Tag Archives: Ferrari

California Sun – Danville Concours d’Elegance

One of the things that has stuck me all week looking at the photo’s that Geoffrey Horton and Jay Wollenweber have kindly sent me from the Danville Concours d’Elegance is the sheer beauty of the California Sunshine, so at the risk of being accused of publishing car porn, to round out a long week of toil I thought to put all of the two photographers best Ferrari photo’s together for Ferrari Friday.

Photo Jay Wollenweber
Above is one of 20 1968 Ferrari 365 GTS spyders fitted with a 4.4 litre / 267 cui V12, that would soon be replaced in the Ferrari line up by the sharper 365 GTS/4 bodystyle.

Photo Jay Wollenweber

Like wise the Dino 246 GTB featured in one of my earliest blogs above is the Targa top GTS.

Photo Jay Wollenweber

One of my favorite’s is the Ferrari 365GTB/4 in one of which Dan Gurney once drove 2,876 miles from New York to LA at an average speed of 80.1 mph !

Photo Geoffrey Horton

Sharing a slightly detuned motor, inorder to accommodate a lower bonnet / hood line, with the GTB/4 is the Ferrari 365 GTC/4.

Photo Jay Wollenweber

For some reason among my memories of working in the motor trade are a couple that in which gold painted cars were rarely ordered new in that colour and always hard to shift in the second hand market, I don’t know if that rule applies to high performance vehicles like the Bertone designed Ferrari 308 GT4 seen above.

Photo Jay Wollenweber

While Bertone’s 308 GT4 is probably one of the cheapest Ferrari’s to purchase in the pre owned market place the Ferrari 328 GTS like the one above is one of the more reliable, 6068 of these targa tops of the 160 mph plus cars were made between 1986 and 1989.

Photo Geoffrey Horton

Ferrari lost ground to it’s competitors with the Ferrari 348 that succeeded the 328, particularly to the Honda NSX, but bounced back with Ferrari F355 Berlineta, Targa and

Photo Jay Wollenweber

and soft top spyder models.

Photo Geoffrey Horton

The Ferrari 360 Spider was the 12th road going convertible offered since Enzo Ferrari moved into road car production in 1949.

Photo Geoffrey Horton

Ferrari’s 360 Challenge Stradale like the one above was intended for those lucky enough to spend 20% of their time in the car at track day’s and only 80% of their time in the car in normal road conditions. The Challenge Stradale comes with an additional 20 hp, improved throttle response, steering feed back and chassis balance which made a significant difference in achievable lap times over the standard 360.

Photo Geoffrey Horton

For 2004 the the Ferrari 360 was replaced by the F430 in the model line up, and in 2007 the 508hp Ferrari F430 Scuderia filled the niché that had been left vacant since the demise of the 360 Challenge Stradale.

Photo Geoffrey Horton

Allegedly the Ferrari California started as a Maserati project but when it was realised how expensive the finished car was going to be it was decided to launch it as a Ferrari in 2008. Either way it is a stunningly attractive car to look at in the California sun.

Photo Geoffrey Horton

Of the current range the Ferrari 458 Italia launched in 2009 is without doubt the most attractive of the lot on the road or on the track, it is powered by the most powerful per liter/cui normally aspirated production motor in the world.

Photo Jay Wollenweber

I only know one person who has ever driven a Ferrari FF, unfortunatley Michele Rahal at The Drive Channel has removed the clip from youtube, needless to say he was grinning from ear to ear the whole time he was in the car.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton and Jay Wollenweber for sharing their photo’s form Concours d’Elegance.

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

Goodwood 2012 – #5 Ferrari Friday

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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 !

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 !

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 !

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.

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.

Manifattura Tessile Cotoniera, Milano – Ferrari 166MM #0022M

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A couple of weeks ago I looked at the Ferrari 166MM #0040M, thanks to Geoffrey Horton today’s featured car is the Ferrari 166MM #0022M which was seen at the recent Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance.

Using only the internet as a source the history of this car is a little more difficult to pin down, it is certain that this is the twelfth of the 25 166MMs built with a body by Touring.

One source gives the delivery date as 27th July 1949 to Manifattura Tessile Cotoniera, Milano which is thought to have belonged to Giannino Marzotto.

The same source indicates that Giannino won the Coppa Gallenga hillclimb in this car on 16th October 1949. While another source indicates that Franco Cornacchia drove #0022M in at least two events prior to this in August 1949 which included winning a race at Circuito de Senigallia on 21st August 1949.

