Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Comp/61 2445 GT Drogo

Transcription

Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Comp/61
2445 GT Drogo
Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Comp/61
2445 GT Drogo
CONTENTS
5
7
Foreword
11
250 GT Berlinetta
9
15
17
21
23
24
27
29
Opposite page 2445 GT driven by Robert Crevits
on its way to a class win in the hill climb of Alle
sur Semois, March 25, 1961. Top Detail of 2445 GT
today, featuring Piero Drogo’s distinct bodywork.
Right 2445 GT on the banking of Montlhéry
where on October 22 the car finished eleventh in
the 1961 1000 KM Paris, the thirteenth and final
round of that year’s FIA GT Cup.
31
33
35
37
39
Interim 250 GT Berlinetta
250 GT Berlinetta Competizione
250 GT Berlinetta Comp/61
Ecurie Francorchamps
250 GT Berlinetta Comp/61 2445 GT
2445 GT racing history
2445 GT build sheets
2445 GT racing pictures
Carrozzeria Sports Cars
2445 GT rediscovered
2445 GT restored
2445 GT back on track
2445 GT today
Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Com/61 2445 GT Drogo
FOREWORD
7
I
n the summer of 1961 the international racing success of Ferrari reached new heights. In June,
a works 250 Testa Rossa won the Le Mans 24 Hours on its way to conquering the World
Championship for Sports Cars, and by September the Scuderia had sealed the Formula 1
world title after having dominated much of the Grand Prix season with its Dino 156 F1.
That same year, Ferrari produced a small series of what was to be the ultimate Competizione-version
of its highly acclaimed 250 Gran Turismo Berlinetta introduced a year earlier, to prepare for the new
International Championship for GT Manufacturers bound to replace the World Championship for
Sports Cars from 1962 onwards.
Opposite page 2445 GT exits Indianapolis
corner on its way to Arnage during the opening
hours of the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours. The car
crashed out of the race at this part of the circuit
on lap 35. Top Battista Farina (left) and Enzo
Ferrari pictured in Ferrari’s racing department,
1959. Right 2445 GT as rebuilt and re-bodied by
Piero Drogo’s Carrozzeria Sports Cars, pictured
in Modena shortly after completion of the car in
1963.
Internally named by Ferrari Comp/61, but later often referred to as SEFAC Hot Rod, this light
weight, most powerful 250 GT Berlinetta built, won a number of major GT-races in 1961 and paved
the way for its successor, the 250 GTO introduced a year later.
The third 250 GT Berlinetta Comp/61 sold by Ferrari was chassis 2445 GT, which in May 1961
was bought and then successfully campaigned in races and hill climbs in Belgium, Holland and
France by Ecurie Francorchamps - the renowned racing team of Belgian Ferrari-importer Jacques
Swaters - before it was damaged in a crash during the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours.
That accident, however, did not mark the end of 2445 GT, merely the beginning of its second life,
as Swaters had the car repaired and rebodied by Piero Drogo’s Carrozzeria Sports Cars.
This is the complete story of what became a unique, illustrious car, featuring a one of a kind body
enveloping what was one of the rarest, most important competition Ferrari’s of all time.
INTERIM 250 GT BERLINETTA
9
F
Opposite page Rare color picture of 1461 GT,
one of the two prototype 250 GT’s entered in
the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours. 1461 GT was run by
NART, the racing team of Luigi Chinetti, Ferrariimporter for North-Amercia, and driven by André
Pilette and George Arents. Top 1461 GT (18) and
1377 GT (16, the other prototype 250 GT entered
by NART) pictured in the pits during practice
for the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours. Right The Tipo
168 engine developed for the 250 GT Berlinetta,
picture released by Ferrari in 1960.
or the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours, Enzo Ferrari asked the North American Racing Team (NART)
of Luigi Chinetti, the Ferrari-importer for North America, to run two prototypes of the car
that Ferrari was to introduce as the new for 1960 250 GT Berlinetta (Italian for ‘little coupe’),
effectively the successor of the 250 GT Tour de France and thus the latest model of the already
iconic 250-series which had earned Ferrari considerable success and prestige since the debut of the
250 S in the 1952 Mille Miglia.
The new 250 GT Berlinetta was primarily developed by Ferrari’s Chief Engineer Carlo Chiti and
Development Engineer Giotto Bizzarini. Fitted with a revised body shape (less angular, more
rounded) penned by the Turin-based styling studio of Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina, Ferrari expected the
Berlinetta to be more efficient aerodynamically, which, however, at Le Mans, on the long straight
towards Mulsanne, hardly proved the case.
