Tag Archives: Ferrari

Choices Choices – Simply Italian National Motor Museum Beaulieu

In the interests of keeping my regular Friday readers happy I needed little convincing by GALPOT regular David Roots to forgoe the delights of the Avenue Drivers Club monthly meeting at Queens Square, in order to take a trip to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu for the third Simply Italian parade on Sunday.

On the way down I passed at several cars making their way to Queens Square, a magnificent Alvis and several other vintage cars taking part in a Vintage Rally, and a number of classic sports cars taking part in a Classic Rally before stumbling accross this F40 as it slowly made it’s way through the achingly picturesque village of Beaulieu, pronounced ‘Bewley’.

In the never seen one before category was the Vignale Gamine, one of just 300 vehicles, based on a FIAT 500 platform with a 21 hp 2 cylinder motor. This slow selling Alfredo Vignale pet project led to Carrozeria Vignale going out of business and the production facility being acquired by de Tomaso for their Pantera models.

One of my favourite toys when I was not yet six was a Lancia Flamina similar to the 1962 Coupé seen here which had yellow jeweled headlights.

Appropriately on the other side of the car park to the Vignale Gamine was this de Tomaso Pantera which with it’s Ford motor and running gear has to be one of the most practical and affordable ways of running a genuine Italian super car.

Speaking of practical this 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Baldoni, one of just 250 550 hp 200 mph 2 wheel drive super cars with a distinctive white and gold stripe was carrying a child seat on the passenger side. The owner told me he has had the car just nine weeks and in that time has driven it 5000 miles at 25 mpg on the road and as little as 5 mpg on track days. He has also had to replace a set of tyres !

Around lunch time the grounds of the National Motor Museum echoed to the sound of LEFT ! RIGHT ! LEFT ! RIGHT ! LEFT ! RIGHT ! LEFT ! as a squad of 13 field gunners from HMS Sultan ended a 56 mile weekend yomp with a limber and 12 pounder field gun, of the type used during the Boer War, in tow. The gun and breach alone weighs some 400 kgs, nearly 900 lbs ! All of this was to honour the men of 40 Commando in the Falklands Conflict who covered the same distance in 1982 to retake Port Stanley and to raise funds the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, follow this link to find out more and make a donation.

After lunch the results of a public vote for the most popular vehicle present was announced, the 1988 FIAT Panda 4×4 above, which came complete with a fitted tent was awarded a bottle of Beaulieu Bubbly, a local sparkling wine.

A well deserved second went to GALPOT regular David Roots and his Lenham based ALFA Romeo 4C Special,

while most visitors votes went to this Maserati Merak.

My thanks and congratulations to David for telling me about this fabulous event which was interspersed with visits into the National Motor Museum which I shall cover in greater detail on Sunday.

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

Financial Stabiliser – Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina Coupé #1083GT

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In the late 1950’s in order to stabilise the company finances Enzo Ferrari commissioned Pinin Farina to design a coupé suitable for series production.

The 250 GT Pininfarina Coupé was launched at the 1958 Milan Motor Show with the last, featuring a superfast tail being shown at the 1961 London Motor Show.

Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina (PF) Coupé boasted 240 hp at 7000 rpm from it’s 3 litre / 183 cui V12 which was connected to a four speed gearbox and a live rear axle with semi elliptic leaf sprung suspension. The 250 GT Coupé was capable of 150 mph and rest to 60 mph in less than 7 seconds.

The independent front suspension comprised double wishbones and coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers. Until 1959 drum brakes were used on all four wheels.

This particular car was one of two delivered from the factory to Tourist Trophy Garages in Farnham Surrey who displayed it at the 1958 London Motor Show at Earls Court.

Tourist Trophy Garages belonged to the Hawthorn family who’s son Mike became the first British World Champion driver, driving for Ferrari, in 1958.

The car seen here was sold to an Irish land owner in 1958 and turned up in a sorry state of repair in the 1980’s at Maranello Concessionaires, which took over the UK Ferrari Franchise after Mike Hawthorn’s death in 1959, who had the car restored. The car has belonged to it’s current owner since 1993.

It is thought just over 350 of these cars were built, most of the steel bodies were fitted at a factory purpose built by Pinin Farina, in Ferrari’s terms going into series production for the first time proved a huge success.

Due to the phenomenal depreciation rates of these cars, many were subsequently cannibalised for parts and some even turned into replica’s of more sought after models, it is thought only half of the production run has survived.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Financial Stabiliser’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be featuring a Lotus 77 Grand Prix car. Don’t forget to come back now !

Bella Bella – Auto Italia Brooklands

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Last Saturday I was privileged to find my self at Brooklands for the Auto Italia Italian Car Day where a substantial group of enthusiasts gathered to celebrate all things Italian except perhaps the weather and the food.

