Tag Archives: Castellotti

IV Carrera Panamericana Winner – Lancia D24 #0004

Lining up alongside a Talbot Lago 26GS, a fleet of Ferrari’s that included five 375’s, with open Barchetta and closed Coupé Berlinetta bodies, a 340 and a 250MM that were in with a shout for the overall honours in the 1953 Carrera Panamericana were five Lancia’s two D23’s and three D24 models.

Lancia’s programme with the D series race cars was kick started after the 2 litre 122 cui V6 powered B20 GT Coupé driven by Giovanni Bracco and Umberto Maglioli finished second to a 4.1 litre / 250 cui Ferrari 340 America Berlinetta Vignale driven by Luigi Villoresi and Piero Cassani in the 1951 Mille Miglia.

Lancia D24, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In order to go for overall honours built a series of D20 Coupé’s with supercharged 2 litre / 122 cui motors and in 1953 one of these cars driven by Umberto Maglioli won the tight and twisted roads of the Targa Florio.

However the 2 litre supercharged V6 D20’s were not powerful enough to keep up with the competition running larger normally aspirated motors on the comparatively wide open roads used for the Le Mans 24 hours, such as the winning C-Type Jaguar.

Lancia D24, Goodwood Festival of Speed

In response to this Lancia modified it’s D20’s by replacing the super charged 2 litre V6 with a normally aspirated 3 litre 183 cui V6 while Pininfarina fitted the cars, renamed D23’s, with new open bodywork.

Simultaneously Lancia also built some all new Pininfarina bodied open top sports racers designed by Vittorio Jano fitted with even larger 3.3 litre / 201 cui V6 motors which became the D24 model. Two D24’s and one D23 were entered for the 1953 Nurburgring 1000kms where Robert Manzon and Piero Taruffi put there D24 on pole, but all three retired.

Lancia D24, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Lancia like Ferrari skipped the RAC TT at Dundrod and next lined up for the 1953 Carrera Panamericana road race where the D24 shared by Juan Manuel Fangio and Gino Bronzoni led home D24 mounted team mates Piero Taruffi and Luigi Maggio with the D23 driven by Eugenio Castellotti and Carlo Luoni coming home third ahead of the Ferrari 375MM driven by Guido Mancini and Fabrizio Serena and the Talbot – Lagp driven by Louis Rosier.

In April 1954 Piero Taruffi and Carlo Luoni drove a D24 to victory on the Giro di Sicilia, in May Alberto Ascari won the 1954 Mille Miglia with a fine solo drive in a Lancia D24, breaking a dominance by Ferrari on the event going back to 1948, and four weeks later Piero Taruffi followed up by driving a D24 to Lancia’s second consecutive win on the Targa Florio.

Lancia D24, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Luigi Villoresi then scored the first of three non championhship victories for the D24 at Circuito do Porto where Eugenio Castellotti came second, Eugenio won at Aosta-Gran San Bernardo before the D24’s final 1954 World Championship appearance at the RAC Tourist Trophy where Juan Manuel Fangio and Piero Taruffi finished 2nd ahead of team mates Robert Manzon and Eugenio.

The D24’s final victory was recorded by Eugenio at Firenze-Siena in October 1954 while the models final appearance was in the 1960 Buenos Aires 1000kms where Argentinians Camilo Gay and César Rivero qualified their by now well out dated D24 11th before retiring from the race with a transmission problem after competing 4 laps of the 106 lap race.

To the best of my knowledge the car seen at Goodwood Festival of Speed in these photographs belonging to the Museo Nacionale del’ Automobile is chassis #0004 which Fangio and Gino Bronzoni drove to victory in the 1953 Carrera Pan Americana and was subsequently used as a training car for by the Lancia team drivers at the Sebring 12 hours in 1954 and is also believed to have been used in some capacity for the 1954 Mille Miglia, note there are some subtle differences to the osf wing/fender to when Fangio and Bronzoni drove the car on the Carrera Panamericana. Also note #0004 is showing the #612 which was the number carried by the Meyer / O’Hara Moore Aston Martin DB3 on the MM in ’54 for no reason I or anyone else has been able to fathom.