For the two 1959 prototypes, one of the aluminum bodies was also produced by Pinin Farina, the
other by coachbuilder Scaglietti of Modena. Both cars were powered by what ultimately was to be
developed into the new Tipo 168 engine, the latest, further improved version of the familiar 250
engine; the 2953cc ‘Colombo’ V12 named after Gioacchino Colombo who had designed engines
for Ferrari until 1950. Most notably, this newest specification V12 featured ‘outside plug’ cylinder
heads, as opposed to the in-vee spark plug positioning of the several variations of its predecessor,
the Tipo 128 engines that powered the Tour de France.
On June 21 1959, the two Ferrari prototypes, labeled as Second Versions of the 250 GT Berlinetta’s,
finished fourth and sixth at Le Mans, whilst a more standard First Version Berlinetta entered by the
Begian Ecurie Francorchamps, was ranked third and won the GT-class.
250 GT BERLINETTA
11
F
Opposite page The all new 250 GT Berlinetta,
picture issued by Ferrari’s press service in early
1960. Top Carlo Chiti had worked for Alfa Romeo
until its competition department closed down
in the late Fifties. Thanks to his friend Giotto
Bizzarini, Chiti moved to Ferrari. Right The first
short wheelbase 250 GT Berlinetta, chassis 1539
GT, pictured in Paris in October 1959 for car’s
launch at the ‘Salon de Paris’ motor show.
ive further interim 250 GT Berlinetta’s fitted with new, rounded bodies and experimental
Tipo 128 engines, had been completed when in October 1959, four months after Le Mans,
Ferrari unveiled the definitive, albeit hastily assembled 250 GT Berlinetta at the ’Salon
de Paris’ motor show. The wheelbase of the new chassis, produced by Vaccari of Modena and
designated Tipo 539, was significantly shorter than its predecessor, Tipo 538: 2400 mm instead of
2600 mm. Derived from the seven longer Berlinetta’s constructed prior to completion of Tipo 539,
Pinin Farina had simply cut the mid section of the shorter wheelbase car down while the first two
cars did not yet feature the side air vents that would become significant for the new 250 GT.
The most easily identifiable difference between the seven interim Berlinetta’s and the SWB was
the deletion of the former’s rear three-quarter windows. While the suspension was unchanged
(independent at the front, a live rear axle), the shorter wheelbase, lower weight, new
Koni dampers and Dunlop disc brakes (the first time Ferrari fitted such brakes to a
road-going customer car) ensured improved handling. Ferrari had experimented with
cast-alloy wheels, but as those were not production ready, Borrani wire spoke wheels were still used.
Most dramatic and most visible, though, was the car’s body shape, which was sensationally small
and compact for its time, taught and muscular in all the right places, thus creating a sublimely,
beautifully packaged machine that Pinin Farina’s son Sergio would later claim to be “the first of our
quantum leaps in design with Ferrari.”
Given its wheelbase, the British and American press quickly dubbed the new Ferrari ‘Shortwheel
Base’, eventually shortened by the motor trade, especially in the US, to SWB. These initials have
since become synonymous with this 250 GT Berlinetta. Ferrari itself never officially named the car
in this manner, but did refer to it internally as PC (Passo Corto).
250 GT BERLINETTA
13
A
Opposite page 1960 250 GT Berlinetta pictured
outside the Ferrari factory in Maranello. Top The
more luxuriously finished interior of a 250 GT
Berlinetta Lusso. Right Another official press
photo of the 250 GT Berlinetta as issued by
Ferrari in 1960.
t the start of the second half of the twentieth century, Ferrari still built GT-cars mainly to
sell to clients intending to race them. At the Salon de Paris in 1959, however, potential
customers were informed that from July 1960 the new 250 GT Berlinetta would also be
available as a steel-bodied road car, featuring a more comfortable interior, glass windows instead
of plastic, full sound deadening insulation and a detuned Tipo 168-engine. This version of the new
Berlinetta was to be known as the Lusso (Italian for ‘luxurious’), not be confused with the 250 GT
Lusso that Ferrari would introduce a few years later.
