Friday's Ferrari

Here are two old photographs I've come across taken with my Brownie 127 camera during the Friday practice session at the 1961 British Grand Prix at Aintree.

This is Phil Hill's Ferrari Dino 156 (serial number 0003 61) which finished second in the race to Wolfgang von Trips' identical car whilst Richie Ginther was third in the third Ferrari team car. Phil Hill ended the season as World Champion though.

Four Ferraris were entered in this race, this being the car of Giancarlo Baghetti who had won the French Grand Prix two weeks earlier in his first World Championship race. No such luck in this race, however, as he retired following an accident after 27 of the 75 laps. The serial number of this car is 0002 61.

Friday's Ferrari

On 22 February I featured some photographs of Jan Biekens' Ferrari 156 recreation. That car was partly inspired by the replica of a 1961 Ferrari 156 built by Chris Rea for his film 'La Passione' which is about his boyhood idol, Wolfgang von Trips, who died in one of these cars as a result of an accident in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Chris Rea's replica was at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995 and below are some photographs of the car I took at that meeting.

The car was apparently entered in a Coys auction in 2000 but whether it was sold, and who the current owner is, I don't know.

I saw the original cars race at Aintree in both 1961 and 1962 and the photograph below is of Giancarlo Baghetti's car at the 1962 Aintree 200 race (serial number 0001).