Tag Archives: TRC

Look A Like TRC – Ferrari 250 GT/E #4873

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Today’s featured car started life as a right hand drive 1963 Series 3 Ferrari 250 GT/E chassis #4873 delivered to Maranello Concessionaires who sold it to a Mr H. R. V. Walkup DFC. of Highfields Motors in Derby.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Mr Walkup loaned the car to John Dalton in the 1960’s for him to race at Mallory Park with it’s original 2+2 body.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Mr Derek Welford of York appears to have commissioned R M Wilson Engineering of Leicester to fit the current vaguely TRC styled body in the 1980’s, the car is shown to have first been registered with it’s current licence plate on the 26th of January 1981.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Stuart Anderson bought the car in 1997 with 450 miles showing on the clock and kept it for 17 years before selling it to Darren Hills.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Stuart raced #4873, seen in these photographs at Silverstone Classic, primarily in the Pirelli Ferrari Formula Classic series where along with many wins the car holds five Group 1 lap records.

Ferrari 250 GT/E, Silverstone Classic

Prior to selling the car, to race a Morgan, Stuart shared his passion for his 250 GT/E TRC by setting up the ferrari250.com website where full details of the cars history and it’s modifications can be found.

Thanks for joining me on this “Look A Like TRC” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at “Baby Bertha”. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Five Classic Racing Ferraris – Silverstone Classic

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The Silverstone Classic meeting usually offers the Ferrari fanatic a bonanza of Maranello’s finest road and racing cars and I am sure this year’s Silver Jubilee edition of the event will be no different.

Ferrari 500 TRC, David and James Cottingham, Silverstone Classic

Among the myriad of Ferrari racers seen in recent years have been the Cottinghams Ferrari 500 TRC which finished 7th both at the 1957 Le Mans 24 hours and on the 1958 Targa Florio.

Ferrari 246 Dino, Tony Smith, Silverstone Classic,

Another regular competitor is Tony Smith’s 1958 Ferrari 246 Dino which counts among it’s former occupants Wolfgang von Trips, Oliver Gendebien, Dan Gurney and Phil Hill the latter drove the car to the last win for a front engined Grand Prix at Monza in 1960.

Ferrari 166/206, Harry Leventis, Gregor Fisken, Silverstone Classic,

Ing. Forghieri, responsible for the design of Harry Leventis’s Ferrari 166/206, above, was never the cars biggest fan, once likening the design, in conversation with desginer Gordon Murray, as to sticky brown smelly stuff, however that did not prevent Ludovico Scarfiotti driving the car in an earlier form to claim the 1965 European Hillclimb Championship.

Ferrari 512M, Nathan Kinch, Silverstone Classic

Ferrari 512’s are not an uncommon sight at Silverstone Classic weekends, #1030 seen above with Scotsman Nathan Kinch at the wheel, was raced in S form in 1970 and M form in 1971 under the Ecurie Francorchamps banner but found it’s greatest success under JC Bamford’s ownership for whom Peter Brown, Willie Green and Neil Corner all drove it on various occasions to seven straight wins in it’s last seven races during 1972 six victories were claimed in the Motoring News GT Championship and the other in the Interserie race held at Silverstone.

Ferrari F40 LM, Stefano Sebastiani, Silverstone Classic,

Finally the Silver Jubilee edition of the Silverstone Classic will see the first race for GT cars from the 1990’s, above Stefano Sebastiani is seen about to put his 1989 F40 LM, a converted road car, through it’s paces during last years popular GT demonstration run.

Tickets for this years advance ticket only Silver Jubilee Silverstone Classic are available from this linked website.

Thanks for joining me on this “Five Classic Racing Ferraris” 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 of a series of Formula Junior open wheelers. Don’t for get to come back now !

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Le Mans & Targa Class Winner – Ferrari 500 TRC #0682MDTR

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The Ferrari 500 TRC was the last of a line of 4 cylinder sports racing cars built by Ferrari between 1953 and 1957.