At the time of its introduction, Ferrari stressed the dual purpose of the new 250 GT Berlinetta: “The
prototype made its first appearance in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, placing, driven by privateers,
third, fourth and sixth overall. The design had as the main object a streamlined body particularly
suited for high speeds, but we also took into account the requirements of comfort so that this car
can be used as a Gran Turismo as well as for racing, It provides sufficient space for luggage, has
a heating system, doors giving easy access, comfortable seats and plenty of visibility. The 250 GT
Berlinetta, therefore, can be used both for competition and for touring without modifications.”
250 GT BERLINETTA COMPETIZIONE
Opposite page 2119 GT, of Rob Walker and Dick
Wilkins and driven by Stirling Moss, won the
1960 RAC Tourist Trophy at Goodwood. Note
bumpers are still fitted to the car. Top 1773 GT
at Sebring, the international racing debut of the
Competizione. This car was entered by NART
and driven to seventh place by George Arents
and William Kimberly Right 1539 GT (originally
the car presented at the Salon de Paris) finished
sixth in the 1960 Sebring 12 Hours, driven by
William Sturges and Fritz d’Orey.
15
I
n 1960, sixty Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta’s were produced, forty-four of which in Competizione
specification powered by the reputedly 280bhp strong Tipo 168B racing engine. Because
Ferrari’s works team was busy winning the World Championship for Sports Cars with the
250 Testa Rossa, its new GT-car was campaigned solely by Ferrari-importers and privateers.
The 1960 Sebring 12 Hours, held on March 26, marked the international racing debut of the
250 GT Berlinetta Competizione, four of which were entered in the Sports Car-class as the new car
was yet to be homologated by the FIA as a GT. The best placed Berlinetta finished in a creditable
fourth place overall.
The GT Ferrari was forced to race on in the category for much faster Sports Cars in the Targa Florio
and Nürburging 1000 KM before winning the non-championship Grand Prix de Spa to claim its first
major victory. Homologation was completed just in time for the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, in which
a 250 GT Berlinetta duly won the GT-class. More notable wins followed in the Tourist Trophy at
Goodwood, the Coppa InterEuropa at Monza, the Tour de France l’Automobile, the Paris 1000 KM
at Montlhéry and the Nassau TT at the Oakes Course in the Bahamas.
Towards the end of 1960, the CSI (sporting commission of the international automobile federation
FIA) decided to change the rules of the World Championship because Sports Cars such as Ferrari’s Testa
Rossa had simply become too fast, too exotic and too expensive. Consequently, the FIA announced
that in 1961 it would organize the FIA GT Cup as a prelude of excluding Sports Cars from the World
Championship in favor of GT’s in 1962. Ferrari responded swiftly and started producing a small series
of even lighter and faster 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione’s for 1961 so that the car would be fully
developed in time for the new-style World Championship, to be known as the FIA International GT
Championship for Constructors, starting in 1962.
250 GT BERLINETTA COMP/61
Opposite page 2445 GT pictured at Zandvoort,
Coupes Benelux 1961. This third Comp/61 built,
was bought by Belgian Ferrari-importer Jacques
Swaters, who’s Ecurie Francorchamps ran it in a
number of races and hill climbs that same year.
Top 2445 GT checked during the Vérifications
Technique (scrutineering) at Le Mans in 1962.
Right 2445 GT on its way to eleventh place in
the 1961 1000 KM Paris, the thirteenth and final
round of that year’s FIA GT Cup.
17
T
he lighter, faster 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione built for 1961 was internally named by
Ferrari Comp/61, but would later unofficially often be referred to as SEFAC Hot Rod,
SEFAC being the official name of Ferrari’s racing team and Hot Rod a then popular
label for extra powerful cars. It is now generally accepted that twenty Comp/61’s were built, although
some sources claim twenty-four were made.
As with many small series of competition Ferrari’s manufactured in the Fifties and Sixties, the
details of each Comp/61 still varied slightly from the others. Although they were all fitted with
an even more powerful Tipo 168B/61 engine, some of the last cars built featured standard
Competizione frames and bodywork.
The lighter, more rigid chassis of the Comp/61, designated Tipo 539/61, had smaller diameter
tubing with extra bracing, while the Tipo 168B/61 engines were fitted with the heads of
the 250 Testa Rossa with revised cam timing, larger intake ports, bigger intake manifolds, a
straight-through exhaust and three 46mm Weber DCL/3 carburetors instead of 40mm. Compression
was higher at 9.5:1, but the original four-speed gearbox remained due to homologation constraints.