Focused under the new Chairmanship of former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Europe General Sir Jeremy Mackenzie, GCB, OBE, DL, AC Cars launched the AC Zagato 378 GT at Geneva in March with plans to build the car in factory where Noble cars used to be built and for them to be sold initially in Europe. After the 1950’s AC Ace Bristol Zagato and 1960’s AC Fura the 434 hp Chevy powered 378 GT, seen above, becomes AC’s third collaboration with Zagato.

Despite having first been seen in Frankfurt a decade ago the ALFA Romeo 8C Competizione looks as fresh to day as it did then, this is only the second of the 500 Coupés built I have ever seen.

I featured a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso a couple weeks ago seeing one in red on Saturday convinced me this is the colour to go for.

There were many interesting FIAT’s on display the first of two to really grab my attention was this FIAT 128 Rallye, my first very first car was a slightly lesser FIAT 128 1100.

The second FIAT to really grab my attention was this FIAT Coupé Pickup, which the lads sitting in the back had spent all week converting just in time for the show ! While not the absolute fastest Pickup on the planet the 20V Turbo motor powering it should easily make this a 150 mph vehicle.

Smoking it’s tyres, courtesy of it’s Chevy V8, all the way to the 1 in 4 gradient of the famous Brooklands Hill was this 1960’s Bertone designed Iso Rivolta IR 300. First time I recall seeing such a car.

Cool as cucumber I’d never seen a Lamborghini Jarama S before either given that only 152 of them had ever been built perhaps this was not surprising, what was surprising is that the covers that partially conceal the headlights do not pop up but fold down to reveal the head lights when required, the proud owner has just finished fixing the electric motors that make this possible.

During the course of the morning many of the cars present were driven at a moderate pace for demonstration laps on the adjacent Mercedes Benz world test track which was lined four or more deep along the accessible half of the circuit. Above a 40 year old Lancia Beta is put through it’s paces.

A ‘you could have knocked me down with a feather’ moment came when I saw the badge on this 50cc mottoette, Maserati who the expletive puts Maserati badges on the petrol / gas tank of a moped I asked myself, Wiki informs me that the heir to part of the Orsi family fortune Ida Orsi who inherited the electrical components manufacturing division of Fabbrica Candele Accumulatori Maserati S.p.A. and promptly bought the Italmoto company of Bologna and moved it lock stock and barrel and began manufacturing motorcylces in 1956 the company which sold it’s motorcycles with the Maserati brand name and trident trade mark developed a 50 cc / 3 cui range of mopeds which included one aimed at the male market another at the female market and a third like the 1959 50/T2/SS seen above for sports enthusiasts. These 2.3 hp trident branded novelties sell for UK £ 5,000 at auction.

Above is probably only the second Montiverdi I have ever seen this 1972 High Speed 375L is powered by a 7.2 litre 440 cui 400 hp Chrysler Magnum motor much like the contemporary Jenson Interceptor and Bristol 412. The 375L was originally designed and the body manufactured by Fura but after a dispute in 1969 design and production of the bodies moved to Carozzeria Fissore in Italy with the chassis construction and final assembly taking place in Basel, Switzerland.

I’d never heard of a Nissan Zagato Autech Stelvio much less the Nissan F31 Leopard upon which it is based, power comes from a twin turbo V6 which was found in the ZX300, this hand made car, the bulges in the bonnet / hood house the rear view mirrors. By all accounts 200 of these ¥ 18,000,000 (Japanese ¥en Eighteen Million) / £ 139,0000 / US$ 225,000 machines were built in 1989.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Bella Bella’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow, when I’ll be reviewing last Sundays racing at Castle Combe. Don’t forget to come back now !

Happy Days – ‘Rush’ Snetterton Set

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A little departure from the usual Ferrari Friday blog to day but I as you will see not completely un Ferrari related. The last time I visited the former home of the 96th Bombardment Group (H) 8th USAAF was to test my 27hp 2 CV on the Snetterton Circuit in preparation for a 24 hour event in Ireland.

On Tuesday evening I saw a twitter post from the @RealRonHoward to go and visit the set of his current project called ‘Rush’ which is all about the relationship between off track friends and on track rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda which culminated in the tumultuous 1976 season which I have retold from Ferrari and McLaren perspectives in past blogs.

Setting off at 2am I arrived at Snetterton just after 7am to find not very much happening, I even got inadvertently got ushered into the pit area where the crew were grabbing breakfast and sorting themselves out for a tough days shooting. I then made my way to the Bombhole, a corner with a nasty dip marking the apex where I found preparations underway for several scene’s which were to represent the controversial ‘wide vehicle’ 1976 Spanish Grand Prix.