Thanks for joining me on this “IV Carrera Panamericana Winner” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Weight Distirbution – Lancia Ferrari D50 Replicas

Keen to project a successful image through participation in Formula one with it’s new 2.5 litre / 152 cui engine regulations Lancia commissioned Vitorrio Jano to design a new challenger in 1953.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Over the development period of the car several different noses were used above is the original short nose.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Jano paid a lot of attention to how the weight was to be distributed in his new design which led to the D50’s most distinctive the pannier tanks between the wheels that did away with the need for a rear fuel tank which was de rigueur for contemporary formula one cars.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Jano selected a compact 90° V8 motor configuration that was offset 12° from front right to rear left. The motor featured twin plugs per cylinder produced around 260 hp. Unusually for the time the motor also functioned as an integral stressed member of the space frame chassis.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

The car also featured a gearbox that was transversely mounted into the rear axle. The cooler for the transmission unit is seen just ahead of the rear axle between the panier tank and the rest of the chassis.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

1952 and 1953 double World Champion Alberto Ascari and Italy Luigi Villoresi drove the D50’s on their first appearance in the World Championship in the last race of the 1954 season at the Spanish Grand Prix held on the Pedralbes street circuit in Barcelona. After qualifying 1st Ascari led for three laps before retiring with clutch problems on lap 10, Villoresi started 5th and retired after two laps with brake issues.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Lancia entered three cars in the 1955 Argentinian Grand Prix for Ascari who started from second and retired after an accident on lap 22, Villoresi qualified 11th and again only lasted for two laps before his car retired with a fuel leak. Villoresi replaced Eugenio Castellotti who had started 12th only to be involved in an accident on lap 35 from which the 3rd Lancia did not recover.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

At Monaco Ascari again qualified 2nd but his car famously ended up in the harbour on the 81st lap which he survived, only to die the following week testing a Ferrari. Castellotti qualified 4th and finished 2nd, to Maurice Trintignant in the Ferrari 625A I looked at last week, while Villoresi qualified 7th and finished 5th one lap down. Monaqasque Louis Chiron drove a forth D50 Lancia from 19th on the grid to 6th 5 laps down.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Castellotti started on pole in Belgian Grand Prix but retired on lap 16 with gearbox problems on the Scuderia Lancia teams final appearance. At this point Lancia ran into financial difficulties and the company ended up in the hands of the Pesenti family while Gianni Lancia handed over the racing cars to Enzo Ferrari who was not having a lot of joy against the might of Mercedes Benz with his Squalo and Super Squalo models.

de, Cadenet, Lancia Ferrari D50 Replica, Goodwood Revival

The D50’s next appeared at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix where they were entered by Ferrari for Giuseppe Farina who qualified 5th and Villoresi who qualified 8th. However Farina crashed on the Monza banking when a tyre failed and Enzo chose to withdraw the D50’s. Over the off season Ferrari developed the cars for his new signing reigning world champion Juan Manuel Fangio.

Lancia D50 Replica, HGPCA Test day, Silverstone

Fangio won first time out in the D50 at the 1956 Argentinian Grand Prix, but only after his car retired and he took over the car that started with Luigi Musso at the wheel, at Monaco Fangio finished 2nd again after retiring his own car and jumping in his team mate Peter Collins car.

Collins then won in Belgium and France with Fangio winning in Britain and Germany to give him an eight point lead over Collins going into the final race of the season at Monza. Fangio qualified on pole but a steering arm on his D50 broke, his team mate Musso refused to hand over his car and on learning this team mate Peter Collins did not hesitate to hand over his car, thus giving up the opportunity to win the championship which Fangio won after finishing second. Collins finished the ’56 Championship third in points behind Stirling Moss who drove for Maserati.

The following season Fangio went to Maserati with whom he won his fifth and final championship. Ferrari entered no fewer than seven D50’s for the first race of the 1957 season in Argentina which were lined up against seven Maserati 250F’s. Fangio won in his 250F the best D50 shared by Alfonso de Portago and José Froilán González which finished 5th and two laps down.

Mike Hawthorn was the last person to drive a D50 in a Championship race in the ’57 Monaco Grand Prix where 5th but retired after an accident on lap 5. Ferrari swithched it’s efforts to the Lancia V8 powered 801 for the remainder of the 1957 season.

All but two of the original D50’s were broken up, the cars seen here are both, so far as I know replica’s using some of the left over parts from the broken up cars. Six replica’s are known to have been built by Jim Stokes Workshops Ltd.

Thanks for joining me on this “Weight Distribution” edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Four Pot Revisited – Ferrari 860 Monza #0604M

A couple of years ago Steve Arnaudin sent me a photo of todays featured 1956 Ferrari 860 Monza, chassis #0604, purchased by his father from the Californian photographer and racing driver Carlyle Blackwell. I wrote a blog which summarised the 1956 World Sports Car Championship which is linked here.