Inside, bare aluminum sheeting was used to cover the floor pan, dashboard and firewalls, and all
attempts at soundproofing were discarded. Ultra-thin aluminum body panels, sliding plastic
two-piece windows and purely decorative aluminum bumpers saved even more weight, while the
Comp/61 was also visibly different from a standard 250 GT Berlinetta Competizione
due to its marginally set back, more rakish windscreen.
In March 1961, while the first Comp/61’s were being built, a standard 250 GT Competizione
triumphed in the GT-class of the Sebring 12 Hours. Two months later, on May 14, came the racing
debut of the Comp/61, Ferrari works driver Willy Mairesse winning the Grand Prix de Spa with
2417 GT, one of first three Comp/61 that had been completed in time for the race in Belgium. At the
end of May, that same car, now driven by Ferrari’s works drivers Olivier Gendebien en Giancarlo
Baghetti, finished second in class to a standard Competizione in the Nürburgring 1000 KM.
250 GT BERLINETTA COMP/61
Opposite page The Comp/61 made its racing
debut in the Grand Prix de Spa on May 14, 1961.
This is chassis 2445 GT driven by Jacques van
den Haute. Top Experimental 250 GT/TR (chassis
2643 GT) was tested at Monza in May 1961 by
Stirling Moss. Right The 250 GTO, pictured here
at Le Mans in 1962, effectively replaced the
Comp/61 that year.
19
I
n the 1961 Le Mans 24 Hours, the Comp/61 (chassis 2689 GT) of Belgian privateer Piere Noblet
claimed third place overall to win the GT-class and underline the success of the ‘Hot Rod’. But
by then Enzo Ferrari had long since changed his original plan of developing the Comp/61 into
his definitive 1962 GT-contender.
Already during the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours it had become clear that the aerodynamics of the 250 GT
Berlinetta, beautifully rounded as they may have been, failed to ensure impressive top speed on the
long and crucial straight towards Mulsanne, the shape of its nose creating drag as well as front-end
lift. Enzo Ferrari had urged Carlo Chiti to change the aerodynamics in time for the 1962 season,
especially as the Ford supported Cobra’s were improving all the time and Jaguar had launched its
alarmingly fast looking XKE.
In time for the 1961 Le Mans 24 Hours, Chiti developed a revised car based on chassis 2643 GT. This
was entered as a prototype in the Sports Car-class, because it was an experimental car featuring a new,
dramatically different body designed by Pinin Farina and powered by a 250 Testa Rossa-engine. In
practice, this 250 GT/TR was considerably slower than the proper Sports Cars, yet Chiti
claimed it would star in the race itself. When it didn’t - and retired after 163 laps - Enzo Ferrari wasn’t
amused and he promptly, and secretly, ordered Giotto Bizzarini to built him a car better than Chiti’s,
effectively starting the development of what was to become the all new 250 GTO.
In the second half of 1961, Comp/61’s won the Tourist Trophy (chassis 2735 GT), the Coppa InterEuropa (2689 GT) and the Tour de France (2937 GT). In October, thirteen short wheelbase GT
Ferrari’s were entered for the Paris 1000 KM, chassis 3005 GT winning the race outright to round
off what had been a remarkably successful season for the 250 GT Berlinetta and the Comp/61 in
particular.
With the arrival of the 250 GTO, however, less and less 250 GT Berlinetta’s, be it Competizione’s
or Comp/61’s, starred in major events during the 1962 and ’63 racing seasons. Consequently,
success was far and between, although chassis 1917 GT would win the GT-class of the 1962
Nürburgring 1000 KM and, later that year, 2973 GT triumphed in the Tour de France, beating an army
of GTO’s to score what would be the last significant international win for the 250 GT Berlinetta.
ECURIE FRANCORCHAMPS
21
B
Opposite page Ecurie Nationale Belge entered
2445 GT at Le Mans, 1962. Top Jacques Swaters
in his Ferrari 500 F2, 1953. Right Ecurie Nationale
Belge ran a Ferrari Dino 156 F1 in the 1961 Belgian
Grand Prix at Spa, Olivier Gendebien briefly led
the race and eventually finished fourth.
elgian Jacques Swaters (1926-2010) played a significant part in the history of Ferrari as a
racing driver, team owner and importer.