After watching the driver representing John Watson getting in and out of his car numerous times as he retired with a blown motor several cars came round together representing James Hunt in the #11 ‘wide vehicle’ McLaren M23, Jaques Laffite in the #26 Ligier JS5 and Niki Lauda in the #1 Ferrari 312 T2 on the right John Watson’s double can be seen having exited the smokey #28 Penske PC3 for the millionth time that morning.

Among my fellow extra’s I met Jess who thoughtfully brought his copy of the 1976 – 77 Autocourse Annual to make sure Ron was keeping his legendary reputation for details correct.

I was not exactly sure which, from a choice of two, style AGV helmet wore for 1976 Spanish GP,

Looking at Autocourse it was immediately clear Ron was on the button with that particular detail.

Somewhere around mid day Ron came over to thank the by now 50 enthusiasts who had managed to come along and soon after we were invited over to the other side of the circuit to watch what was going on in the pits for the next batch of takes representing the 1976 German Grand Prix the one race of the 1976 season where I was present !

Above a shoot is prepared with Guy Edwards #25 Hesketh 308 on rain tyres with Laffites Ligier on slicks as unseen in the pit lane Niki Lauda is about to come out on slicks prior to his near fatal crash on the drying Nurburgring that would take a hefty points advantage out of Lauda’s 1976 season but still left him in with a fighting chance at the 1976 seasons finale.

Ron can be seen above in the passenger seat of the Mitsubishi Evo Camera Car that was probably the best sounding car at Snetterton on Wednesday.

Left to right the Hunt, Laffite and Lauda stand in drivers have a quick break between shoots.

As one wag amongst the enthusiasts noted the Renault Traffic took the wrong option tyres before getting chased down by Niki Lauda in the 1975 Ferrari 312 T, not sure why this car and it’s sister with Clay Regazzoni at the wheel were bereft of any sign writing or sponsors logo’s, perhaps a test session was being reenacted. The cars we saw on Wednesday were all £50,000 50 foot specials designed to look right at a distance at a fraction of the cost of insuring let alone hiring the real cars of the period, many of which still exist and indeed are still raced. Some of the real cars are and have been used for close ups and to get the sound track right.

I was curious as to why the Penske PC3 was selected and not the much sharper and race winning Penske PC4, turns out that John Watson drove the PC 3 for the nearly the entire first half of the 1976 season, another detail the legendary Ron Howard got right for the Spanish Grand Prix sequences.

I understand that Rob Austin was responsible for building the Ferrari 312 T and T2 vehicles, WGK Motorsport the McLaren M23 and Hesketh 308D vehicles and Mirage Motorsport the Ligier JS5 and Penske PC3 vehicles which I believe are powered by Rover V8 motors and were built in just 3 months.

After watching seven hours of watching the set action I reluctantly headed for home, with a renewed appreciation for all the work that goes into making a film on my favorite subject.

Thanks for joining me on this Happy Days edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres, I hope you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a Lotus Europa Special. Don’t forget to come back now !

Lovin’ Spoonful – Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Pininfarina Berlinetta #5953

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The first of a final total of 350, 250 GT Lusso Pininfarina Berlinetta’s, known more commonly as the 250 Lusso, was shown to the public at the 1962 Paris Motor show.

The Lusso is immediately recognisable by it’s graceful lines and unusual three piece front bumper.

Hiding under the bonnet / hood are 250 of Maranello’s finest horses from an all aluminium 3 litre / 183 cui Colombo V12, the sound of which goes something like this.

The 250 Lusso, which translates as luxury, came with a Pininfarina designed steel body manufactured by Scaglietti.

Steel being far heavier than aluminium used in the production of the racing versions of the 250, like the 250 GTO, would normally not make a 250 GT Lusso a competition car of choice, however some customers and later owners like Tim Lewis, seen in this car at Castle Combe with his son Daniel co driving, did not hesitate to strap themselves in and head for the nearest competition.

Today’s featured car chassis #5953GT was one of the last 250 Lusso’s produced in 1964, it was originally sold to Austrian Wolfgang Denzel, note this is a left hand drive car (LHD) not RHD as stated by barchetta cc, among it’s former owners somewhere between the late 80’s and early 90’s was former Aston Martin chairman Victor Gauntlett.

Anyone who likes a mystery might be interested to know that according to Wiki Steve Boone, of the band Lovin’ Spoonful’ owned one of these cars chassis #4237, said to be the the very first production Lusso, that was subsequently stolen from a repair shop in Queens New York. The stolen vehicle is probably not worth quite as much as the $2.3 million that Steve McQueens 250 GT Lusso fetched at auction in 2007 but tracking it down might make an interesting tale. At the time of writing I am still checking the veracity of the Wiki claim.

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

Company Car – Ferrari 360 Spider

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GALPOT regulars may remember me posting a blog on the Ferrari 360 Spider last year, I have revisited this model, built in 2000, in honour of the original owner of this car, Ross Brawn team principle of Mercedes AMG Formula One team who’s driver Nico Rosberg won his and the teams first victory in China last weekend.

