Tag Archives: NART

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 !

Lateral Acceleration 1.33g – Ferrari 458 Speciale

The Ferrari 458 Speciale was launched 2013 Frankfurt Motorshow with the strap line “Extreme technology
FOR SPECIAL EMOTIONS”.

Ferrari 458 Speciale, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Aimed squarely at owners looking for an even more focused sports car offering extreme driving emotions the 458 Speciale bristles with innovations on the 458 Italia from nose to tail.

Ferrari 458 Speciale, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The bodywork developed with Pinninfarina is tweaked with innovations carried over from Ferrari’s racing programmes to look marginally, I would say tastefully, more aggressive from every angle than the standard 458 Italia from which the model is derived.

Ferrari 458 Speciale, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Even the road wheels have been subtly restyled and in gold hark back to the Campagnola Competion Alloy’s used by the Lancia Stratos Team on some events in the mid 1970’s.

Ferrari 458 Speciale, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Speciale weighs in at some 90 kgs / 198lbs less than the Italia.

Ferrari 458 Speciale, Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Speciale has 30 hp more than the Italia with total hp now quoted as 597 hp.

Ferrari 458 Speciale, Goodwood Festival of Speed

With the increased power to weight ratio the Speciale will reach 62 mph from rest in less than 3 seconds and can generate 1.33g lateral acceleration in a corner.

Of course this car does not just look great and deliver terrific performance it sounds like an orchestra on wheels check out the Official Video on this link, I’ll take mine with the North American Racing Team (NART) stripe please.

Thanks for joining me on this “Lateral Acceleration 1.33g” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. 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 !

Au Revoir Le Mans – Ferrari 275 GTB Copetizione #9015

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Last Ferrari Friday I left students of the marque a little challenge to find a photo of Ed Hugus driving a NART Ferrari 250 LM to victory in the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hour Race.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Unsurprisingly none has shown up, so for the time being I will have to continue to surmise it never happened. If it did the Ferrari would have been disqualified because both Jochen Rindt and Marsten Gregory continued driving the car after the alleged incident and replacement drivers were allowed only if one of the two nominated drivers took no further driving duties. On the other hand it would have been quite a coup for NART owner Luigi Chinetti to pull one over the, at times particularly pedantic, race organisers.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Ed had a driving career that spanned from the early ’50’s to 1969 that included a class win at Le Mans in 1957 when he was driving a Porsche. He competed as a driver in the Le Mans 24 hours in 1964 for the last, known, time driving a ’64 NART Ferrari 250 GTO, a race from which the car retired with differential issues.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

In 1966 NART, Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team took delivery of today’s featured 275 GTB Competizione and appear to have entered it in the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours under Ed Hugus name for Giampiero Biscaldi and Michel de Bourbon-Parme to drive with Ed named as reserve.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Giampiero and Michel qualified 35th and made it all the way to lap 218, about two thirds of the distance covered by the class winning 275 GTB/C driven by Mike Parkes and Roy Pike, before retiring with clutch and gearbox issues.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

#9015 is only known to have been entered in one other event at Road Atlanta where Bill Harrahs Modern Classic Motors entered Bob Grossman and Denise McCluggage in the ’66 500 mile race in which they finished 12th.

Ferrari 275 GTB/C, Hillsborough Concours d'Elegance

Ed continued racing another couple of years in the USA with a Porsche 906 and a fearsome Porsche powered device known as the ‘Tricor Special’ with which he won his last, known, race at Daytona in August 1968.

By 1980 #9015 had passed into the hands of New York collector Anthony Wang. John and Heather Mozart of Palo Alto acquired #9015 in 2011 and entered it into last years Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance where Geoffrey Horton took these photographs.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing his photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Au Revoir Le Mans” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the first hybrid to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race. Don’t forget to come back now !

Biting The Hand – Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 59/60 #0774

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After attracting the attention of US Ferrari importer Luigi Chinetti in 1957 Dan Gurney found himself at the wheel of a North American Racing Team Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, owned by Chinetti at Le Mans in 1958 and drove the car up to 5th place before handing over to his team mate Bruce Kessler who got caught up in someone elses accident before the car retired. That drive impressed Ferrari sufficiently to earn Dan a drive with the works Ferrari team.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

For their 1959 Le Mans effort Ferrari built today’s featured Ferrari 250 TR chassis #0774 for Gurney to share with Jean Behra the car managed twice as many laps as Dan’s first attempt but still fell way short of a result.

Next time out Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien drove the car at Goodwood in the TT Race where they also failed to score a result both the 1959 Le Mans and Goodwood TT had been won by Aston Martin in what turned out to be a championship winning season for them.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

1960 would see a return of fortune for the Ferrari sports car team and chassis #0744 played an important role winning two championship races first Phil Hill and Cliff Alison won the 1000 kms at Buenos Aires and then Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frére won the Le Mans 24 hours scoring Ferrari’s third win in the Endurance Classic and helping Ferrari to their sixth World Sports Car title.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

Between these successes #0774 was loaned to Chinetti’s NART team for Ritchie Ginther and Chuck Daigh to drive in the Sebring 12 hours but they failed to finish and after Le Mans the car was sold to Eleanor von Neumann who entered it for Phil Hill to drive in the 1960 LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside where he finished 7th overall.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

In 1963 Tom O’Connor bought the car for his Rose Bud racing team which promptly stripped the motor out and fitted it to their Lotus 19 chassis 952 that featured here on GALPOT a couple of years ago.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

Under the ownership of Paul Pappalardo #0774 was reunited with it’s original motor in the 1980’s and the car won two class Concours d’Elegance awards at Palm Beach and Pebble Beach in 1993.

Ferrari 250 TR, Goodwood Revival

In a twist of biting the hand that feeds irony Dan Gurney eventually won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967 with co driver AJ Foyt driving for Ferrari’s sworn enemy Ford in a Mk IV.

After 26 years in Paul’s custody ownership of #0774 passed to Hong Kong sourcing and logistics magnate William E ‘Chip’ Connor who kindly took it to the 2012 Gooodwood Revival for the Tribute to Dan Gurney Parade.

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

BP Green – Ferrari 250 GTO #3767GT

In July 1962 British racing driver David Piper took delivery of a British Petroleum (BP) Green right hand drive (RHD) Ferrari 250 GTO chassis #3767, Italian registration MO 79460 and raced it in Europe, Africa and the United States before selling it on to Ed Cantrell.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

Pipers best result with the car was an overall win in the Kyalami 9 hours with South African Bruce Johnstone, the following year David shared another Ferrari 250 GTO chassis #4491GT with South African Tony Maggs to win the Kyalami 9 Hours again in 1963.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

Ed Cantrell shared the driving #3767 with former owner Daivd Piper in the 1963 Sebring 12 Hours where they finished 14th overall and 5th in class. The continued to be raced through 1963 until the end of 1964 when Tom Fleming and Ray Heppenstall appear to have been entered to drive #3767 by the North American Racing Team in the Nassau Trophy Race where they finished 14th.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

Ten years later Anthony Bamford acquired the car and it was given the British registration plate 63 GTO which remains legal to this day.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood Revival

#3767 is seen here at last years Goodwood Revival meeting where Joe Bamford and Alain de Cadenet, who owned the car prior to selling it to Anthony Bamford in 1974, shared the driving in the RAC TT celebration race in which they were unclassified.

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