Shortly after World War II ended, Jacques received his share of the inheritance from his father
which allowed him to get involved in racing while still studying. “Racing was the one thing that excited
me after the war,” he would later say. “I knew that the rest of my life would involve cars in some way.”
In 1948, together with his friend Charles de Tonaco, Swaters purchased a 1938 MG Le Mans racer and
entered it in the Spa 24 Hours partnered by another friend, Paul Frère. During that race, when passed by
a Ferrari, Jacques made himself a promise: “I’m going to drive one of those cars before I die!”
In 1950, with de Tornaco, André Pilette and Roger Laurent, Swaters formed a racing team called
Ecurie Belgique (named Ecurie Francorchamps a year later) and purchased a Talbot-Lago Grand Prix
car which Jacques raced regularly before, at the end of 1951, Ecurie Francorchamps ordered its first
Ferrari; a Formula 2 Tipo 500, with which Jacques won what he later considered to be his greatest
victory, the 1953 Berlin Grand Prix. He raced on until 1957, by which time his racing team and
Ferrari selling business absorbed all of his time.
In 1953, Swaters had moved the Ecurie Francorchamps to new, larger premises in Brussels, and founded
Garage Francorchamps which officially became the Ferrari-importer for Belgium and Luxembourg
on February 1, 1954. Two years later, Ecurie Francorchamps temporarily merged with Ecurie
Belge of Johnny Claes to form what was called the Equipe Nationale Belge. While Ecurie Francorchamps
continued to race sports cars, the Equipe Nationale Belge competed primarily in Formula 1 until the end
of 1962 and both outfits played an instrumental role in the careers of several prominent Belgian racing
drivers. Ecurie Francorchamps would field Ferrari’s in international sports car races until the end of the
Seventies, while Garage Francorchamps was taken over by the British Inchcape group in 2004.
250 GT BERLINETTA COMP/61 2445 GT
Opposite page The two Ferrari’s of the Equipe
Nationale Belge in front of the pits at Le Mans,
1962: 2445 GT (59) of Georges Berger and
Robert Darville and the 250 GT0 of Leon Dernier
and Jean Blaton that would finish third overall.
Top 2445 GT pictured during the Vérifications
Technique, Le Mans 1962. Right 2445 GT on
its way to third place in the 1962 Coupes de
Bruxelles, Crevits at the wheel.
23
T
hroughout the early Sixties, Ecurie Francorchamps bought and raced a number of competition
250 GT Berlinetta’s, starting in 1959 when the team won the Tour de France with chassis
1523 GT (one of the interim long wheelbase cars) before acquiring the first of several short
wheelbase 250 GT Berlinetta’s it would run in the early sixties, entered by Ecurie Francorchamps
and occasionally Ecurie Nationale Belge. One of these was a Comp/61, chassis 2445 GT, bought by
Jacques Swaters in 1961.
2445 GT arrived at Scaglietti on January 30, 1961 and was completed by Ferrari on May 10. The
third Comp/61 built, it was delivered to Jacques Swaters on April 1 and first raced on May 14 in the
Grand Prix de Spa, finishing ninth in hands of Belgian driver Jacques van de Hautes. Van de Hautes
then raced 2445 GT in two Belgian hill climbs before another Belgian driver, Robert Crevits, scored
the car’s first victory on July 2 by winning the Cote d’Andenne hill climb. Throughout that summer,
Crevits would race the car in five more hill climb events around Belgium - winning three - as well as
the Coupes Benelux at the circuit of Zandvoort, Holland, where he finished second in class before,
in October, he and fellow Belgian Gustave Gossilin shared 2445 GT to finish ninth in the Paris 1000
KM at Montlhéry, round thirteen of the 1961 FIA GT Cup. Gosselin then drove the car at Zandvoort
in what was its last outing of the season.
In the spring of 1962, 2445 GT was entered in four Belgian hill climbs and Crevits added four more
wins to the car’s already creditable track record, while also finishing third with it in the Coupes de
Bruxelles held on the street circuit laid out around the Heizel park. In the Grand Prix de Spa, on
May 21, he finished fourth after which the car’s original engine was replaced by that of 2053 GT.
