Tag Archives: Belinetta

Belgian Pseudonym City – Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta #1321GT

Welcome back to a short run of Ferrari Friday’s which will be running during the month of June.

Amazingly of the seven Belgian drivers known to have raced today’s featured 1959 Ferrari 250 LWB GT, only one raced the car under his own name.

Chassis #1321GT with a Single Louvre body by Scaglietti was supplied to Garage Francorshamps for “Jean Beurlys” aka Jean Blaton.

Ferrari 250 LWB GT, Sanoma Hisotrics,

“Beurlys” drove the car on five occasions between 1959 and 1960 starting with a 2nd place overall and first in GT Class on the Tour de Cote de La Roche-en-Ardenne on the 12th of April 1959 which was followed two weeks later by the Le Mans Test Weekend in which he recorded 4th fastest time with same car.

Armand Blaton who raced under the pseudonym “Blary” won the Course de Cote de Charleroi, Bomerée hillclimb out right with #1321GT on the 31st May 1959 before the car was taken to the Nurburging where brothers “Beurlys” and “Blary” shared the driving to a 9th place finish overall, first GT Class, in the 1000 kms race.

Before the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hour race the car was taken back to the factory for servicing, repairs and for the original black stripe to be replaced with a yellow stripe.

Ferrari 250 LWB GT, Sanoma Hisotrics,

For the French endurance classic “Beurlys” teamed up with “Eldé” alias Léon Dernier who obviously had a sense of humour when choosing his pseudonym with LD being his initials.

All joking aside the Belgian pair driving the freshly restripped #1321GT finished 3rd and again took class honours after 24 hours of racing.

“Beurlys” was entered by Ecurie Francorchamps to drive #1321GT in the Monza Grand Prix for GT cars but appears for reasons unknown not to have started the race.

Ferrari 250 LWB GT, Sanoma Hisotrics,

Belgian Pierre Noblet became the first driver to compete in #1321GT under his own name when he shared the driving with “Beurlys” and “Eldé” at the 1960 Le Mans Test Weekend where the car was again credited with 4th quickest time overall, first in GT.

In May 1960 German architect Manfred Ramminger bought the car, but is only known to have entered it on one occasion for the 500 kms race at Spa in May 1963 where he is listed as having failed to arrive.

The original engine was reported as damaged and has been replaced twice since 1966, the car made it’s way to the USA in 1968 and has been with it’s present owner Charles T. Wegner since July 2011.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photo’s of #1321GT taken at the Sanoma Historics last year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Belgian Pseudonym City” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a a 1931 Talbot 105 Team Car “G054”

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World Class – Ferrari 355 Belinetta & Spyder

From 1987 to 1991 the engine to have if you wanted to win the World Drivers Championship was a Honda during that period of dominance Honda also built a game changing super car that rendered contemporary Ferrari’s and particularly it’s nearest competitor the Ferrari 348 obsolete in price, reliability and handling.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

Fortunately Ferrari President Luca di Montezemol had his engineers rise to the challenge presented by the Japanese upstart by commissioning the design of the F355 and in the process Ferrari was transformed into a world class manufacturer of automobiles.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

The solution to meeting the Japanese challenge was in part by turning to the latest Formula One technology which included building the first road car to be offered with a ‘paddle shift’ electronically controlled gearbox, and selecting the best ancillaries known to man for the engine, including Japanese starter motors and the latest in German electronic engine management systems.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

Out went Ferrari’s fabled indifferent assembly, industrial leather and off the shelf (FIAT) switchgear and in came carefully controlled build quality with bespoke switch gear and the finest leather interiors.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

The F355’s motor was taken out from 3.4 to 3.5 liters AND given a pair of five valve per cylinder heads which combined to produce 375 hp which took a whole second off the GMC Syclones 1/4 mile time given by Car & Driver in the famous test between a Syclone Truck and a Ferrari 348ts that saw the GMC product perform surprisingly well.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

The outcome of Ferrari’s efforts to match Honda’s super car was rewarded with 11,273 sales of the three basic types between 1994 and 1999 making the F355 one of the commonest of Ferrari’s yet seen, though the significance and legacy of the model lay in the foundations for success that the building and development of the F355 provided for all of the Ferrari road models that were to follow.

Thanks for joining me on the ‘World Class’ edition of ‘Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a very significant Lotus. Don’t forget to come back now !

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