Tag Archives: Ferrari

Ivory to Burgundy – Ferrari 365 California #9127

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A couple of years ago I looked at the Ferrari 365 California Spyder chassis #9985 which was residing in the Blackhawk Museum, thanks once again to Geoffrey Horton today’s post features another of the 14 365 California Spyders this one the second of the 14 built, chassis #9127 which was the second one to be built in August 1966.

Ferrari 365 California Spyder, Marin Sonoma Concours d'Elegance

#9127 was originally painted Ivory with a light blue interior and sold in 1967 by US Ferrari dealer Chinetti to a Marquis de Cuevas, not the same as George de Cuevas who ran the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas until he died in 1961.

Ferrari 365 California Spyder, Marin Sonoma Concours d'Elegance

In 1968 Chinetti bought the car back and sold it, now painted blue, to self made insurance broker Burt Borman in California where it remained for the next 37 years.

Ferrari 365 California Spyder, Marin Sonoma Concours d'Elegance

By 1975 the had been repainted it’s current burgundy and fitted with a tan interior.

Ferrari 365 California Spyder, Marin Sonoma Concours d'Elegance

During the 1990’s the Borman’s entered the car in several Councours events including Pebble Beach in 1994.

Ferrari 365 California Spyder, Marin Sonoma Concours d'Elegance

On June 28th 2005 #9127 was one of 29 Ferraris offered for sale at the much hyped Sotheby’s Auction held in the Ferrari Logistics Building at the Fiorano circuit in Maranello, Italy.

Ferrari 365 California Spyder, Marin Sonoma Concours d'Elegance

Future Force India owner Vijay Mallya purchased #9127 at Maranello, surprisingly it was one of only 9 of the 29 cars offered that actually changed hands.

Ferrari 365 California Spyder, Marin Sonoma Concours d'Elegance

The car is seen here at last years Marin Sanoma Concours d’Elegance where it was entered by Robert Park of Sausalito, CA where it won second place in the 12 Cylinder Ferrari up to 1985 class.

My thanks to Geoffrey for sharing his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ivory to Burgundy” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a supercharged Buckler. Don’t forget to come back now.

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Dreaming About Someone Else’s Car – Ferrari F138

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Since Alberto Ascari finished second driving a Ferrari on their debut in the second round of the World Drivers Championship in 1950 Ferrari have made 868 further championship Grand Prix starts, scored 207 championship Grand Prix pole positions, 221 championship Grand Prix victories contributed to 15 World Drivers Championships and won 16 Constructors championships, the latter first being introduced in 1958.

Ferrari F138, Massa, Young Diver Test, Silverstone

When Fernando Alonso seen below left Renault to sign up to replace Kimi Raikkönen at Ferrari for the 2010 season few could have imagined that four seasons later his tally of 11 wins, 2 poles and 8 fastest laps would not have added any further championships to Scuderia Ferrari’s unsurpassed tally.

Ferrari F138, Alonso, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

Such has been Ferrari’s technical disadvantage that despite being regularly hailed as the best driver on the Formula One circuit by pundits Fernando has managed three 2nd place finishes in the season end championship standings in 3 of the last four years.

Ferrari F138, Alonso, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

The 2013 season started quite well for the Spaniard with a second place to Raikkönen’s Lotus followed by wins in China and Spain interrupted only by a rare retirement in Malaysia, there after the best Fernando could manage was four second place finishes while his championship rival since 2010 Sebastian clocked no less than 11 victories out of 14 following the Spanish Grand Prix to claim his and Red Bulls 4th successive title.

Ferrari F138, Massa, Young Diver Test, Silverstone

So Fernando finished second in the 2013 points standings yet again and perhaps crucially for 2014 championship aspirations, let slip that for his 32nd Birthday he might like something other than a Ferrari.

Ferrari F138, Alonso, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

Fernando’s team mate Felipe Massa, seen driving the F138 during the Young Driver Test at Silverstone below, has been the Ferrari defacto No.2 driver since 2006 when he replaced Rubins Barrichello to drive alongside Michael Schumacher.