Ferrari had used chassis 2053 GT as a test hack for what had become the 250 GTO before rebuilding
it into a standard 250 GT Berlinetta fitted with a Comp/61-engine. Jacques Swaters had bought 2053
GT at the beginning of 1962, however, on May 27 the car was badly damaged in a crash during the
Nürburgring 1000 KM and its engine (now fitted with six 38mm carburetors instead of three 46mm)
was transferred to 2445 GT for the Le Mans 24 Hours, round eight of that year’s FIA International
Championship for GT Manufacturers. Entered by Ecurie Nationale Belge in the GT3.0-class, 2445
GT was driven by Belgians Georges Berger and Robert Darville. On its way to Arnage corner, the
car crashed out on the thirty-fifth lap of what would be its last race.
2445 GT RACING HISTORY
F
rom May 14 1961 until June 23 1962, 2445 GT raced in nineteen hill climbs and races, entered
by Ecurie Francorchamps and sometimes Ecurie Nationale Belge. The car won seven hill climbs
outright plus one class win.
1961
Event
Venue (country)
Entrant
No.
Driver(s)
Result
May 14
Grand Prix de Spa
Spa (B)
6
Jacques van den Haute
9th
May 28
Cote d’Alle sur Semois
Alle sur Semois (B)
3rd
June 4
Cote de Bomerée
Bomerée (B)
3rd in class
July 2
Cote d’Andenne
Andenne (B)
Robert Crevits
Winner
July 9
Coupes des Benelux
Zandvoort (NL)
Robert Crevits
2nd in class
July 16
Cote de Bousval
Bousval (B)
Robert Crevits
Winner
September 16 Cote de Vaals
Vaals (NL)
Robert Crevits
Winner
September 17 Cote de Bourscheid
Bourscheid (B)
80
Robert Crevits
2nd
September 24 Cote d’Houyet
Houyet (B)
110
Robert Crevits
Winner
October 1
Namur (B)
115
Robert Crevits
3rd in class
October 22
1000 KM Paris
Montlhéry (F)
Equipe Nationale Belge 4
Robert Crevits
Gustave Gosselin
11th
November 5
Cote de Namur
111
(unknown)
Zandvoort (NL)
22
Gustave Gosselin
2nd
March 11 Cote de Fléron
Fléron (B)
85
Robert Crevits
Winner
March 25 Cote d’Alle sur Semois
Alle sur Semois (B)
90
Robert Crevits
Winner class
April 15
Coupes de Bruxelles
Brussels (B)
3
Robert Crevits
3rd
April 29
Cote de la Roche
La Roche (B)
97
Robert Crevits
Winner
May 13
Cote de la Bomerée
Bomerée (B)
126
Robert Crevits
Winner
May 20
Grand Prix de Spa
Spa (B)
30
Robert Crevits
4th
Georges Berger
Robert Darville
DNF, crash
1962
Right 2445 GT first raced on May 14, 1961 when it
was entered by the Ecurie Francorchamps in the
Grand Prix de Spa. Belgian driver Jacques van
den Haute finished ninth despite this spin on the
exit of La Source corner.
June 23
24 Heures du Mans
Le Mans (B)
Ecurie Nationale Belge 59
25
2445 GT BUILD SHEET
27
Opposite page 2445 GT driven by Robert Crevits
to third place in the Coupes de Bruxelles on April
15, 1962. Top Front sheet of the official build sheet
of 2445 GT. Right Build sheets confirm that 2445
GT was completed on May 5 1961 and based on a
chassis Tipo 539/61. The Tipo 168/B engine was
tested on the dyno on May 9, putting out 276bhp
at 7500 rpm.
2445 GT GALLERY
29
Opposite page Robert Crevits winning the 1962
Cote de Fléron in 2445 GT on March 11. Top 2445
GT pictured during the Coupes de Bruxelles
that same year. Right May 20, 1962: Crevits and
2445 GT during the Grand Prix de Spa where
he finished fourth. Below 2445 GT through the
Esses at Le Mans, June 23, 1962.
CARROZZERIA SPORTS CARS
Opposite page 2445 GT as rebuilt by Drogo’s
Carrozzeria Sports Cars, pictured in Modena,
1963. Top The ‘Breadvan’ Ferrari caused a stir at
Le Mans in 1962 by outpacing all the GT-cars,
but it was forced to race as a prototype. Note its
front-end was so low that the top of its V12 stuck
out of the engine cover. Right 2445 GT pictured
at Zolder, 1963/4.