Ferrari 860 Monza. Goodwood Revival

Today’s blog will focus on the story of this particular chassis which is seen above with Lord March at the wheel in the Juan Manuel Fangio Celebration parade at the Goodwood Revival in 2011. The car is seen above carrying the same #17 as when Fangio and Eugenio Castellotti drove it to a debut victory in the Sebring 12 Hours Race in March 1956.

Ferrari 860 Monza. Goodwood Revival

#0604M was subsequently sold to Californian John von Neuman and the following month he entered it for Phil Hill to drive at Pebble Beech where he finished second overall and first in class behind Carrol Shelby who was driving 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza #0510M.

Ferrari 860 Monza. Goodwood Revival

John Von Neuman took over the driving duties in #0604M for the rest of the 1956 season and through 1957 until he put Ritchie Ginther in the car at Laguna Secca at the end of 1957 and at Riverside at the beginning of 1958. Ginther scored a class win and 5th overall first time out and 2nd overall at Riverside. Up to that point von Neumans best results had been a couple of 2nd place finishes in ’56

Ferrari 860 Monza. Goodwood Revival

Jerry Barker bought the car for the 1959 season and on every occasion it finished it was either 1st or 2nd driven by Lew Florence, Barker took the wheel at the Maryhill Lops Hillclimb and also won setting a new record.

Ferrari 860 Monza. Goodwood Revival

Charles Caverns was the owner of 0604M in 1960 and he also recorded a win in the Novice Race at Shelton in April 1960 which is the car last recorded contemporary race appearance.

Ferrari 860 Monza. Goodwood Revival

Amongst the owners of #0604M since 1960 was Jean Sage former Sporting Director of the Renault Formula One team from it’s inception in 1977 and eventual, temporary closure, in 1987. Not long before the top photo was taken #0604M was bought by the current owner a DJ by the name of Chris Evans.

Ferrari 860 Monza. Goodwood Revival

At last years Goodwood Revival meeting Danny Sullivan became the fifth Grand Prix driver to sit at the wheel, after Fangio, Castellotti Hill and Ginther, and only Indy 500 winner to race the car powered by a Lampredi designed 4 cylinder motor. He qualified 15th for the Sussex Trophy Race but did not finish.

Thanks for joining me one this ‘Four Pot Revisited’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Movie Star Limo – Ferrari 250 MM Pininfarina #0298MM

The 31 1953 Ferrari 250 MM chassis built could be specified with open barchetta body or Berlinetta closed body styles most, but by no means all of the open bodies were built by Vignale and the most but by no means all of the closed bodies were built by Pininfarina.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

Of course being hand built no two bodies are identical and today’s featured Pininfarina Berlinetta body sitting on chassis #0298, has a slightly longer nose than any of it’s siblings, a fore taste of the pontoon Ferraris that were to follow at the end of the decade perhaps.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

With a 3 litre / 183 cui 237 hp version of Gioacchino Colombo V12 under the bonnet/hood the intention was that these cars were built to be raced, and the likes of Phil Hill, José A. Nogueira Pinto, Luigi Villoresi, Paolo Marzotto, Eugenio Castellotti, Giulio Musitelli, Luigi Piotti and Casimiro de Oliveira all drove 250 MM in Barchetta and Berlinetta forms to victory lane during 1953.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

#0298MM was purchased by Luigi Giuliano for 3.5 million lira in 1953 and a year later passed through two further owners Incom SpA and Industrie Cinematografiche Sociali, the later is reported to have used the car for chauffeuring movie stars.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

In May 1955 this car was acquired by Giovanni Ghersi in San Remo for ‘just’ 2.5 million lira. The car is not thought to have been raced at all until it was acquired by German Herbert Ibing in 1984.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

Since then the car has appeared at many historic events including those at Goodwood, reruns of the Mille Miglia, Nurburgring, Monaco and Monza.

Ferrari 250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival,

Arnold Meier of Zurich has been the owner of the car since 2002 and was sharing the driving with former British Hill Climb Champion David Franklin when the car was photographed at the recent Goodwood Revival meeting. Starting last on the grid Arnold and David managed a 17th place finish, note for some reason the 33 entry in the Freddie March Trophy is listed as a Mitter BMW in the results of the meeting.

Thanks for joining me on this “Movie Star Limo” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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