Ferrari F138, Massa, Young Diver Test, Silverstone

Felipe’s best shot at winning a World Drivers Championship came in 2008 when he comprehensively out drove his team mate and reigning 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkönen in 2008 only to lose the championship by a songle point to Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari F138, Massa, British Grand Prix P1, Silverstone

In 2009 Felipe’s season was cut short when a spring fell off his compatriot Ruben’s Barrichello’s Brawn and caught Felipe’s helmet. Lucky not to loose his eye, Felipe returned to Formula one the following season since when he has scored 3 podium finishes, 2 fastest laps and was ordered to hand over lead of the 2010 German Grand Prix to his team mate Alonso.

Ferrari F138, Alonso, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

Last season saw Felipe score a season high third place finish in the Spanish Grand Prix and finish 8th in the season end drivers championship standings having contributed to Ferrari’s third over all finish in the constructors championship.

Ferrari F138, Massa, Young Diver Test, Silverstone

Unsurprisingly Felipe was not retained for 2014 and he has found a new job at Williams where he will be team leader, Alonso meanwhile may yet rue the day he told a reporter that he would like “someone else’s car” for his 32nd Birthday as Ferrari President Luca di Montemozolo appears to have taken the humorous comment to heart and reemployed a very much in form Kimi Raikkönen, the same driver he sacked to take on Fernado Alonso in the first place.

Ferrari F138, Massa, Young Diver Test, Silverstone

Without question if the 2014 Ferrari F14T is even vaguely reliable the goings on at Maranello should be fascinating as the team comes to terms with having signed two drivers capable of taking points of each other and possibly letting a rival from another team win the drivers championship.

You can follow Ferrari through their website on this link, on their facebook page linked here and twitter feed linked here.

Thanks for joining me on this “Dreaming About Someone Else’s Car” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be starting a new series of Saturday blogs on Buckler cars. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Never Beaten In Class – Ferrari 250 GTO #4293GT

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Today’s featured Ferrari 250 GTO chassis #4293GT was originally assigned to Scuderia San Ambreous, the same team who famously fielded Formula One debutant Giancarlo Baghetti in the 1961 French Grand Prix which he promptly won, however for reasons that are not clear to me at the time of writing Scuderia San Ambreous never took delivery of the car which instead ended up in the hands of Belgian Jacques Swaters and his Ecurie Francorchamps equipe in April 1963.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

Willy Mairesse drove #4293GT to an overall victory on it’s debut in the 500km race at Spa. The cars next outing was in the Le Mans 24 hours where noted Businessman/Jazz Guitarist/Car Collector and Sponsor Jean “Beurlys” Blaton shared the driving with Gérald Langlois van Ophem to record the 250 GTO models 2nd consecutive second place finish some 16 laps behind the winning prototype Ferrari 250 P driven by Lorenzo Bandini and Ludovico Scarfiotti.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Connor, Goodwood Revival

“Beurlys” then drove #4293 GT to victory in a race at Zolder before the cars final appearance race appearance in the 1963 12 hour race at Reims where the car appears to have been driven solo by Belgian Lucien Bianchi to a 3rd overall and first in class. #4293 was driven in practice for the 1964 1000kms race at the Nurburgring by Lucien Bianchi, Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella but the car never took the start meaning it record of four starts and four class victories remained intact.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Connor, Goodwood Revival

No further in period races are recorded for #4293GT and by the end of 1963 the car was in the United States where it remained until 1982. From 1982 to to 1996 #4293GT went to Japan and thence to Hong Kong until 2002 when it was acquired by William E. ‘Chip’ Connor of Incline Village, NV who is seen driving the car above in the 250 GTO 50th Anniversary demonstration at Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Never Beaten In Class” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking a my favorite Ginetta model. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Hermann’s GTO – Ferrari 250 GTO #4115GT

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In 1961 23 year old Hermann Cordes visited the Porsche factory with the intention of buying a couple of Porsche’s to race but found the atmoshpere less than friendly and left with out spending so much as a phennig. On his way home the dissapointed would be racing driver went to Frankfurt where serendipidously the Frankfurt Motor Show was happening.