31
A
t the end of 1961, a number of senior staff, including Chiti, Bizzarini and racing manager
Romano Tavoni, had left Ferrari following a row with Enzo over the influence his wife
Laura had on the company. Chiti and Bizzarini were hired by Count Giovanni Volpi di
Misurata, owner of the Scuderia Serenissima and an important client of Ferrari. With two friends,
Giorgio Billi and Jaime Ortiz-Patino, Volpi launched ATS (short for Società per Azioni Automobili
Turismo e Sport Serenissima) for which Chiti and Bizzarini were to construct both Formula 1 and
GT-cars. But within months Volpi fell out with Billi and Ortiz-Patino, while Bizzarini did not agree
with Chiti’s plans to build a V8-engine instead of a V12. Volpi decided to leave ATS and asked
Bizzarini to join his Scuderia Serenissima to develop the two Ferrari 250 GTO’s the Count now
planned to run in 1962. Enzo Ferrari, however, refused to sell Volpi a car as he was still angry with
him for having hired the men who had left his company. Volpi later recalled: “I had ordered two
GTO’s, but because of the whole ATS-affair, Enzo did not want to provide me with any. He called
and said: “You are a traitor, you can forget about the GTO!” Bizzarini then told me: ‘No problem,
we can built a better car ourselves’.”
Bizzarini used a 1961 Comp/61 (chassis 2819 GT) that Volpi owned, and revised it drastically
to create a car even more extreme than the 250 GTO he had developed for Ferrari. The resulting
car was one-hundred kilo lighter and more aerodynamically efficient, its low body having an even
sharper nose than the GTO as well as a radically cut-off rear end which earned the car the nickname
‘Breadvan’.
The sensational body of the ‘Breadvan’ was produced by Carrozzeria Sports Cars of Piero Drogo.
Born in Italy, Drogo’s family had emigrated to Venezuala where Piero had raced cars well enough to
earn himself a works drive with Ferrari in the 1958 Buenos Aires 1000 KM-race. He had then returned
to Italy to race in Europe and work as a mechanic for race car constructor Stanguellini before founding
Carrozzeria Sports Cars in Modena, initially repairing a variety of damaged cars. Making the body
of the ‘Breadvan’ was Drogo’s first major project.
Put under pressure from Ferrari, the organizers of the Le Mans 24 Hours placed the ‘Breadvan’
in the prototype-class instead of the GT-category with the 250 GTO’s. In the race, the ‘Breadvan’
retired due to a broken driveshaft, but because it had outpaced all the GT’s in the first hours, it made
a huge impression and helped enhancing Drogo’s reputation in the racing world. Consequently,
Jacques Swaters asked Piero Drogo to rebuild and re-body 2053 GT (crashed at Nürburgring) and
2445 GT (crashed at Le Mans).
2445 GT REDISCOVERED
33
W
Opposite page 1963/4: 2445 GT rebuilt and
re-bodied by Carrozzeria Sports Cars pictured
at the circuit of Zolder in Belgium, now sporting
a Belgian license plate, CZ156. Top 2445 GT
pictured shortly after the crash at Le Mans,
1962. Right 2445 GT as it was sold by Michael
Sheehan’s European Auto Sales in 1986. Note
the license plate SLYDE 1 as used by Dick Hyde.
hile chassis 2053 GT - reunited with its original engine that had been used in 2445 GT at
Le Mans - would race on fitted with a new Drogo-built body until it was destroyed in a
crash during the 1964 500 KM de Spa, 2445 GT never raced again after it was rebuilt by
Carrozzeria Sports Cars in 1963, although period reports in Italian media suggest it was originally
prepared for racing, too. Drogo repaired the damaged front-end of 2445 GT by welding in a new
front bridge. For obvious customs/carnet reasons i.e. to easily transport the car into Italy and later
the US, Jacques Swaters had 2245 GT’s chassis number covered by a new number, 1965 GT, when
2445 GT was fitted with the (three carburetor) engine of 1965 GT, another Swaters-owned 250 GT
Berlinetta which had been destroyed in a crash during a race in Angola in December 1962. The
original 2445 GT engine was later sold by Jacques Swaters, but when and to whom is unknown and
it has not resurfaced ever since.
When completed, 2445 GT (stamped as 1965 GT) was road registered in Belgium (license plate
CZ156) and Swaters sold it in 1964, together with a 250 GT California Spyder, to American actor
James Coburn and John Calley of the MGM film studio.
Through Hollywood Sports Cars, it was sold to fellow Californian Dick Hyde later in the Sixties.
