montjuich 1979), Carlos Charly Menditeguy (1956 Sebring 12 Hours) or Fritz d’Orey (Le Mans practice, 1960).
After a full year of recovery, Jover was back at the wheel in June 1954, of course to compete in La Rabassada hillclimb. In what was a Pegaso parade, Jover finished fifth being four other Pegasos. For the record, let’s remember the names of the drivers, from winner to fourth: Julio Reh, Polo Villaamil, Celso Fernández and Joaquín Palacio.
Now it’s 1956, and Jover finishes in second spot at the III Gran Premio Nacional Sport de Barajas driving a Maserati 300S, behind the winning Porsche spyder of J.-Felipe Nogueira but in front of the Ferrari Monza of Nogueira Pinto and the Jaguar D Type driven by Rudy Bay. The following year, he won the same race, this time at the wheel of a Maserati 200S, dedicating his win to the recently disappeared Alfonso de Portago. In 1958 Jover finally won the La Rabassada hillclimb, this time driving a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.
Almost retired, in 1960, this gentleman driver was to die on Tuesday 28th June whilst driving his small convertible from Sitges to Barcelona. For reasons unknown, the car went off the road and fell down through the cliff.
In memory of this driver, beloved by his colleagues, a Trofeo Juan Jover was organized, to be held from 1963 to 1968 at the Montjuich racetrack. In 1967, the Trofeo Juan Jover was also the II Gran Premio de Barcelona of Formula 2. At the end, surrounding Jim Clark as winner, were two other World Champions in the making, as both Denny Hulme and Jochen Rindt occupied the other two podium places. Surely it was the best homage that Juan Jover would have desired.
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