Both sources agree that the long distance expert and multi time Mille Miglia and Targa Florio winner Clemente Biondetti drove this chassis to a sixth place finish in a sports car race in Monaco on June 1st 1952.

Since 1973 #0022M appears to have had just three owners, all in the United States.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Manifattura Tessile Cotoniera, Milano” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I’ll be visiting the 1969 Bank Holiday Monday Guards International at Brands Hatch. Don’t forget to come back now !

Class But No Championships – Ferrari 312P #0872

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For 1968 a new championship was announced for 3 litre / 183 cui prototype sports cars called Championnat Internationale des Marques. A lack of entries for the series led to a late change in the rules which extended the life of the Ford GT40 and Lola T70 for four years and inadvertently gave Ferrari and Porsche a window in which to build the 512S and 917 models respectively.

For 1969 Ferrari built it’s first 3 litre / 183 cui prototypes using detuned V12 engines from it’s Formula One programme. In all three 312P’s were built by the factory two open top Spyders and the closed top Berlinetta chassis #0872 featured today.

Although the 312P’s are not remembered as being a match for the Porsche 908’s that ran in the same class they did take several class wins when they finished. #0872 won it’s class at Daytona in 1970, 4th overall, driven by Mike Parkes and Sam Posey, and again at Sebring driven by Parkes and Chuck Parsons who replaced Posey.

In 1971 #0872 appeared with Spyder bodywork and Luigi Chinetti and Garcia Veiga took another class victory at Daytona in the 24 hour marathon.

When #0872 was first raced by Chris Amon and Peter Schetty at Le Mans in 1969 carrying the #19 the car was a last minuet substitute for chassis #0868, which had crashed a couple of weeks earlier at Monza, and was raced with the #0868 identity due to the difficulty in getting the correct international travel documents for #0872 ready in time.

Chris Amon hit a fuel tank from the fatally disintegrated Porsche 917 of John Woolfe on the opening lap, causing #0872 to catch fire and it’s subsequent retirement without injury to the New Zealander.

In the spring of 1971 #0872 was dismantled, the engine, transmission, suspension and steering were subsequently fitted to a brand new chassis known as the Chinetti Special / Flying Shingle, a car which did not finish at Daytona in 1972 and manged 9th overall 6th in class at Le Mans in 1974 driven by Jean-Claude Andruet and Teodoro Zeccoli.

In 1980/81 all the parts of #0872 were reunited along with it’s original Berlinetta body, and the Flying Shingle has been reconstructed without any of the original parts from #0872.

Thanks for joining me on this “Class But No Championships” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Silent Running – Silverstone 6 Hours WEC

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Last Sunday I popped up to Silverstone for the 6 Hour race, the 4th round of the 8 race World Endurance Championship.

When I first visited Silverstone in 1978 the layout was still essentially an airfield perimeter track consisting of six straights joined by six fast corners with the main runway still in use on raceday’s. Since then the track configuration has changed several times, the runway is now long gone and there is a completely new infield section between the Club and Woodcote corners which was introduced last year.

When I arrived at the track I was heartend to find that endurance racing appeals to a younger audience who travelled from far and wide, though just as in 1978 in disappointingly small numbers.

Making it’s first appearance in the UK was the new for 2012 Toyota TS030 Hybrid which proved fast at the previous Le Mans 24 hours if ultimately unreliable, the car driven by Austrian Alexander Wurz, Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre and Japanese Kazuki Nakajima qualified 3rd behind the two Audi Sport Joest R18’s but after a dozen laps went into the lead, unfortunately it could not maintain it’s lead during the pit stops and so was always, entertainingly playing catch up to the Audi’s with their smaller, diesel filled, fuel tanks which proved ultimately more economical.

Further Japanese interest in the race was provided by Keiko Ihara who was sharing her second tier LMP2 #29 Gulf Racing Middle East entered Lola Nissan B12/80 Coupé with Fenchman Fabien Giroix and Swiss Jean-Denis Delatraz, they qualified a distant 22nd and finished an equally distant 18th overall and 11th in class.

Also running in the LMP2 class was former Grand Prix Driver, 1990 Le Mans winner and Sky Sports Formula One presenter Martin Brundle who joined his son Alex and Spaniard Lucas Ordonez in the #42 Zytek Nissan Z11SN. The #42 qualified a respectable 8th overall 1st in class but could only finish 12th overall 5th in class.

