His grandfather was governor of Madrid; his father was Spain’s best golfer and an audacious gambler who once won $2 million at Monte Carlo; the last king of Spain, Alfonso XIII, was his godfather.
He won his pilot's licence at 17 and lost it almost immediately by flying under London Bridge to win a $500 bet.
He played a ferocious game of Jai-Alai, swam competitively, won a tennis title and took up top-level polo, yachting and shooting. He was a tremendous, fearless, horseman, winning three successive French amateur titles. In 1956, he enlisted his cousins to help represent Spain in their first ever bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics, where they came an impressive fourth
At winter sports time, his Spanish bob team for the Winter Olympics trained by Ed Nelson and missed the two-man bobsleigh bronze by just 0.014sec. In the following Swiss Championships he finished second in the four-man bob, third in the two-man.
He rode twice in the Grand National, in 1950 and '52, but spun off both times.
He rode with Chinetti in the 1953 Carrera PanAmericana, and co-drove in the '54 Buenos Aires 1000km and Sebring 12-Hours
he crashed at the Nurburgring, and was scooped into an ambulance. He objected tot he ride to the hospital, knocked out the driver, dumped him in the back, and drove back to the paddock. Won 10k at the casino that night, and bought a new Ferrari Monza, which was promptly shipped to Mexico for the Carrera.
At Nassau in the Bahamas Speed Week he then won two races and placed second in a third. Enzo Ferrari paid extra attention this client could drive. He was duly "permitted" to order a Ferrari 625A F1 car for the 1955 season and earned a quasi-works drive at Sebring.
At Caracas, Venezuela, he was second behind Fangio. And then, back at Nassau, he won again by way of introducing the first Ferrari 250GT Berlinetta, solidly founding that fantastic bloodline.
So he missed the Argentine races in '56 but was given works-backed drives at Sebring, and in Germany, France, Sweden and Italy. Mid-season, Enzo Ferrari offered him a works F1 ride to keep the team's spare Lancia-Ferrari D50A in the hunt during the French GP at Reims.
Navigated by Nelson, he was able to beat Stirling Moss/Houel's Mercedes SL `Gullwing' at the the Tour de France and earn the Ferrari its 'Tour de France' title.
he declared: If I'd lived 600 years ago I'd have been killing dragons or helping maidens in distress, but nowadays the only man who can help a maiden in distress is a doctor."
He died during the Mille Miglia, at 150mph when a front tire blew, aged 28
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/april-1997/54/de-portago
https://www.revistavanityfair.es/sociedad/celebrities/articulos/alfonso-de-portago-aristocrata-amaba-velocidad/32876
https://therake.com/stories/icons/full-marquis-alfonso-de-portago/
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