Tag Archives: Ferrari

38.907 sec Champion – Ferrari F2008

After an acrimonious 2007 season in which a Ferrari employee had been caught passing sensitive Ferrari documents to a McLaren employee after the McLaren Employees wife was dobbed in by a photocopy shop the 2008 season was relatively calm. The big story of 2008 being the on track battle between sophomore sensation Lewis Hamilton driving for McLaren and Ferrari’s de facto number two driver Felipe Massa who unexpectedly stepped up to the plate while his team mate reigning Champion Kimi Räikönnen experienced a post championship slump that saw him get bought out of a very expensive contract by the seasons end.

Ferrari F2008, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Designed by an international team that included Italians Mario Almondo and Aldo Costa, Frenchman Giles Simon and Greek Nicolas Tombazis the F2008 ran with a 2.4 litre 146 cui V8 motor that was restricted, by a newly mandated McLaren Electronic Control Unit (ECU), to a maximum of 19,000 revolutions per minute (rpm).

Ferrari F2008, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The curious front wing shape was partly a result of regulations demanding certain parts of the wing needing to be a minimum of 5 inches of the ground.

Ferrari F2008, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

This was the last season for which grooved tyres which had been mandated since 1998 to keep cornering speeds in check had been mandated. At the time Ferrari and one or two other well funded teams were running multiple wind tunnels simultaneously 24/7 to seek out the tiniest of aerodynamic advantages.

Ferrari F2008, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Going into the Brazilian Grand Prix, last race of the season, Lewis Hamilton had five wins and led the championship with 94 points, while Felipe Massa had also scored 5 wins but only had 87 points due to his inferior placings, so there were multiple possibilities for Lewis to claim the championship but Felipe had to win with Hamilton finishing sixth or lower to claim the championship. Felipe started well by claiming his sixth pole position of the year, to Hamilton’s seven pole starts, and led the race which was delayed by rain and run in slippery conditions to cross the line first.

Ferrari F2008, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Hamilton meanwhile had started from third on the grid was involved in a battle for 4th position with the Ferrari powered Torro Rosso of Sebastion Vettel going into the final pitstops, during which the dry shod Toyota of Timo Glock overtook the pair of them. Lewis and Sebastian both opted for intermediate tyres. Vettel was the first to catch and pass Glock to reclaim 4th place for good. Hamilton meanwhile only managed to pass Glock who’s dry tyres were struggling for grip on the damp track going into the very last corner of the very last lap to claim the necessary fifth spot crossing the finish line 38.907 secs behind Felipe Lewis relived the Ferrari driver of the World Drivers Championship title. Ferrai did however have the consolation of winning the Constructors World Championship for a record 16th time.

Thanks for joining me on this “38.907 sec Champion” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Biting The Hand – Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 59/60 #0774

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After attracting the attention of US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti in 1957 Dan Gurney found himself at the wheel of a North American Racing Team Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, owned by Chinetti at Le Mans in 1958 and drove the car up to 5th place before handing over to his team mate Bruce Kessler who got caught up in someone elses accident before the car retired. That drive impressed Ferrari sufficiently to earn Dan a drive with the works Ferrari team.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

For their 1959 Le Mans effort Ferrari built today’s featured Ferrari 250 TR chassis #0774 for Gurney to share with Jean Behra the car managed twice as many laps as Dan’s first attempt but still fell way short of a result.

Next time out Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien drove the car at Goodwood in the TT Race where they also failed to score a result both the 1959 Le Mans and Goodwood TT had been won by Aston Martin in what turned out to be a championship winning season for them.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

1960 would see a return of fortune for the Ferrari sports car team and chassis #0744 played an important role winning two championship races first Phil Hill and Cliff Alison won the 1000 kms at Buenos Aires and then Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frére won the Le Mans 24 hours scoring Ferrari’s third win in the Endurance Classic and helping Ferrari to their sixth World Sports Car title.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

Between these successes #0774 was loaned to Chinetti’s NART team for Ritchie Ginther and Chuck Daigh to drive in the Sebring 12 hours but they failed to finish and after Le Mans the car was sold to Eleanor von Neumann who entered it for Phil Hill to drive in the 1960 LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside where he finished 7th overall.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