As well as the two LMP1 and LMP2 prototype classes additional classes catered for GT2 cars which are split into LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am divisions. Amateurs Christian Ried from Germany with Italians Gianluca Roda and Parato Ruberti from Italy qualified the #88 Porsche 911 RSR (997) 27th overall and 2nd in class and finished 25th overall 2nd in class, seeing the slower GT drivers getting swamped by the faster prototypes on the corners is always interesting but only rarely leads to the kind of damage seen above.

The #50 Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1, seen above, shared by Brazilian Fernando Rees and Frenchmen Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal actually crossed the line 25th and 2nd in the LMGTE Am class but was disqualified after a “non-conforming safety device, namely the validity date of the car’s fire extinguisher” was discovered in post race scrutineering. Labre Competition Team manager Jack Leconte was suitably contrite after the discovery.

From 35 starters there were only four retirements the second of which was the #23 Signatech Oreca Nissan O3 of French trio Jordan Tresson, Franck Mailleux and Olivier Lombard. Approaching 3/4 distance. Tesson is seen here after a rear tyre exploded at Becketts coming out of the next corner Chapel his car turned sharp left and hit the wall. The ensuing safety car period played into the hands of the overall victor of the race.

The #61 AF Course Waltrip, as in Micheal Waltrip Racing apparently, Ferrari 458 Italia of Italians Piergiuseppe Perazzzin, Marco Cioci and Irishman Matt Griffin qualified 30th overall / 3rd in LMGTE Am and came home winners in the class beating the #98 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of German Roald Goethe and Briy Stuart Hall, seen above, that finished 4th in class by 3 whole laps. Griffin said of his win “I’m not British but it’s still my home race so I’m really happy.”

LMGTE Pro honours fell to the #51 AF Course Ferrari 458 Italia of Grand Prix Winner Giancarlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni who beat another 458 Italia by two clear laps.

The #25 ADR-Delta team Oreca Nissan O3 of John Martin, Jan Charouz and Tor Garves edged the second Signatech team Oreca Nissan by just six seconds at the finish line but this was not the closest class victory of the day.

By securing the win in their Rebellion Racing Lola Toyota B12/60 Coupé 6th place starters and 4th place overall finishers Italian Andrea Belicchi and Swiss Harold Primat stretched the Rebellion Racing Teams lead in the Privateer LMP1 Championship. They finished 6 laps behind the third place #2 Audi and less than 1 second ahead of the 2nd place privateer LMP1 Honda powered HDP ARX 03a to take the closest class victory of the day.

With the best fuel economy and aided in a small way by several short safety car periods the Audi e-tron quattro Hybrid with a flywheel accumulator system developed by Williams Hybrid Power, to drive the front wheels only at mandated speeds in excess of 75 mph, silently, and I mean really quietly, out ran the Toyota TS030 Hybrid by less than a minute thanks to one less stop for diesel than it’s petrol powered competitor. By crossing the line first Audi secured this years World Endurance Constructors Championship at the half way point because it’s Le Mans win is the one race in the series that counts for double points.

Thanks for joining me on this “Silent Running” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting Dunsfold Aerodrome. Don’t forget to come back now !

Ferrari On The Avenue – Carmel by the Sea Concours d’Elegance

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Saving the best for Ferrari Friday today’s blog is the forth and final summary of the vehicles that were on display at this years Carmel by the Sea Concours on the Avenue which comes courtesy of photographs by Geoffrey Horton.

Of the photographs Geoffrey kindly sent this Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder looks a show stopper, but being one of 55 it was by no means the rarest Ferrari on display.

Enzo Ferrari took to being chauffeured about in a Ferrari 250 GT/E which gives an added poignancy to the model, however the sheer volume of cars built, around 1000, and the expense of keeping them maintained led to many subsequently being broken up for parts for more exotic models and some being hacked wholesale into more desirable examples like the 250 GT SWB Competizione linked here.

350 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Pininfarina Berlinetta‘s were manufactured between 1962 and 1964, making it more difficult to trace the serial numbers than most.

The 275 GTS above is one of 200 built between 1964 and 1966.

Ferrari had started deleting wire wheels from his options list as early as 1966 with the quad cam 275 GTB/4 which makes it perhaps surprising that the straight edge styled 365 GTB/4 launched in 1969 first appeared at the IAA show in Frankfurt mounted on Borrani wire spoke wheels which hark back to an earlier period rather than more contemporary alloy wheels which had virtually replaced wire wheels in the track competition scene.

