Tag Archives: Berney

Do Not Lean On This Car – Ferrari 275 GTB/C #9079

In 1965 and 1966 Ferrari built a number of competition versions of the highly praised 275 GTB road car all using motors of the same type as found in the Ferrari 250 LM sports racer.

The last run of twelve competition 275’s known at the 275 GTB/C was built in 1966 and featuring aluminium bodies made of such a thin gauge it was reinforced with glass fiber, if you lean on this car you will almost certainly put a permanent dent in the body work.

Due to what appears to be a clerical error by someone at Ferrari the 275 GTB/C was mandated to run with only three carburetors, because someone at Maranello forgot to tell the FIA that a six carburetor option of the standard 275 GTB was available. This happened before the introduction of the 275 GTB/4 which featured six carburetors as standard.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C, Goodwood Revival

Even with this oversight a 275 GTB/C entered by Maranello Concessionaires and driven by Piers Courage and Roy Pike won its class at Le Mans in 1966 covering 310 laps and coming home 8th overall behind the three all conquering Ford GT40 Mk II’s and a fleet of four Porsche 906’s.

Today’s featured car chassis #9079 was the penultimate of the 12 GTB/C’s built in 1966 and it made it’s public debut at Le Mans in 1967 where it was entered for Swiss drivers Dieter Spoerry and Rico Steinemann by Scuderia Filipinetti. Dieter and Rico came in 11th and first in class covering 317 laps, 71 less than the overall winning Ford Mark IV.

Scuderia Filipinetti entered #9079 for Jaques Rey and Claude Haldi to drive at Le Mans in 1968 but the car retired after completing 78 laps as the consequence of an accident.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C, Goodwood Revival

The following year Jacques shared the car twice with Edgar Berney they came home 14th overall in the Spa 1000kms, 1st class. At Le Mans, where #9079 became the only 275GTB/C to start the race three times, the engine needed an oil top up after 39 laps which was against the regulations and so the car was disqualified.

By the end of 1969 #9079 went to the USA where it remained up until the 1980’s. In 1985 the fragile body, but not the tyres, melted in a workshop fire while in Los Angeles. By 1988 the car had been restored in Italy and sold on to Japan. Current owner Ross Warburton has owned this chassis since 2000.

Thanks for joining me on today’s “Do Not Lean On This Car” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at an brutally noisy Aston Martin. Don’t forget to come back now !

Share

Goodwood 2012 – #5 Ferrari Friday

If I heard the commentary on Goodwood Radio correctly then there were over $300 million dollars worth of cars at Goodwood last Friday with 11 Ferrari 250 GTO’s present that would make up the first $120 million very quickly !

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

Among the 250 GTO’s I had not seen before was chassis #4219GT a car which Pedro Rodriguez drove to victory in the second Daytona 3 Hour race held in 1963. This car is reputed to have changed hands for just over $12,000 in 1964 and between $3 and 3.5 million in 1993 !

Ferrari 250 TR 59/60, Goodwood Revival

The role call of drivers of this Ferrari 250 TR #0774TR includes Jean Behra and Dan Gurney who did not finish the 1959 Le Mans 24 hours in it, Phil Hill and Cliff Allison who won the 1960 1000kms at Buenos Aires before it returned to Le Mans where it won the 1960 24 hours with Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frere at the wheel.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Goodwood Revival

I am not sure of the chassis number of this 250 GT SWB Berlinetta so I’m not sure wether or not it’s a Competizione model or not, if you know your 250 GT SWB’s and no the identity of this one please chip in with a reference or two below.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C SWB, Goodwood Revival

A class win at Le Mans in 1967 for drivers Dietter Sporey and Rico Steinemann followed by another in the 1000 kms at Spa in 1969 with Jaques Rey and Edgar Berney at the wheel did not do much to help the value of this car in 1969 when it changed ownership for just $6,000. By 1983 the value had leapt to $150,000 two years later it was fire damaged and the wreck changed hands for $46,000.
The restored car then went to Japan for a reputed $800,000 in 1988, since then it has come to reside in the UK via the USA for undisclosed sums.

250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival

My personal pick for Ferrari of the day is this 250 MM Pinifarina Berlinetta with a longer than standard nose. The car has little racing history from it’s heyday and lost 1 million Italian Lira in value, just under 1/3rd, between 1953 and 1955. By all accounts it was used for to chauffeur movie stars in 1954.

Ferrari 250 GTE, Goodwood Revival

If you can’t have the Ferrari 250 of your choice there are plenty of less valuable 250 GTE’s like the 1963 example above that can be acquired and transformed into the Ferrari of your dreams at a fraction of the price of the real thing.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

For one reason or another this Ferrari 250 GTO #3757 has come up for discussion on GALPOT numerous times, I make no apology for showing yet another photo of it again because this time former Ferrari Grand Prix driver and would be Indy rookie Jean Alesi can be seen at the wheel.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival

Christian Horner is best known as team principle of the multiple championship winning Red Bull racing, he was also a dab hand behind the wheel making it all the way to the second tier Formula 3000 open wheel series before the money ran out and he opted for team management in 1998. Christian is seen here in the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta chassis 1953GT another car that has been mentioned before in connection with the motor from 250 GT SWB Berlinetta #2025 that has been fitted to the #60 seen here.

Ferrari 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

The car above driven by Mike Malone looks like a 1958 Ferrari 250 TR however it actually started life as 1956 290 MM Scaglietti Spyder #0606 with Right Hand Drive. After Maurice Trintignant and Phil Hill won first time out in Sweden car was upgraded to 1959 250 TR specs at the factory and ended up in Brazil where Rio Negri was killed after probably mistaking the central pedal for the brakes when it was actually the accelerator. The remains of the fire damaged car were eventually fitted with a Ford V8. Much later it was discovered and mistaken and built up again as the Left Hand Drive ’59 250 TR 0726. Many years later it came to light that the car was actually #0606. Finding Ferrari’s can be difficult identifying them correctly even more so !

Ferrari 860 Monza, Goodwood Revival

Last year I saw 1985 Indy winner Danny Sullivan at my local track Castle Combe, this year I have now seen him race a Ferrari at Goodwood, above he is driving a 1956 Ferrari 850 Monza chassis 0604M, as we saw in a previous post Danny is following in the footsteps of one five time Juan Manuel Fangio and America’s first world champion Phil Hill ! Danny qualified 15th but did not finish the Sussex Trophy Race.

Ferrari 750 Monza, Goodwood Revival

Finally the Freddie March Memorial Trophy race included this 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti Spider S1 chassis #0504M which appears to have been raced by Frenchman Michael Poberejsky under the pseudonym Mike Sparken. Michael won a race in Morocco before sharing the car with Marsten Gregory at Le Mans in 1955 where they failed to finish. R and A Frankel retired with less than half an hour to go in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy too !

Thanks for joining me on this ‘#5 Ferrari Friday’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at some of the Lotus racing cars that were present at Goodwood. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS 12 09 21 Condolences to family and friends of Michael Poberejsky who died this morning at his home in Beaulieu sur Mer.

Share