Tag Archives: Rodriguez

Fast Cars and Fast Love – Ferrari 250 GTO #4219

Motor racing is littered with generous patrons but I venture to suggest that her wealth aside none has been quite so extraordinary as the 20 year old heiress from Asheville North Carolina known as Mamie Spears Reynolds.

In early 1963 she went to New York to see Luigi Chinetti with the intention of buying a Ferrari to enter in the Daytona Continental. She ended up buying today’s featured Ferrari 250 GTO chassis #4219 and finding love in the form of Luigi Chinetti’s son Luigi Chinetti Jr whom she married in July 1963.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

Mamie, heir to tobacco and mining fortunes along with the “Hope Diamond” had Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team (NART) enter #4219 into the Daytona Continental for Pedro Rodriguez to drive and he promptly won the race. NART entered the car at the following Sebring 12 Hours for Joakim Bonnier and John Cannon in which they came home 13th overall.

In May 1963 Mamie sold #4219 to Beverly Spencer in California for US $14,000, Beverly entered the car in numerous events through ’63 and ’64 primarily for Frank Crane who’s best results were a 2nd overall at Laguna Seca and a class win at Candlestick Park Raceway.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

At the end of 1964 Spencer sold the car to George Dyer for US $12,166. George had the now white #4219 painted dark blue and kept it until January 1993 when he sold the car to Brandon Wang the present owner for an estimated US$ 3 – 3.5 million.

By October 1965 Mamie and Chinetti jr were not getting on and after a private phone call to J Edgar Hoover she was liberated by “agents” and promptly divorced Chinetti jr and remarried a dog breeder the same day with whom she appears to have settled down for good.

Thanks for joining me on this “Fast Cars and Fast Love” 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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Pedro y Ricardo – Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta Compitizione #3005GT

In 1961 Luigi Chinetti ordered today’s Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta Compitizione chassis #3005GT and entered it in the Paris 1000kms race held at Montlhéry for the Mexican brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez to drive.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione, Goodwood Revival

The results of qualifying are not known however the result was an emphatic win for the Mexican’s by thirty seconds over the 250 GT SWB of Willy Mairesse and Lucien Bianchi, infact the first five cars to finish the race were all 250 GT SWB’s including chassis #2729GT driven by Pierre Dumas and Jo Schlesser which featured last weeks Ferrari Friday blog.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Ricardo Rodriguez was also credited with fastest lap at Montlhéry, having impressed Enzo Ferrari a couple of weeks earlier at Monza with a front row qualifying spot Ricardo was given a works contract for 1962 and continued to impress despite being just 20 years old with a string of good results including a win in the 1962 Targa Florio sports car race where he co drove a Ferrari 246SP with Olivier Gendebien and Willy Mairesse. Tragically Ricardo was killed in practice of the 1962 non Championship Mexican Grand Prix driving a Lotus for Rob Walker after Ferrari had declined to enter the race.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Older brother Pedro was equally talented particularly in the rain and behind the wheel of big sports cars like the Gulf Porsche 917, Pedro won two Grand Prix first in the 1967 South African GP where he drove a Cooper Maserati and the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix where he drove a BRM P153, recording a record average speed for any Grand Prix at the time of 149 mph. Like his brother Ricardo Pedro died at the wheel in 1971 at the Norisring where he drove a Ferrari 512M chassis #1008 that burst into flames after an accident.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Today’s featured car meanwhile was sold to Doug Thiem for the 1962 season and he is known to have driven it in at least 14 further US sports car races winning outright at Erkhart Lake / Road America in September 1962.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione, Goodwood Festival of Speed

#3005 stayed in the US until 1980 when Italian Pietro Brigato acquired the car and entered it into classic events in Italy and Germany. In 2011 Lukas Hueni, acquired the car and can be seen at the wheel in the top photo at the 2011 Goodwood Revival and in the bottom photo at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Thanks for joining me on this “Pedro y Ricardo ” 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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Goodwood 2012 – #5 Ferrari Friday

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 !

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

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 !

Ferrari 250 TR 59/60, Goodwood Revival

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.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Goodwood Revival

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.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C SWB, Goodwood Revival

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.

250 MM PF Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival

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.

Ferrari 250 GTE, Goodwood Revival

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.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

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.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, Goodwood Revival

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.

Ferrari 290 MM, Goodwood Revival

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 !

Ferrari 860 Monza, Goodwood Revival

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.

Ferrari 750 Monza, Goodwood Revival

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.

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Killer Bull – Lamborghini Islero

The Lamborghini Islero was a 2 + 2 built from 1968 to 1969, with just 225 examples built.

Powered by a 325 hp 3929 cc / 239.7 CUI 60 degree V12 capable of taking the Islero from 0-60mph in 6.4 seconds and on to a top speed of 154 mph.

Named after a Muira Bull that killed Manuel Rodriguez ‘Manilete’ on August 28, 1947. The design was by Carrozzeria Marazzi.

Ferruccio & Edmondo Lamborghini used such vehicles as there ‘daily drivers’. Any one who has seen ‘The Man Who Haunted Himself’ may have noticed Roger Moore driving one.

Hope you enjoyed today’s post and will join me again tomorrow, don’t forget to come back now !

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