In 1963 Tom O’Connor bought the car for his Rose Bud racing team which promptly stripped the motor out and fitted it to their Lotus 19 chassis 952 that featured here on GALPOT a couple of years ago.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

Under the ownership of Paul Pappalardo #0774 was reunited with it’s original motor in the 1980’s and the car won two class Concours d’Elegance awards at Palm Beach and Pebble Beach in 1993.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

In a twist of biting the hand that feeds irony Dan Gurney eventually won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967 with co driver AJ Foyt driving for Ferrari’s sworn enemy Ford in a Mk IV.

After 26 years in Paul’s custody ownership of #0774 passed to Hong Kong sourcing and logistics magnate William E ‘Chip’ Connor who kindly took it to the 2012 Gooodwood Revival for the Tribute to Dan Gurney Parade.

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

Mistaken Identity – Ferrari 290MM #0606

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In April 1956 Luigi Musso was given a brand new Right Hand Drive Ferrari 290 MM chassis #0606 by the factory team to drive in the Giro di Sicilia he did not finish but the next occupants Phil Hill and Maurice Trintignant did win the Swedish Grand Prix, for sports cars, on the cars second appearance in August 1956.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

In 1957 the car was variously entered under the Ecurie Francochamps and Equipe Nationale Belge banners with Willy Mairesse winning pole for a 2 hour race held at St Etienne in France and Alain de Changy finishing 4th in Monsanto, Portugal being the cars most notable race performances.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

After the car was returned to the factory it was driven by Austrian Gotfried Koechert in August 1958. His best result being 3rd overall and 1st in class in the Großer Bergpreis von Oesterreich, hillclimb at the Gaisbergrennen in Austria.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

In September 1959 the car was converted to 250 TR specs with a TR motor and sold to Brazilian Jean Luis Lacerda who appears to have won at least two races at Interlagos and Brasilia with #0606 during 1960.

Late in 1960 ownership of #0606 was transferred to Aguinaldo Goes who scored a second place finish in a 500 km race at Intelagos in Spetember of that year.

In 1962 Fernando Mafra Moriera borrowed the car to make up the numbers for a race at Interlagos with strict instructions to park it at the end of lap 1, unfortunately Fernando who raced under the name Rio Negro did not do as he was asked with fatal consequences as he ended up hitting a eucalyptus tree with the unfamiliar right hand drive and equally unfamiliar central throttle pedal thought to have played a role in the tragedy.

The engine and front of the car was separated from the gear box and the back of the car which remained embedded in the tree.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

What remained of the car was given by goes to Camilo Christofaro who used the fuel tank and de Dion rear suspension in a fearsome Corvette engined special called Carrettera 18 in March 1965 Christofaro and Goes drove the car to a 3rd place finish, 1st in class, in a 1600 km race at Interlagos.

The TR motor that had been installed in #0606 when it went to Brazil went into another Brazilian racing car the Furia Ferrari owned by Toni Bianco and later still it replaced a blown up motor in a street Ferrari.

Ferrari, 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

In 1986 Paolo Sebastiani bought some Ferrari parts including part of a type 520 Ferrari 290MM chassis frame from Camilo Christofaro and allegedly mistook them for parts from a type 525 Ferrari 250 TR chassis frame which he thought came from chassis #0726TR which had also been involved in a fatal crash and abandoned in Cuba in 1960.

Sebastiani had Ferrari chassis builder Viccari “guide” him in the construction of a Left Hand Drive type 525 250TR chassis using the salvaged parts he had acquired from Brazil. The car was given a new body by Len Pritchard and sold to John Godfrey who upon further inspection realised that the parts Sebastiani had found in Brazil were actually from the Right Hand Drive #0606 290MM.

The car is seen here at last years Goodwood Revival by Mike Malone.

