Friday's Ferrari

This is a photograph I took at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992 which featured a special display of Ferraris in the paddock numbered 1 to 32, and a page in the programme of the event gave details of each of the cars.

This is a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta Competizione, chassis #2735GT, and is the Rob Walker entered car with which Stirling Moss won the 1961 Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood. The car was rebodied by Piero Drogo after competing in the 1962 Tourist Trophy race, but was restored in stages from the 1970s, the complete restoration being finished in 2009. The car on the left is a 1950 Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta that the factory brought up to 195, and later to 212 specifications. Owned by Dudley Mason-Styrron it is chassis #0040M. On the right is a Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta Scaglietti TdF at the time owned by Peter Hannen and is chassis #1353GT.

Friday's Ferrari

Another look at a Ferrari that I've featured a couple of times previously, this time pictured at Silverstone in July 1997 at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting.

It's Dudley Mason-Styrron's Ferrari 166 MM Touring Barchetta, driven in the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge race by Sally Mason-Styrron. The programme of the event shows it as a 1954 car, but it's shown in www.barchetta.cc's history of the car, serial number 0040M, as having been built in 1950. It does say, however, that it was 'brought up to 195 specification and then 212 by factory', so it's possible that one of these modifications may have caused it to be redesignated as a 1954 car.

Friday's Ferrari

This is the 1950 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta of Sally Mason-Styrron seen at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001. Why the number plate is upside down I don't know. At one time the model number Ferrari gave to his cars was the displacement of one of the cylinders so as the car originally had a 12 cylinder engine of 1995cc capacity it was given the designation 166. At some stage, however, it's apparently had a new engine fitted, the programme of the meeting showing the capacity as 2300cc. The bodywork was a revolutionary shape at that time and it was likened by one observer to a 'little boat', or 'barchetta' and the name stuck. The serial number of the car is 0040M.

Friday's Ferrari

Shown at the Christie's International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1992, this is a 1950 Ferrari 166MM Barchetta. The same car appears on this photograph on flickr which the photographer says was taken in April 2009, but the car alongside it on that photograph appears to be the same OSCA FS372 which is alongside it on my photograph, so both photographs appear to have been taken on the same day. It apparently has the chassis number 0068M and this site gives the history of that car.

Friday's Ferrari

Last week's photograph was of a line of cars featuring four different Ferraris at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 2001. Today we have photographs of the cockpits of three of those cars:

This is the 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza, serial number 0568M

This is the 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, serial Number 0738TR.

This is the 1950 Ferrari 166MM Barchetta, serial number 0040M.

You will notice that, although they are Italian cars, two of the three are right-hand drive instead of the expected left-hand drive. This is because races at most circuits (in Europe at least) are run in a clockwise direction. Most of the corners are therefore right-hand ones and having right-hand drive cars is advantageous as far as weight distribution and the driver's view of the apex of the corner are concerned. I don't know why the Testa Rossa is left-hand drive; I have photographs of other examples of this Testa Rossa model which are right-hand drive.

Friday's Ferrari

There are actually four Ferraris seen in this photograph taken at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 2001. The nearest car is a 1954 Ferrari 750 Monza (0568M) and next to that is a yellow 250 Testa Rossa of 1957 (0738TR). Car number 37 is a 1955 Maserati 300S, beyond that is a red Ferrari 166MM Barchetta (0040M) from 1950 and then a yellow 1956 Ferrari 500TR (0682MDTR). The red coupe beyond that is, I think, an AC Cobra.

The 750 Monza, which was introduced in 1954, was a 3 litre version of the 2 litre Mondial and was named 'Monza' after winning its first race at that circuit in the hands of Mike Hawthorn and Umberto Maglioli. The bodywork for cars was originally designed by Pinin Farina, but it is the later cars with Scaglietti designed bodies which are perhaps better known. This particular car spent most of its life in Finland, hence the Finnish flag on the headrest.