It's a 1955 2½ litre V8 Lancia D50 recreation, at that time
owned by Tom Wheatcroft and kept in his museum at Donington Park. Following the
withdrawal of the Lancia team from racing at the end of the 1955 season all the
D50 cars and spares were handed over to Ferrari with the exception of one car
which went to the Fiat Museum and one which went to the Biscaretti Museum.
Ferrari raced the cars as Lancia-Ferraris in the 1956 season with some
modifications and Juan Fangio won the World Championship that season. For the
1957 season the cars were modified to such an extent that it was redesignated
as a Ferrari 801, but didn't enjoy any great success. At the end of the 1957
season with the introduction of the Ferrari 246 F1 car (with which Mike
Hawthorn won the 1958 World Championship title) the cars were broken up and the
parts stored at the Ferrari factory. From the 1990s these parts have been used
to recreate, I understand, seven examples of the car, including one to the
specification of the 1956 Lancia-Ferrari.
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