Ferrari 330 TRI/LM

Ferrari 330 TRI/LM Spyder (0808)
Ferrari 250 TRI/60 (0780TR)
Category Sports car racing
Constructor Ferrari
Designer(s) Medardo Fantuzzi
Technical specifications
Chassis tubular steel spaceframe
Suspension (front) Coil spring and independent wishbone
Suspension (rear) Coil spring and independent wishbone
Length 178 in (452.1 cm)
Width 62.6 in (159.0 cm)
Height 41.3 in (104.9 cm)
Axle track F: 56 in (142.2 cm)
R: 55.7 in (141.5 cm)
Wheelbase 94.5 in (2,400.3 mm)
Engine Tipo 163 Superamerica 3,967 cc (242.1 cu in) V12 naturally-aspirated front-engine, longitudinally mounted
Transmission Tipo 568 5-speed manual transmission
Weight 820 kg (1,807.8 lb)
Tyres F: 6.00 x 16
R: 7.00 x 16
Competition history
Notable entrants Scuderia Ferrari
North American Racing Team
Notable drivers Olivier Gendebien
Masten Gregory
Graham Hill
Phil Hill
Roger Penske
Pedro Rodriguez
Ricardo Rodríguez
Debut 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans
First win 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans
Last win 1962 Bridgehampton Double 400
Last event 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans
EntriesRacesWinsPodiums
10826
PolesF.Laps
32

The Ferrari 330 TRI/LM Spyder (chassis number 0808) is a 1962 racing sports car purpose-built by Ferrari to achieve victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was the last Ferrari racing sports car with a front-mounted engine and the last of a series of Ferrari race cars known as the Testa Rossas. The "I" in its designation indicates that the car has an independent rear suspension (indipendente in Italian).

Beginning in 1960 as a 250 TRI/60 Fantuzzi Spyder, the car was badly damaged in a crash during a practice session for the Targa Florio road race (its debut). It was rebuilt, finishing second at the 12 Hours of Sebring before being damaged again in its second Targa Florio outing. After finishing second twice, it won at Pescara before it was rebuilt with a larger engine due to regulatory changes. The car won Le Mans in its 1962 debut, the last front-engine car to win the race. It was then sold, competing in North America with some success before returning to Le Mans the following year. The car was a trailing third into the night against newer, factory-mid-engine Ferrari prototypes when it crashed.

After its racing career ended, the car was rebuilt and sold to a businessman who drove it daily around New York City before passing it on to a number of owners who also drove it in the city. It narrowly avoided the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Background

The Testa Rossa familes began in 1956 with a customer request for a two-liter, four-cylinder sports car capable of defeating Maserati, its archrival with the engine and suspensions based on the Tipo 500 Formula Two car. The resulting 500 TR appeared at the 1000 km Monza, where Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn took it to its maiden win.[1]

The accident which ended the Mille Miglia in 1957 also ended the unlimited-displacement class of the World Sportscar Championship, leading to a three-liter displacement limit which Ferrari supported to accommodate American racer-customers. The result was the successful 250TR.[1]

History

The car began life as a 250 TRI/60 (0780TR), leaving the factory in March 1960. The car was badly damaged by Cliff Allison during a practice session following a tire blowout in its debut, the Targa Florio.[2][3] The car was rebuilt with parts from a wrecked 250 TR59/60 (0772TR) and later took part at Le Mans. Driven by Willy Mairesse and Richie Ginther, it retired with a broken driveshaft in the Sunday morning.[4][5] The car returned to the factory to be modified with a TRI/61 rear body, retaining its 250 TRI/60 front end. It returned to action the following season for the 12 Hours of Sebring, driven by Giancarlo Baghetti, Mairesse, Ginther and Wolfgang von Trips, finishing second overall behind teammates Hill and Gendebien.[3][6]

The car returned to the Targa Florio as the team's sole front-engined representative, with Mairesse and Pedro Rodríguez driving, but retired after Mairesse crashed during practice.[2] It returned to the factory for repairs and modification of its nose to that of a TRI/61, which was completed in time for the 1000 km Nürburgring. Rodríguez and his younger brother, Ricardo, finished second behind the Maserati Tipo 61 of Lloyd Casner and Masten Gregory after destroying a front wheel a lap previously.[7][3] The car raced at Le Mans; after a poor start, Mairesse and Mike Parkes finished second, again behind Hill and Gendebien; promoting themselves from third place the Rodríguez brothers (who was second) retired with broken pistons with two hours to go.[8][9][3] In the season finale, the Pescara 4 Hours; despite a poor turnout by the Scuderia, it was driven to victory by Lorenzo Bandini and Giorgio Scarlatti despite a fuel leak caused by an unfastened fuel cap that saw Bandini fall back to 27th which he regained with his rapid pace.[10][11]