At the show Hermann spoted a light blue Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta similar, so he thought, to the vehicle that had won it class in the 1000kms at the Nurburgring earlier in the year and purchased it along with a Ferrari 250 GTE 2+2 for a little more than the price of four of the Porsche’s he had set out to buy.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

According to legend on the 15th of April 1962 Hermann inadvertently parked his Ferrari 250 GT SWB in the competitors car park at the Eberbach hillclimb and before he knew it the steel bodied car had been given a racing number and Hermann a provisional competition licence and his career got underway. A couple ofweeks later he raced the car at Achum where he finished 3rd.

On the 1st of May Hermann’s 250 GT SWB came into contact with a deer on a public road and the SWB ended up backed into a tree an insurance write off. Hermann escaped more or less unharmed and with the insurance money ordered today’s featured Ferrari 250 GTO chassis #4115GT, which turned out to be the only 250 GTO ever sold new to a German customer.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Vestey, Goodwood Revival

While he was waiting for delivery of #4115GT and before going down to Maranello and then Scalietti’s factory on Modena verify it’s existence and identity, Hermann took the bumpers off his 250 GTE and competed with that. In December 1962 Hermann took delivery of the Grigio metallic 250 GTO chassis #4115GT, before selling his 250 GTE in February 1963 to Guenter Seifert.

In 1963 Hermann competed with #4115GT in the hills and on the track winning his class on the Bad Neuenahr hillclimb and winning overall in a GT race at Hockenheim. Hermann’s last recorded race was at Avus where he finished 2nd.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Vestey, Goodwood Revival

In 1964 Manfred Ramminger bought the car, to which Hermann had added black, gold and red stripes. Manfred shared #4115GT with Herbert Schander at the Nurburgring 1000kms where they finished 20th overall and 5th in class, and driving 4115GT solo Manfred won at Mainz Finthen and Avus before selling the car on to Werner Lindermann for the 1965 season.

Werner won a GT race at the Nurburgring before returning with the previous owner Manfred for the 1000kms where they came home 23rd overall, but this time second in class. Werner then drove 4115GT to it’s second victory at Avus, a second victory at Mainz Finthen and a win at Trier. At the end of 1965 Werner offered the #4115GT, now painted signal red, for sale at around half of it’s original cost.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Vestey, Goodwood Revival

H. P. Burkhardt of Switzerland bought the car in 1966 and in 1967 it was driven Peter Ettmueller to a final class victory on the Ollon-Villars hillclimb. In 1972 #4115GT moved to the UK under the ownership of T.A. Bob Roberts who had it displayed in the Midland Motor Museum, Stanmore Hall, GB.

Present owner Paul Vesty, now Sir, bought #4115GT in 1981 and he is seen demonstrating the car during the 250 GTO 50th Anniversary Tour at Goodwood Revival in 2012.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

My thanks to Michael “Tuboscocca” at The Nostalgia Forum directing me to an article by Gregor Schulz that appeared in Old Timer markt regarding Herman Cordes in April 2006.

Thanks for joining me on this “Hermann’s GTO” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Ginetta no enthusiast should miss. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The White RHD One – Ferrari 250 GTO #3729GT

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Blacksmiths, wheelwrights and coachbuilders Coombs of Guildford was founded in the 19th Century. Descendant of the founders John Coombs was taken to Brooklands before the 1939-45 was and on completion of his apprenticeship in 1949 began motor racing in open wheelers and sportscars with some success. He retired from race driving, after winning two races in a day at Mallory Park, because his business commitments no longer gave him the necessary time to compete, so he made the switch to becoming an entrant.

