Tag Archives: Scarfiotti

’64 Rebody By Scaglietti – Ferrari 250 GTO #4399GT

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In May 1963 British Ferrari importer Col. Ronnie Hoare took delivery of a 250 GTO chassis number #4399GT and entered it for Mark Parkes to drive in the Whitsun Trophy at Goodwood and Martini Trophy at Silverstone and before the car was a month old it had visited victory lane, twice.

In July ’63 Jack Sears took a class victory with #4399GT at the British Grand Prix meeting, before Graham Hill won the RAC Tourist Trophy at Goodwood in August driving the same car.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood, Revival

In September 1963 Mike Parkes was back at the wheel at events in Monza and Snetterton finishing 2nd overall in both but with class victories.

Over the winter of ’63/’64 the car was sent back to Scaglietti where the original body was removed and a new 250 GTO ’64 style
body was fitted.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood, Revival

Graham Hill drove the rebodied car to wins in the Sussex Trophy at Goodwood and the International Trophy at Silverstone, with Mike Parkes adding a third season victory in the 500km race at Spa.

The hood scoop was fitted in time for the ’64 Le Mans 24 Hours where Innes Ireland and Tony Maggs drove the car to a 6th place finish, 2nd in class to the GTO shared by Belgians Lucien Bianchi and “Jean Beurlys”.

Ferrari 250 GTO, Goodwood, Revival

Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti drove #4399GT to a class victory in the Reims 12 hours and Viscount Rollo Fielding scored the cars final in period class victory at Mallory Park in October 1964.

Mike Salmon drove #4399GT for Dawnay racing in early 1965 with his best result being a 4th place from pole in the Sussex Trophy at Goodwood.

In 1969 Anthony Bamford, now Sir Anthony, acquired #4399GT and it has remained in his possession ever since.

Thanks for joining me on this ’64 Redody By Scaglietti edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a diesel Audi. Don’t forget to come back now !

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The Breadvan – Ferrari 250 GT SWB #2819

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Today’s unique vehicle came to be built after Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata fell out with Enzo Ferrari for financing a rival Formula One team ATS which employed ex Ferrari personnel Carlo Chiti, Giotto Bizzarrini and World Champion driver the American Phil Hill.

#2819 started life as a regular Ferrari 250 GT SWB and was entered in the 1961 Tour de France by Ecurie Francochamps for Olivier Gendebien and Lucien Bianchi who finished 2nd. The car was then acquired by Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata who’s Scuderia Serenissima di Venezia entered the 1961 Paris 1000 kms for Maurice Trintignant and Nino Vaccarella who finished 3rd.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Wanting a third vehicle to enter in his Le Mans team which included one 250 GTO, #3445 and a Ferrari TR/61, #0792TR which won at Sebring, but unable to secure a second 250 GTO from Ferrari, Count Volpi di Misurata had his 1961 250 GT SWB upgraded to 250 GTO spec by the very man responsible for conceiving the original 250 GT SWB and 250 GTO series Giotto Bizzarrini.

Allegedly in just 14 days Giotto Bizzarrini & Piero Drogo modified Count di Misurata’s 250 GT SWB by moving the dry sumped engine back 5 inches behind the front axle so that it could be mounted lower in the chassis. Piero Drogo came up with a staggeringly beautiful body with a cut off ‘Kamm’ tail which led to the name Breadvan. The finished car was 143 lbs lighter than the 250 GTO and 7 mph faster on the 4 mile Mulsanne straight at Le Mans.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The body of the 250 GT SWB Breadvan is so low that a plastic bubble was devised for the hood to cover the six Webber carburettors. The 276 horse power 2953 cc / 180 cui V12 engine weighed nearly half that of the contemporary XK straight six used by Jaguar in it’s D & E Type racers.

#2819 driven by Carlo Maria Abate and Colin Davis was leading the works 250 GTO’s in the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours when it retired after four hours with drive shaft failure. After a 4th place finish at Brands Hatch for Abate, and 3rd place in Paris for Ludovico Scarfiotti and Davis the ‘Breadvan’ was used by Count di Misurata as a road car.

Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The original SWB body from #2819 was fitted to chassis #2439 by Scaglietti in 1962 after Gunnar Anderson had a couple of accidents at Falkenberg and Västkustloppet in Scandinavia.

Apparently Count Volpi di Misurata lent The Breadvan to Gianni Agnelli, then head of FIAT, who had the vehicle painted black by his butler because it reminded him of a hearse, it is not noted if this had anything to do with then delicate state of Ferrari finances at the time, the Ferrari road car division was eventually absorbed by FIAT in 1969.

Thanks for joining me on this “The Breadvan Edition” of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at Colin Chapmans 1968 turbo charged all wheel drive Indy challenger. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Dino Evolution – Ferrari 166/206 #0834

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Enzo Ferrari was a man who believed that to remain competitive he needed to start with a good car and then continually seek to improve it’s performance with modifications.

The Ferrari 166/206, following the footsteps of the Ferrari Dino 196S and it’s similarly Dino V6 powered Formula siblings the front engined ‘246’ and rear engined Shark Nose ‘Dino 156‘, perfectly exemplifies his Enzo’s continual modification philosophy.