Ross, from Manchester England, became interested in engineering at the Belle Vue Stadium, Britain’s first oval track dating back to 1926, where he attended a variety of short track events.

After a spell with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell Oxfordshire where he studied instrumentation, Ross joined the race car manufacturer March Engineering where he worked as a milling machine operator and later as a race mechanic.

In 1978 Ross joined Williams as a machinist progressing through the Williams R&D and aerodynamics departments.
After spells with the Haas Lola and Arrow’s Grand Prix teams Ross moved to the Jaguar Sports Car team and was credited as the lead designer of the Jaguar XJR 14 which won the 1991 World Sports Car Championship.

Later in 1991 Ross became technical director at Benetton where he was joined by rising star Micheal Schumacher with whom he designed strategies to win the 1994 & 1995 World Drivers Championship and 1995 World Constructors Championships.

Towards the end of 1996 Ross joined Micheal at Ferrari, along with Benetton’s designer Rory Bryne to form a ‘Dream Team’ that won World Constructors Championships from 1999 to 2005 and the World Drivers Championships for Micheal Schumacher from 2000 – 2004.

After taking a sabbatical in 2007 Ross Brawn joined the under performing Honda team and spent the 2008 season developing the teams 2009 challenger only for Honda to withdraw from Grand Prix racing at the end of 2008 amidst global economic chaos.

Incredibly Ross managed to put together a deal to save the Honda team with a management buyout and secured a deal to use Mercedes engines for his newly rebranded Brawn GP team. The new car was a cracker right out of the box winning no less than six of it’s first seven races in the hands of Jenson Button who won the 2009 World Drivers title and with two additional wins from Rubens Barrichello Brawn secured the 2009 constructors title.

The following year Daimler Benz bought into Brawn GP and the team was rebranded again to Mercedes GP. The team, with Ross Brawn remaining as team principle, managed to tempt Micheal Schumacher out of a three years of retirement to join Nico Rosberg. After two years of relative under performance Mercedes finally won it’s first race the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend.

The victory was the first for a Mercedes vehicle since the 1955 Italian GP won by Juan Manuel Fangio.
Ross Brawn’s Ferrari 360 Spider can be seen at the Haynes International Motor Museum.

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

African Adventurer – Ferrari 340 America #0122A Touring Coupé

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Today’s featured car is the 340 America, seen here at Gooodwood Festival of Speed, a bye product of Ferrari’s Lamperdi V12 powered Grand Prix programme. With the failure of Ferrari’s Colombo designed 1.5 litre / 122 cui supercharged V12 Grand prix cars to make any impression on the pre war Colombo designed straight 8 supercharged 1.5 litre / 122cui Grand Prix cars thanks to poor fuel economy, Enzo Ferrari asked Lamperdi to design what has become known as the all alloy 4.5 litre / 274 cui long block V12 which was to run in Grand Prix racing without a super charger.

The new V12 was first built in a 3.3 litre / 201 cui guise and then in a 4.1 litre / 250 cui configuration before being stretched to a full 4.5 litre / 274 cui specification. No sooner had the new motor been developed into a winner, in the 375 chassis, than it was made redundant for World Championship Grand Prix racing thanks to a lack of competition which led to an immediate rule change.

As the 375 Grand Prix programme was in progress in 1950 Ferrari started to build a series of 23 340 America sports car chassis fitted with the 200 hp 4.1 litre / 250 cui spec motor. Only 2 of these chassis were fitted with a Coupé body by Touring, a model fitted with a Vignale Barchetta body won the 1951 Mille Miglia with Luigi Villoresi at the wheel and Pierro Cassani doing the co driving.

So far as I can establish this car might be chassis #0122A which was sent to the 1951 Brussels Motor Show and sold to a Belgian. I believe this is the same car as entered by Equipe Nationale Belge for Alain de Changy in the 1958 Grand Prix Leopodville now known as Kinshasa in Belgian Congo where it did not finish. Two weeks later the car was entered in the Angolan Grand Prix for Yves Tassin who finished 10th behind a far more modern D type Jaguar, a Riley Special, unspecified Triumph and Austin Healey amongst others.

As seen here at Goodwood Festival of Speed Councour’s d’Elegance the car won the best in show Award.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘African Adventurer’ 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

Choices Choices – Simply Italian National Motor Museum Beaulieu

Financial Stabiliser – Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina Coupé #1083GT

Bella Bella – Auto Italia Brooklands

Happy Days – ‘Rush’ Snetterton Set

Lovin’ Spoonful – Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Pininfarina Berlinetta #5953

Company Car – Ferrari 360 Spider

African Adventurer – Ferrari 340 America #0122A Touring Coupé