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

Zwei Eins – 6 Hours Of Silverstone

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Thanks to catching a break with my car insurance last week I found I had just enough petrol in the tank and cash in my pocket to take a 2 hour drive to go and see the 6 Hours of Silverstone World Endurance Championship Sports Car race.

6 Hours Of Siverstone, Silverstone, UK

Recently there has been a lot of debate about the possibility of a female ever winning the World Championship, 33 years ago I remember seeing Desiré Wilson co drive her de Cadenet Ford to victory in the Silverstone 6 hour race with Alain de Cadenet and the top line cars have not become anymore physically demanding since. So it was a tad disappointing to see the sports governing body the FIA setting a bad example of equality by sanctioning the use of so many females as eye candy with out giving the ladies in the audience something corresponding to look at, such a move might just make the sport a little more appealing across the board.

ROSENQVIST, MARCIELLO, Dallara, FIA Formula 3, Silverstone, UK

First race of the day was the third and final Formula 3 race of the weekend, that forms part of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship. Starting on a slippery track it was not long before six competitors fell off requiring the use of the pace car to clear up some of the mess. Felix Rosenqvist was leading from a third place on the grid, in the #6 Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes, when the action resumed but Raffaele Marciello driving the #1 Prema Powerteam Dallara-Merc who was the man on the move having out braked his team mate and pole sitter Alex Lynn going into Club after the Safety Car was withdrawn and then chased down Rosenqvist and over taking him on the outside of Stowe. Full results for all three FIA Formula 3 races can be found on this link. Ferrari protege Marciello leads the new championship from Rosenqvist, Harry Tincknell, and third place finisher Lynn, the next round is at Hockenheim on May 4th.

Howson, Ka To, Impertori, 6 Hours Of Siverstone, Silverstone, UK

After the Formula 3 race it was time to go on the pits walk about where many of the drivers were busy signing autographs that is all except KCMG Motorsports trio (left to right) Matthew Howson, Jim Ka To and Alexander Imperrori who had no giveaways to sign, they were however armed with their own pens and they kindly signed my programme before going on to finish the race 12th overall, 6th in class from a 25th place start in their #47 Morgan Nissan.

Lotus Praga T128, 6 Hours Of Siverstone, Silverstone, UK

Not for the first time two Lotus share the same Type Number, the original Lotus T128 was a Renault powered 2011 Formula One car built by what is now called the Caterham Formula One team while seen in the pits above is the new Type 128 a LMP 2 Endurance racer running with a Judd V8 motor that carries the name plate of the Czechoslovakian kart manufacturer Praga. The #31 Lotus Praga T128 scheduled to be driven by Kevin Weeda, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christophe Bouchut completed the least number of laps, 44, and was classified 31st and last, while the sister #32 driven by Thomas Holzer, Dominik Kraihamer and Jan Charouz completed 113 laps and was classified 29th on the teams debut outing.

Aston Martin, 6 Hours Of Siverstone, Silverstone, UK

A timely reminder of Aston Martin‘s centenary year appeared just before the start of the race, expect to see some more Aston Martin blogs in the months ahead.

Start, 6 Hours Of Siverstone, Silverstone, UK

31, of an expected entry of 33, cars took the start of the 6 Hours of Silverstone race the front row was locked out by Toyota TS030 Hybrids with Alexander Wurz starting on pole in the #7 car. The Audi R18 e-Tron quattro‘s of Tom Kristensen and André Lotterer started line astern in 3rd and 5th places flanked by the Lola Toyota B12/60 Coupé’s of Nicolas Prost and Matthias Beche.

Kristensen.Audi, Wurz, Toyota, 6 Hours Of Siverstone, Silverstone, UK

Toyota’s moment of glory proved to be short lived as Kristensen relieved Wurz of the lead going into Vale after only a hand full of laps, the sister Audi also made short work of both Toyota’s and soon settled into second place.

Toyota TS030 Hybrid, Maggotts, 6 Hours Of Siverstone, Silverstone, UK

While the Audi’s sailed into the distance the Toyota’s which looked great in the corners like Maggotts above were visibly unstable on the straights when compared to the overall leaders.