Ferrari 166/206, Silverstone Classic

The original Dino 166/P specification of chassis #0834 seen, in these photo’s at Silverstone Classic last year, was built around a new 185hp variant of the Dino V6 with twin overhead cam shafts per bank, quad cam, and twin plug ignition and a capacity of 1592 cc / 97.2 cui.

The original body was a closed coupé style, similar to that of a bigger V12 powered Ferrari P2 and can be seen on this link.

Despite it’s good handling, in this form the car driven by Giancarlo Baghetti and Giampiero Biscaldi retired from the 1965 1000 kms at Monza after one lap with engine failure, then Lorenzo Bandini drove it to victory at the Vallelunga GP.

However the 166/P’s biggest success against much stronger opposition was at the 1965 Nürburgring 1000 kms where Bandini and Nino Vaccarella came home 4th behind two Ferrari P/2’s and a Porsche 904/8 all with larger motors. This performance was thought so unlikely the events scruitineers had the motor stripped to confirm it’s capacity.

At the 1965 Le Mans 24 hours Baghetti and Mario Casoni only lasted 21 minutes before it retired with a broken valve.

Ferrari 166/206, Silverstone Classic

Two months after Le Mans chassis #0834 was upgraded to 206 S/P specification with a 218hp 1986 cc / 121.2 cui Dino V6 motor and a low cut open top Spyder body, which can be seen on this link.

Ludovico Scarfiotti used the car in this form to win the European Hillclimb championship setting new course records in all of the remaining 1965 championship rounds.

In 1967 the car appeared in the Targa Florio with a third, 206 S, body configuration, similar to the one seen in today’s photographs, where it finished 4th with Jonathan Williams and Vittorio Venturi at the wheel.

Two years later Leandro Terra and Turillo Barbuscia drove #0834 still in 2 litre / 122 cui spec to a 25th place finish in the 1969 Targa Florio.

#0834 is currently owned by Harry Leventis who shares the driving with Gregor Fisken on a regular basis in the The Italian Historic Car Cup.

There is an interesting observation about the “Dino 206” cars by the highly esteemed journalist Doug Nye on this link, makes one wonder what Ing. Forghieri may have come up with on a good day !

Thanks for joining me on this “Dino Evolution” 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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On Luck – Ferrari 312 #0007

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With the introduction of the 3 litre / 183 cui Formula One regulations in 1966 Ferrari not only found themselves unprepared they were also desperately underfunded in part due to Enzo’s withdrawal from a deal with Ford and in part because Ferrari had to spend a lot of money on his sports car programme to try in vane to stop a Ford steamroller from whipping him off the Le Mans scoreboard.

Ferrari 312/67, Donington Grand Prix Collection

In order to maintain a presence in Formula One under the new 3 litre rules a 24 valve 3.3 litre 201 cui V12 design from the Ferrari 275P2 sports car programme was modified to the meet lower 3 litre / 183 cui engine capacity regulations and installed into the first of a long line of Grand Prix Ferrari’s designed by Mauro Forghieri.

Ferrari 312/67, Donington Grand Prix Collection

Despite the heavy old sports car engine in the back Ferrari were one of the few teams to have an engine of the correct size when the 1966 season got under way many teams were giving away between 45 cui and 90 cui in engine capacity just to make the grid.

Ferrari 312/67, Donington Grand Prix Collection

1964 World Champion John Surtees started and 1966 as Ferrari’s team leader but he fell out with Ferrari’s management after winning the Belgian Grand Prix and before starting the Le Mans 24 hours, however Ferrari still finished the season a respectable 2nd in the Constructors Championship thanks to a win in Italy and a couple of second place finishes, beating John Surtees new Cooper Maserati team by a single point despite missing a couple of races.

Ferrari 312/67, Donington Grand Prix Collection

For 1967 the 1966 cars were improved and chassis 0007, seen here recently at the Donington Grand Prix collection, was the last of 4 new Grand Prix cars Ferrari built in 1967, Chris Amon was hired to drive alongside Lorenzo Bandini, at Monaco Bandini qualified 2nd but an fiery accident during the race proved fatal and Chris Amon could only manage a string of four seasons best 3rd place finishes on the way to fifth in the championship for himself and his team, before taking over chassis #0007 towards the end of the season.

Ferrari 312/67, Donington Grand Prix Collection

In 1968 0007 was used again by Chris Amon and he won pole positions in Belgium and Holland with it but the season was a disaster for the driver who only succeeded in cementing his reputation as the unluckiest driver in Grand Prix racing with a seasons best 2nd place finish, in a newer ’68 spec 312, and a string of 7 retirements from 11 starts.

Ferrari 312/67, Donington Grand Prix Collection

1966 Le Mans winner, with Bruce McLaren in a Ford, Chris Amon never did win a Grand Prix despite starting 5 of his 108 Grand Prix from pole position, he has always maintained that he was lucky simply to have survived what is generally considered to have been the most dangerous period in racing, a point starkly backed up by the stat that 8 of the 24 starters in the 1963 Belgian Grand Prix where Chris made his debut did not see out the decade thanks to accidents at the wheel of racing cars.

Ferrari 312/67, Donington Grand Prix Collection

The last person to drive 0007 in period was future sports car giant Derek Bell who started the non Championship Gold Cup and championship United States Grand Prix in this chassis but did not finish either event.

Thanks for joining me on the ‘On Luck’ 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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