Friday's Ferrari

This was one of the competitors in the Italy v Rest of the World race for Pre 1959 Drum Brake Sports Cars at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001.

It’s Carlos Monteverde’s 1955 Ferrari 750 Monza, chassis 0568M, with the Aurelio Lampredi designed 3,000cc 4-cylinder inline engine and was driven in the race by David Franklin. This car had a very chequered history about which the programme of the event says this:

'Built in 1955, with the three-litre four-cylinder engine - following the rule of thumb that the type number multiplied by the number of pots gives the capacity - this sleek sports-racer has an extraordinary competition history, if not with star drivers.

Originally supplied to French racer François Picard, it finished third in the '56 Agadir Grand Prix in Morocco, and third back on home soil on the speedbowl at Montlhéry, just outside Paris. Thereafter the Italian stallion spent much of its life in Scandinavia, where initially Swedish owner Tore Bjurström used it for the popular local pursuit of ice racing!

From there a short hop to Finland to its next custodian, Carl-Otto Bremer, who returned it to more conventional pastures. After finishing sixth in the '57 Swedish Grand Prix at Kristianstad, won by Jean Behra/Stirling Moss in a Maserati 450S, Bremer confined his major outings to the Helsinki GP thereafter, and the combination won in '59 having finished third the previous year.

Carlos Monteverde acquired  'The Ice Racer' two years ago, and commissioned Tony Merrick to undertake a full mechanical restoration, while leaving the body original. David Franklin has tested the car extensively and says it is beautifully balanced with its five-speed transaxle, but races it for the first time here.'