Formula One celebrates a very special milestone tomorrow as it was 60 years ago on May 13, 1950, that Silverstone hosted the first official FIA World Championship Grand Prix.

Now, six decades later, one of the leading cars in that race is being prepared to compete at the 2010 Silverstone Classic (July 23-25, 2010).

The landmark 1950 race – staged in front of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth – was the first for the newly created Drivers' World Championship and resulted in a clean-sweep for the works Alfa Romeo team, with its legendary 158s taking first, second and third in the hands of Giuseppe Farina, Luigi Fagioli and British racer Reg Parnell.

The fourth car, driven by Juan-Manuel Fangio, failed to finish the race. Farina, who went on to win the 1950 World Championship, completed 70 laps (202 miles) in 2h13m. That Sunday morning, Italian mechanics drove the four 158 racing cars to Silverstone from the team's hotel at Banbury.

To honour the anniversary of that historic race, one of these rare 158s will return to Northamptonshire in July to race in the Silverstone Classic.

One of the key features of this year's Silverstone Classic is a celebration of 60 years of Grand Prix racing at Silverstone.

Six races will put glorious Formula One cars spanning four decades into action, with double-header races for the HGPCA Pre '61 and Pre '66 classes and the Grand Prix Masters category for pre '82 cars.

The rare Alfa Romeo 158 of Carlos Vogele is expected to race in the Pre '61 races from the Historic Grand Prix Car Association. It is thought to be the chassis that Juan-Manuel Fangio raced at Silverstone in 1950 and is the only such example to escape from Alfa Romeo factory ownership.

After many years of trying, Frenchman Mike Sparken finally acquired the car in the 1980s and Carlos Monteverde and Willie Green later raced it in historic events. Swiss enthusiast Vogele now owns this remarkable piece of motor racing history and races it from time to time in major events.

In period, Alfa Romeo built 12 of these astonishing 1.5-litre supercharged straight-eight engined red machines and only five are thought to still exist. Vogele's car was converted to 159 specification in 1951, with a bigger fuel tank and a larger supercharger. But it has since been restored to 158 trim as used in the opening 1950 season.

The Alfa Romeo 158 and 159 models, often called the Alfetta, were based on a pre-war design first used in 1938, yet the model was still winning races in 1951. In total, they scored 47 victories from 54 Grands Prix entered and are widely hailed as one of the greatest racing cars ever produced.