Tag Archives: 158

Arise Sir John ? Pt 2 – Ferrari 158 Spec

After winning the 1964 Italian Grand Prix John Surtees was just four points behind World Championship leader Graham Hill and two points behind Jim Clark in the Championship standings.

Ferrari 158 R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Enzo Ferrari in a fit of pique announced that he would not be entering his Ferrari’s in the last two rounds of the world championship because the Italian Automobile Club and international racing authority the FIA had been unable to accommodate the Ferrari 250 LM and later 275 LM as a GT car because insufficient numbers had been built.

Ferrari 158 R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Instead, for the 1964 US and Mexican Grand Prix, Enzo had the 158’s painted White and Blue, the colours of the North American Racing Team, NART, who entered the cars on Ferrari’s behalf.

Ferrari 158 R, John Surtees,Goodwood Festival of Speed

John Surtees finished second to Graham Hill in the ’64 US Grand Prix and was now five points behind Graham in the standings. Because only the best six points from a maximum of ten counted toward the championship Graham dropped two points.

Ferrari 158 R, John Surtees, Goodwood Festival of Speed

At the Mexican Grand Prix John Surtees again finished second while his championship rivals Jim Clark and Graham Hill failed to score points so that John clinched the 1964 Drivers Championship by a single point while Ferrari clinched the Construtors championship by three points from BRM.

Ferrari 158 R, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Today’s chassis is described as having an original engine that was part of the ’64 Mexican GP original gearbox and running gear and as being “rebuilt under the watchful gaze” of Ferrari’s ’64 Cheif Mechanic Guilio Borsari.

There is a petition to get John Surtees the knighthood he so richly deserves for being the only man to win World Championships on two wheels and four, if you would like to sign FOLLOW THIS LINK.

Thanks for joining me on this “Arise Sir John ? Pt 2” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Jaguar Special. Don’t forget to come back now !

Arise Sir John ? Pt 1 – Ferrari 158 # 006

After the success of winning the 1961 World Drivers and Manufacturers Championships with Phil Hill driving the shark nose V6 powered Ferrari 156 model, the team experienced one of it periodic slumps.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

The ensuing 12 months saw Enzo Ferrari fallout with a patential saviour Ford, a couple of customers Ferruccio Lamborghini and Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata his engineers Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini and star driver Phil Hill.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

Despite these difficulties Enzo set Mauro ‘Fury’ Forghieri to work on a new V8 powered formula one challenger which was ready at the begining of 1964 for seven time world Motor Cycle Champion John Surtees to drive in his second season with the team.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

John’s first season with Ferrari driving the old V6 powered shark nose had seen him finish four races in 4th, 3rd, 2nd and culminating with a win in the 1963 German Grand Prix which saw him finish 4th overall in the World Drivers Championship and Ferrari 4th overall in the constructors championship.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

Unlike the 1963 championship wining monocoque chassis Lotus 25, the Ferrari 158 features a semi monocoque chassis which has aluminium sheets riveted to a steel structure.

Ferrari 158, Goodwood Revival

The 8 cylinder 1,489 cc / 90.9 cui type 205/B motor like the contemporaneous Coventry Climax V8 that powered the Lotus and BRM V8 has two banks of cylinders inclined at 90 degrees and produces around 210hp.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

The motor mounted behind the driver was attached to a Ferrari 6 speed gear box and the whole car weighed in at 468 kg / 1,032 lb with water and oil.

Ferrari 158, Goodwood Revival

There were 10 races counting toward the 1964 World Championship and John qualified 4th for the first round at Monaco but retired after 15 laps with a broken gearbox in a race won by Graham Hill from team mate Richie Ginther driving for BRM.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

John qualified 4th again for the Dutch Grand Prix and this time finished second to Jim Clark’s Lotus. At the Belgian and French Grand Prix John qualified 5th and 3rd respectively but retired from both with engine problems with less than half a dozen laps completed.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

At the 1964 British Grand Prix John qualified fifth but managed to go the whole distance to finish third behind Jim Clark and Graham Hill, Clark who had won the Belgian Grand Prix was leading Hill by four points in the championship with Surtees outside the top five 20 points behind Clark.

Ferrari 158, Autosport International, NEC, Birmingham

John qualified, chassis #006 featured in these photographs, on pole for the German Grand Prix and went on to win the race from Graham Hill while Clark began a series of three consecutive retirements thanks to two engine and one half shaft failure.

Ferrari 158, Goodwood Revival

All three emergent championship contenders retired from the Austrian Grand Prix which was won by John’s team mate Lorenzo Bandini.

Ferrari 158, Goodwood Revival

Going into the Italian Grand Prix John was 13 points behind championship leader Graham Hill but a second win from pole, again in chassis #006, closed the gap to just four points as both Graham and Jim Clark failed to finish.

I’ll conclude the story of John’s championship Formula One season next week, but meantime there is a petition to get John Surtees the knighthood he so richly deserves for being the only man to win World Championships on two wheels and four, if you would like to sign FOLLOW THIS LINK.

Thanks for joining me on this “Arise Sir John ? Pt 1” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Jaguar Special. Don’t forget to come back now !

Friday At Goodwood – Ferrari

Welcome to another Ferrari Friday coming to you from last weeks Goodwood Festival of Speed where the Ferrari highlights included …

Ferrari 156R, Merzario, Goodwood Festival of Speed

… a Ferrari 156 replica driven by Art Merzario, which when it last appeared on these pages was painted yellow.

Ferrari 250LM, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Unlike the 250 LM, #6045, sold originally as a daily driver, which I looked at recently, this 250 LM, chassis # 5995, was raced first by a private entrant and then converted for road use later by the Ferrari factory who fitted the perspex engine cover seen above.

Ferrari 158, Surtees, Goodwood Festival of Speed

John Surtees had two 1964 Ferrari 158’s to play with at Goodwood to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of his World Championship victory. This car was built out of period from remaining parts and is painted in the colours of the North American Racing Team that John’s car wore at the 1964 US and Mexican Grand Prix, he finished both races in 2nd place.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The 275 GTB/C above was first entered into the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours by British importer Maranello Concessionaires and driven to an 8th place overall finish, first in class by Piers Courage and Roy Pike. It was subsequently bought and raced by Paul Vesty who is still the cars owner and drove it at Goodwood last Friday.

Ferrari 512S Coda Lunga, Meiners, Goodwood Festival of Speed

For the 1970 Le Mans 24 Hours Ferrari had long (coda lunga) tails fitted to it’s 5 litre / 302 cui V12 512 S models. Franco Meiners is seen at the wheel of the 512S above, as also made familiar in the Le Mans film directed by Steve McQueen.

Ferrari 333SP, Pescatori, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Finally the Ferrari 333SP was launched for the 1994 season at the behest of privateer Giampiero Moretti. Of the 144 races in which at least one of these cars contested the model won 56. I believe this particular second generation chassis, driven above by Christian Pescatori, is the one used by Vincenzo Sospiri and Emmanuel Collard to secure the 1998 International Sports Racing Series.

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

Ferrari Friday – Autosport International

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.