Teaming up with some of the best drivers of the day including his former Connaught team mate Roy Salvadori, BRM driver Ron Flockhart, John built up an excellent reputation with Coopers and Jaguar’s as Coombs of Guildford grew to become a major Jaguar dealership. When he was told Lotus founder Colin Chapman was interested in buying a Jaguar John had no hesitation in putting Colin, against whom he used to race, in one of his cars for a race at Silverstone which Colin promptly won and suitably impressed Colin duly placed his order.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

In July 1962 John took delivery of a white right hand drive Ferrari 250 GTO chassis #3729GT after it became clear that the Jaguar E-Type was too heavy to compete against Maranello’s finest. Despite being driven by the likes of Salvadori, Graham Hill and Mike Parkes, all of whom were or went on to compete in Formula One, the car did not record any victories in 1963 but it did record a string of second places.

John also sent the car to Coventry where Jaguar made a close inspection of it before building John the first of 11 lightweight E-types with aluminium mononcoques and engine blocks.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

In 1964 Viscount Eddie Portman took over ownership of #3729GT who added another second place result before it was entered for Ritchie Ginther to drive in the Tourist Trophy run at Goodwood where he finished 9th.

JA Pearce of JA Pearce Engineering then used #3729 in a couple of sprints run at Brighton and Blackbushe airport in late 1964 and early 1965.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

John also known as Jack Pearce spotted the opportunity for building a formula one car for the new 3 litre / 183 cui regulations which became effective from the beginning of 1966 using a 250 GTO motor. For many years it was believed that the motor from #3729 found it’s way into the back of the JA Pearce 1964 Cooper T73 built originally for the older 1.5 litre / 91.5 cui formula.

In fact Chris Lawrence, who drove and co owned the Cooper Ferrari, many years later discovered that instead of having a Ferrari 250 GTO motor the Cooper was actually fitted with a on older less powerful motor that came out of Rob Walkers 1961 Ferrari 250 SWB #2735GT which had been driven by Stirling Moss to a string of five race victories. Unfortunately the unique Cooper Ferrari T73 was destroyed in a transporter fire at Silverstone in 1967, although the charred remains of both the motor and car are known to still exist.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

After #3729 had been sold on to noted historic racer Neil Corner in 1966 it was painted red and from 1970 to 1999 it belonged to 1958 and ’63 British Saloon Car Champion Jack Sears, who had raced the #3729 for John Coombs at Brands Hatch and Snetterton in 1963.

1n 1999 current owner Jon Shirley bought the car and had a new engine block installed by Ferrari Classiche nine years later.

Thanks for joining me on this “The White RHD One” 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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The Steady Swiss – Sauber Ferrari C32

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With nothing much but a top end niche motor industry as exemplified by the likes of the enigmatic Monteverdi, and no circuit motor racing since the fatal accident at Le Mans since 1955 Peter Sauber would have been hard pressed to find a less conducive environment in which to found a motor racing team that would build a succession of sportscars that competed first in the Swiss Hill Climb Championships and later with the backing of Mercedes win at Le Mans in 1989 and then the World Sports Car Championship in 1990 beating works teams from Jaguar, Nissan and Toyota.

Gutiérrez, Sauber Ferrari C32, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

In 1993, with a little back door funding from Mercedes Benz, Sauber entered Formula One with a V10 Ilmor motor branded as a Mercedes Benz. This arrangement lasted for two years until Mercedes Benz decided to increase their involvement with McLaren as their partner. Sauber continued with Ford Motors in 1995 and 1996 and after four years has a reputation for being regular points finishers.

Gutiérrez, Sauber Ferrari C32, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

Form 1997 to 2005 a Sauber subsidiary built Ferrari motors and gearboxes under licence for his Formula one team, under this arrangement the team finished a best 4th in the championship with Nick Heidfeld and rookie Kimi Räikkönen sharing the driving duties.

Hülkenberg, Sauber Ferrari C32, British Grand Prix P1, Silverstone

In 2006 BMW bought the Sauber team and called the shots until they sold it back to Peter Sauber in 2009 when the economic crisis precipitated by the credit crunch hit Formula One. Under BMW’s stewardship Sauber finished 2nd in the constructors championship in 2007 following McLarens exclusion. The following year they finished 3rd and Robert Kubica scored the team’s only win in Canada, ahead of team mate Nick Heidfeld.

