Friday's Ferrari

I took these photographs in the paddock on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1962.

It's the 1962 Ferrari 156 that was driven in the race by Phil Hill. It had a 1,476cc 120° V8 Ferrari Type 178 engine, but was not as successful as the 1961 model in which Phil Hill had won the World Championship, and Wolfgang von Trips had finished in second place although losing his life in an accident in the Italian Grand Prix in the penultimate race of the season. In 1962 the Ferrari wasn't as quick as the British BRM, Lotus, Lola and Cooper cars with their new V8 Coventry Climax engines, and they were hampered by a series of strikes in Italy which meant they were unable to compete in the French Grand Prix and Phil Hill's was the only Ferrari that took part in the British Grand Prix. The Ferraris also failed to start in either of the last two races that season, in the USA and South Africa.

Phil Hill only managed to qualify the car in 12th place on the grid, and retired from the race on the 47th of the 75 laps with distributor failure. The Chief Engineer at Ferrari, Mauro Forghieri, is sitting in the cockpit of the car in both of these photographs.