Ferrari 500TRC, Silverstone Classic

Today’s featured 500 TRC chassis #0682MDTR, seen above at the recent Silverstone Classic where it was driven by David and James Cottingham, was built for Belgian entrant Jaques Swatters in 1957.

The high light of Swatters “Ecurie Francochamps” 1957 season was the class win, 7th overall, recorded at Le Mans with Lucien Bianchi and Georges Harris at the wheel of #0682MDTR.

The following season Gaetano Starraba acquired the car and with Franco Cortese finished 7th overall, 1st in class, in the 1958 Targa Florio.

Starrabba returned to the Targa the following year with Domenico Lo Coco however the car was wrecked in accident which ended it’s ‘in period history’.

Present owner David Cottingham next appeared with the car in Classic and Sportscar in 1991 and he has raced this most famous of TRC’s regularly ever since.

Thanks for joining me on this “Le Mans & Targa Class Winner” 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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When is a redhead not a redhead ? Ferrari 500 TRC #0690 MD TR

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The other day Rowdizen jr Cracker asked if I had ever seen a Ferrari Testa Rossa driving around town the answer to which is no, but a couple of months ago I did see this Ferrari 500 TRC chassis number #0690 MD TR which came from the second batch of Ferrari vehicles with the Testa Rossa name.

Having noticed that the Alta engines of the HWM Formula 2 team had noticeably superior fuel efficiency compared to his own Colombo designed V12’s which dominated the Formula 2 class Enzo instructed Aurelio Lamperdi to design a 4 cylinder 2 litre / 121 cui engine.

The Lamperdi alloy four pot featured double over head cams acting on 2 valves per cylinder. Installed in a Formula Two car this engine powered Alberto Ascari two world championshops in 1953 and 54. This 4 cylinder engine was also used in the successful 500 Mondial Sports Cars of 1954 – 56 which scored numerous class wins.

Towards the end of 1956 Vittorio Jano completed work on his update of the 500 Mondial which featured red cam covers on its Lamperdi 2 litre 4 cylinder engine and so the Testa Rossa legend was born, the TR scored a maiden win at Monza in the hands of Brits Collins and Hawthorn.

The first batch of 500 TR’s were rendered almost instantly obsolete by new sports car regulations, written and introduced after the disaster at Le Mans in 1955, known as Appendix C which required sports cars to race with full width screens, a passenger door, and fuel tanks mounted outside of the cockpit. The second batch of Testa Rossa’s became known as the 500 TRC of which #0690 MD TR is one of less than 20 examples.

This particular car has an unfortunate history, it was entered in the 1958 Cuban GP, an event during which pole sitter Juan Manuel Fangio was kidnapped by Castros forces and he ended up watching the race on television. Armando Garcia Cifuentes was at the wheel of #0690 when he lost control on a patch of oil, hit a curb and promptly ploughed into a spectator area. Seven spectators were killed in the accident over 40 were injured, miraculously Armando survived after being taken to hospital on the bonnet of a competitors TR.

It is not clear what happened to #0690 after that crash but the Indiana Jones of finding forgotten cars Colin Crabbe located it and it has now been restored with a non standard 12 cylinder engine allegedly sourced from a 250 GT Lusso, one of the more expensive 250 GT variants ! It is not known what happened to the original 4 cylinder Testa Rossa engine.

Note uniquely for a 500 TRC #0690 now has a large central perspex bonnet scoop for the V12 carburettors.

In order to not disappoint jr Cracker entirely here is a photo by Ed Arnaudin of a 500 TRC compete with a 4 cylinder red cam cover engine and without the large central bonnet scoop. The vehicle in this photo taken at Lime Rock possibly 24th April 1959 appears to be chassis number #0706 MD TR entered by the MJ Garber team and driven by Swiss driver Gaston Andrey.

Thanks once again to Steve Arnaudin for letting me share one of his father Ed’s photos. Hope you enjoyed todays edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ hope you’ll join me again tomorrow, don’t forget to come back now !

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