Hülkenberg, Sauber Ferrari C32, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

Since 2010 Sauber has returned to running with Ferrari motors, now built in Maranello. Last year Nico Hülkenberg, red helmet, joined the team from Force India and was joined by Mexican rookie Esteban Gutiérrez, yellow helmet, who had been the teams driver since 2011, to drive the Sauber C 32 designed under the direction of Matt Norris.

Hülkenberg, Sauber Ferrari C32, British Grand Prix P2, Silverstone

The highly rated Nico recorded ten points scoring finishes from 18 starts including the teams season high 4th place finish at the Korean Grand Prix. At the following Japanese Grand Prix Esteban came home 7th behind team mate Nico to record his only points finish. Sauber finished the year 7th in the championship.

Gutiérrez, Sauber Ferrari C32, Young Driver Test, Silverstone

For much of 2013 Nico was touted as a possible replacement for Felipe Massa at Ferrari, however as things began to unravel for Kimi Räikkönen at Lotus and Fernando Alonso committed the ultimate crime for any Ferrari driver, to suggest he wanted “another car”, i.e. built by another manufacturer, for his birthday, Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo took exception to the comments and took the opportunity to wake Alonso up by signing up the man whom Alonso had replaced at Ferrari !

A disgruntled Hülkenberg took the only route available to him offering any hope of career advancement and rejoined the Mercedes Benz powered Force India Team. Esteban will be joined in 2014 by Force India refugee Adrian Sutil with a well financed young Russian prodigy Sergey Sirotkin doing the testing duties. The Ferrari powered C33 was launched a couple of days ago on the Sauber teams website and it’s progress can be followed on the team’s Facebook page.

Thanks for joining me on this “Steady Swiss” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a US built Edwardian vehicle. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Ferrari Friday – Autosport International

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A couple of weeks ago the motor racing season kicked off with the Autosport International trade fair at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and I popped along to snacth a preview of the motor sporting year ahead. Today’s post show’s some of the Ferrari’s present.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC Birmingham

Undoubted star of the show was this Ferrari 158 as driven by John Surtees to the 1964 World Drivers Championship, unusually despite not winning the most races, an honour that fell to 1963 Champion Jim Clark who won 3 races to John’s 2, or the most points, an honour that fell to 1964 Champion Grahmam Hill who had to drop two points because only the best 6 from a maximum 10 results counted, leaving John to win the Championship by one point from Graham. John will be demonstarting the 158 which is owned by George Barber and usually found at the Barber Museum in Alabama.

Ferrari 250 GT/TR, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

Oldest of the Ferrari’s that I noticed at the show was this 1956 Ferrari 250 GT Boano which in 1988 was fitted with a Scglietti pontoon style 250 TR Body by Giovannu Giordanengo in 1988 the car which was on the Coy’s Stand.

Ferrari F10, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

This 2010 Ferrari F10 was looking a little dated among the contemporary Formula One cars on display, with it’s long outlawed outsize fin twixt air box and rear wing.

Oakley Design Ferrari FF, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

This Ferrari FF is fitted with subtle “Ultimate Performance Enhancing” goodies by Oakley Design.

Ferrari F12, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

The Autocar stand featured a Ferrari F12, the first time I have seen one in the flesh.

Ferrari 458 Challenge GTC, Autosport International, NEC,

Looking a little like a work of art by Damien Hurst in one of his vitrene’s this Ferrari 458 Challenge GTC has been developed by FF Corse to make it suitable for competition in The Pirelli Ferrari Open and The GT Cup Championships in 2014. Last year Alex Martin won the GTC class and FF Corse the overall teams title in the GT Cup.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

While drivers with a bigger budget will be competing for a drive in the JMW Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, which finished 34th in last years Le Mans 24 hours with Andrea Bertolini, Abdulaziz al Faisal and Khaled al Qubaisi at the wheel.

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