Finally winner of the best in show at Carmel by the Sea on August 14th was this 1967 quad cam Ferrari 275 GTB/4 NART Spyder built for Luigi Chinetti to distribute in the USA. This car is the 7th of 10 that was built for Luigi Chinetti to distribute in the USA.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for kindly sharing his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Ferrari On The Avenue’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the last of the Lotus Seven variants to be designed by the factory. Don’t forget to come back now !

Cum On Feel The Noize – Donington Park Test Day

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When Ted Walker told me about the possibility of a 1939 Mercedes Benz 154 Grand Prix racer appearing for a test day at Donington Park a couple of weeks ago my ears just knew I had to be there to hear it.

At 6 am (ish) I picked up GALPOT contributer Tim and headed up to Donington Park and headed for the Hall & Hall pit where a mouth watering selection of cars was on display including this 1982 Matra V12 powered Ligier JS17 Grand Prix car.

Next to and in front of the JS17 were not one but two 1973 World Sports Car Championship winning Matra 670 C’s powered by similarly awesome sounding V12’s !

As we waited in the pits for the Gentleman from Crosthwaite and Gardiner to prepare the W154 for an engine warm up this Lola T70 Mk 3 Coupe rumbled down pit road to wet our appetites.

After a five minute warm up the plugs on the W154 were changed and one lucky Rob Hall jumped out of his Matra and into the Benz. The car sounded great although it was anything but a smooth test as first a recalcitrant motor had to be cured and then a water leak from the radiator brought and end to proceedings. While it was running cleanly the ear splitting sound of the 476hp 3 litre / 183 cui two stage super charged V12 was music to the ears !

As the test day progressed Tim and I took a wolk around the track which I had not seen, despite several trips to the Donington Museum, since the early 1990’s. Since my last visit the gravel traps have substantially increased in size and safety fences have increased in height. Above Rob Hall charges down the Craner Curves pursued by a Porsche GT3.

One of the many advantages of traveling with Tim is that he has breath taking memory for motor racing details, he has won several prestigious motor racing knowledge awards, during the Test day he pointed out that the arch in the Folly above was part of the pre war Grand Prix circuit through which the likes of the Mercedes Benz W154 along with Alfa Romeo’s, Auto Unions and ERA’s once raced in anger !

The works Gulf Prodrive Aston Martin team had three V8 Vantages present the #97 above, seen exiting Coppice, appeared to be the 2012 Le Mans entry driven by Adrian Fernandez, Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner which finished 19th overall and 3rd in class behind to Ferrari 458 Italia’s. The distinctive deep thump of these V8’s made it easy to tell where they were on the track even when they were not in view.

When we got back to the pits we found Terry Durdin’s 1972 Formula Ford Crosslé 25F being prepared for an afternoon’s run.

Another rumbling monster with a Le Mans history was this Sunbeam Tiger Coupé, one of two built by Lister for the Rootes Groups 1964 Le Mans challenge. Keith Ballisat and Claude Dubois qualified 34th for the endurance classic but both cars, powered by Ford 4,2 litre / 260 cui motors failed to finish due to engine failure.

There were two Ferrari’s present a 360 and this F430 driven by Sam Smeeth.

Following in the footsteps of Danica Patrick is the ambitious Laura Tillet who has stepped up to Formula Renault this year. Here her Fortec run Tatuus FR2000 is being prepared for a last minute run before the track closed at 5pm.

We did not time all the cars but thought the 2 litre / 122 cui BMW powered Ralt RT1 Formula 2 car of Philip Harper was amongst the quickest on the track. Ted Walker told us that Philip was running laps in the 1 min 02 second bracket. Tim and I reckoned Philips time would have seen him challenging James Hunt and Mario Andretti for second or third place at the very first meeting held at Donington Park the Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy in 1979. To be fair the 3 litre / 183 cui cars of Hunt and Andretti had a much slower chicane to negotiate than Philip did.

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

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Ferrari

California Sun – Danville Concours d’Elegance

Goodwood 2012 – #5 Ferrari Friday

Manifattura Tessile Cotoniera, Milano – Ferrari 166MM #0022M

Class But No Championships – Ferrari 312P #0872

Silent Running – Silverstone 6 Hours WEC

Ferrari On The Avenue – Carmel by the Sea Concours d’Elegance

Cum On Feel The Noize – Donington Park Test Day