Hyde owned the car until January 1986, when it was offered for sale by European Auto Sales and
acquired and imported back to Europe by the Oldtimer Garage in Switzerland. In 1987 it was bought
by Dutchman Pieter Boel, who, when restoring the car in the Nineties, discovered that the chassis
had been re-stamped as more and more proof was found that the car was in fact chassis 2445 GT.
2445 GT RESTORED
35
B
Opposite page 2445 GT being restored, pictured
in 1995. Top The inside of the gearbox tunnel had
‘2445 GT’ painted on it in red. Right 2445 being
restored, pictured in 1999.
oel discovered that many parts, including for example the centre section of the chassis
(undamaged in the crash at Le Mans), the doors and the sills, all had ‘2445 GT’ stamped into
them and on the inside of the gearbox tunnel ‘2445 GT’ was painted in red. Also, the car had
quick jack points (which 1965 GT had not had and 2445 GT did) and featured a 1961 fuel tank (sized
and located differently from a 1960 250 GT Berlinetta such as 1965 GT), as well as a 1961-style front
window and roofline and all the correct 1961-chassis dimensions, which varied from the 1960-series.
Finally, when scraping away the lead in which chassis number 1965 GT was stamped, the original
chassis number 2445 GT resurfaced, confirming that the car was in fact 2445 GT and had merely, for
export reasons, been re-stamped as 1965 GT - the car destroyed in 1962 - something Jacques Swaters
subsequently confirmed.
When it was thus proved that the car was 2445 GT, Boel sold the 1965 GT engine as restoration
continued. Since the original 2445 GT engine could not be traced, another period 250 GT engine was
installed. In 2009, however, Boel sold 2445 GT to fellow Dutchmen Hans Hugenholtz and David Hart,
who had Hietbrink Coachbuilding and Roelofs Engineering complete the car’s restoration in time for
the 2010 Goodwood Revival, where the car returned to the racing track for the first time since the fortyeight years that had passed since 2445 GT had left the circuit of Le Mans on lap thirty-five of the 1962
24 Hours.
2445 GT BACK ON TRACK
Back on track Untested after completion of
its restoration, 2445 GT was entered in the
one-hour RAC TT Celebration race of the 2010
Goodwood Revival. Hans Hugenholtz and
Tony Dron drove the car to tenth place in the
thirty-car field, outpacing all four 250 GT
Berlinetta’s that competed as well.
37
E
ntered in the thirty-car RAC TT Celebration race, 2445 GT returned to the track during the
2010 Goodwood Revival held on September 19, driven by Hans Hugenholtz and Tony Dron.
Untested and powered - to spare the period 250 GT engine - by an all new 250 GT-block built to
Le Mans 1962 specification, the car impressed by finishing the one-hour race in a creditable tenth
place and comfortably outpacing the four 250 GT Berlinetta’s that participated as well. Almost half
a century after the car had left the premises of Piero Drogo’s Carrozzeria Sports Cars in Modena, it was a
wonderfully fitting ode to the aerodynamic efficiency of the uniquely shaped Drogo-body.
2445 GT TODAY
39
2445 GT TODAY
41
Chassis 2445 GT was one of the very few 250 GT Berlinetta Comp/61’s that Ferrari built in 1961. After participating in the 1962 Le Mans 24 Hours, 2445 GT was re-bodied
by Piero Drogo’s Carrozzeria Sports Cars in Modena in 1963. Completely restored, this illustrious Ferrari finally returned to the track in 2010, almost half a century after its
last race. This is the complete story of a unique car, featuring a one of a kind body enveloping what was one of the rarest, most important competition Ferrari’s of all time.
TEXT & DESIGN MARK KOENSE CONSULTANCY MARCEL MASSINI
PHOTOGRAPHY ALEXIS CALLIER, ARCHIVE FERRARI, ARCHIVE ECURIE FRANCORCHAMPS, GOODWOOD ROAD RACING CIRCUIT
ERIC DELLE FAILLE, HANS HUGENHOLTZ, LAT, MICHAEL SHEEHAN, PIETER BOEL STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY SANDER MOREL
WE HAVE ATTEMPTED TO DETERMINE THE COPYRIGHTS OF ALL THE IMAGES USED IN THIS PUBLICATION.
IF YOU ARE THE OWNER OF THE COPYRIGHT OF A PICTURE AND YOU ARE NOT MENTIONED, PLEASE CONTACT US.

Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Comp/61 2445 GT Drogo

Transcription

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