Pla, Morgan Nissan, Pit Straight, 6 Hours Of Siverstone, Silverstone, UK

While I was spectating at the end of, the original now ‘National’ pits straight, I remembered that it was 35 years since I had first attended the Silverstone 6 hours and seen the awesome Porsche 935/78 “Moby Dick” win by a comfortable 7 laps. Above Oliver Pla guides the #24 OAK Racing Morgan Nissan he shared with David Heinemeier Hanson and Alex Brundle to an eight place overall finish, 2nd in class.

Aston Martin, Lola, Toyota, Luffield, 6 Hours Of Siverstone,

Aston Martin fielded four Vantage V8’s two in the LMGTE Pro class and two in the LMGTE Am class all four cars finished with the #97 of Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Bruno Senna winning the Pro class and #95 of Christoffer Nygaard, Kristian Poulsen and Allan Simonsen winning the Am class. Above the Am class #96 of Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Jamie Campbell-Walter leads the Rebellion Racing #13 Lola Toyota B12/60 Coupé of Andrea Belicchi, Mathias Beche and Cong Fu Cheng, which finished 6th overall and the 4th place finishing #7 Toyota of Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre through a slippery Luffield as light rain that caught out a couple of competitors was falling.

Loic Duval, Audi R18 e-tron quattro, 6 Hours Of Siverstone,

Loic Duval, seen above at Club, drove the winning Audi through the middle of the race swapping the lead with the sister Audi as the pit stops cycled through.

Bruni, Ferrari F458 Italia, Club, 6 Hours Of Siverstone,

The LMGTE class Ferrari 348 Italia’s all appeared to get involved in incidents of one kind or another the AF Corse #51 Pro entry for former Formula One Drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Giancarlo Fisichella carries war wounds on it’s way to an 18th place finish overall, 5th in class.

Ferrari, Chevrolet, Porsche, Hangar Straight, 6 Hours Of Siverstone,

The appeal of Endurance racing is that somewhere there is always a battle over tarmac above the 6th in class #57 LMGTE Am Krohn Racing Ferrari of Tracey Krohn, Nicoläs Johnson and Maurizio Mediani dukes it out going on to the hangar straight with the 2nd in class LMGTE AM class Labre Compétition Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1 of Patrick Bornhauser, Julien Canal and Fernando Rees with the 3rd in class LMGTE Pro works Porsche AG Team Manthey Porsche 911 RSR of Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Domain Dumas in hot pursuit.

SARRAZIN, Toyota TS030 Hybrid, The Loop, 6 Hours of Silverstone

Like the works Porsche AG Manthey team cars the works Toyota and Audi entries finished in reverse order the #8 Toyota of Anthony Davidson, Sébastian Buemi and Stéphane Sarrazin leading the #7 Toyota home to 3rd and 4th place finishes respectively. Sarrazin is seen above negotiating the Loop.

Ferrari, Chevrolet, Toyota, Porsche, Club, 6 Hours of Silverstone

There was drama right through the field right up until the end with only 5 mins to go a tyre on the 8 Stars Motorsports LMGTE Am #81 Ferrari 458 Italia of Vicente Potolicchio, Rui Aguas and Philip Peter let go demoting it to a 3rd in class finish on it’s WEC debut, behind the following #50 Corvette above, despite having earlier had to stop to replace a door.

Alan McNish, 6 Hours of Silverstone

The #1 Audi of reigning world endurance champions Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fässler was leading with 5 mins to go when a front drive shaft broke which allowed team mate Allan McNish to nip through and take a three second victory over the now two wheel drive #1 both Audi’s finishing a lap ahead of the #8 and #7 Toyota’s. McNish is seen above taking a bow after finishing the race. Full results for the 6 Hours of Silverstone can be found on this link.

All in all £40 including official programme well spent on 6 hours of nonstop action with an 8 mile walk in and around the track thrown in. Next time I must remember to take more batteries for my trusty AM/FM Sony Walkman Compact Cassette player with which to stay in touch with the on track action via Radio Silverstone.

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

Four Pot Revisited – Ferrari 860 Monza #0604M

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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.