Rebirth

Ferrari had dominated sports-car racing since 1958, with three World Sportscar Championships and three 24 Hours of Le Mans victories in four attempts.[12] In 1962, the CSI (Commission Sportive Internationale) and ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest) restructured their rules and classifications to emphasize GT cars and make the three-litre sports-racing class (dominated by cars like the Testa Rossas) obsolete. The displacement limit for GT cars was raised to four litres, which also applied to the new experimental class. At this time, Ferrari replaced its sports racers with mid-engine designs and V6s or V8s and decided to rebuild the 250 TRI/60 as the 330 TRI/LM for the experimental class.[3][13]

The 4-litre Lampredi V12 Tipo 163 with free-breathing cylinder heads, larger valves and six twin-barrel Weber 42DCN carburetors provided 390 horsepower, 50 bhp more than its predecessors and fed to a five-speed transmission modified with strengthened gears. The modified V12 was 4 inches (10 cm) longer than the 250TR's 3-litre Colombo engines, necessitating the new frame to suit the engine and to comply with the new regulations. The frame was 6.3 centimetres (2.5 in) longer to the 250TR's for better balance, strengthened to accommodate the increased power and torque and accommodated the TRI/61's independent coil-spring suspension system.[13]

1962 Le Mans

The car, driven by defending winners Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien, made its debut on the second day of the Le Mans test sessions in April and recorded the fastest lap of the day (4 minutes, 10.8 seconds) despite the wet weather. The 330 TRI/LM skipped the next two World Championship races in favor of further in-house development.

During the race's practice session, the car was  3 1⁄2 seconds quicker than the competition when Hill broke Mike Hawthorn's lap record. It was not difficult to drive, as Hill said in Road & Track:

Although the 330 was something of a brute in concept, it was not a brutish car to drive. It was also a damn fast car and with it ... The independent two A-arm suspension front and rear made this a very decent-handling, well balanced car.[1]

The 330 TRI/LM did not have the aerodynamic lift which had caused steering problems at high speed that plagued earlier Ferraris as according to Hill, "It didn’t exhibit that schizophrenic nature", which were pleasant to drive on slow, tight portions of the circuit but unpleasant on faster portions (for example, the White House turn). He concluded that excluding the "strange nose or tail liftings the 330 was a nice, almost pleasant car to drive."[1]

It had problems with a slipping clutch since the first practice session, when the engine was at peak torque as the car accelerated. This was resolved by "treat[ing] the car as gently as possible" and correct shift timing requiring the drivers to shift "a gear higher" than usual). Hill and Gendebien did not expect the car to last the entire duration of the race.[1]

Despite a slow start by Gendebien the 330 TRI/LM’s speed enabled him to gain the lead, fending off the Dino 246SP of the Rodríguez brothers and briefly, the Aston Martin DP212 of Graham Hill and Richie Ginther despite the clutch problem. When their teammates (the Rodríguezes) retired at 4.30 am with gearbox issues, Hill and Gendebien inherited a four-lap lead which they increased to another by the end, thus becoming the first triple winner pairing, with Gendebien the first four-time winner. As the last prototype Ferrari race car with a front-mounted engine, it was the last front-engine car to win.[13][14]

After Le Mans

Following its victory, the 330 was ineligible to compete in any more European races as intended by Ferrari that season. Luigi Chinetti's NART,[12] responsible for Ferrari's North American operations, acquired it as a middle man for Don Rodríguez to enable his son Pedro to race in North America. The younger Rodríguez won the Bridgehampton Grand Prix at Bridgehampton and finished second in the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport. At the Nassau Trophy, Gregory deputized for Rodríguez, who was unable to drive after his brother fatally crashed at the Mexican Grand Prix, finishing 4th.[1]

The following year (1963), Graham Hill and Rodríguez drove the car to a third-place finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring behind newer factory mid-engine 250 P prototypes whilst at one time, it held a 3-lap lead over its teammates until mechanical and electrical problems slowed the car down as well as the driver having to deal with exhaust fumes caused by split exhaust manifold. The 330 returned to Le Mans to defend its title but with wider tires.[12][13]Partnering with Roger Penske and starting from the pole position, it trailed in second place against the factory Ferraris until the ninth hour when the engine threw a connecting rod. Oil spilled on the rear tires, causing the car to crash and taking along Jo Bonnier's Porsche 718/8 GTR with it.[13][15]

The car never raced again,[16] returning to Ferrari for repairs and a new coupé body by Fantuzzi and returned to the United States. Hisashi Okada of Long Island brought the car in 1965, who drove it daily on the streets of Manhattan before trading it for a 250 LM in 1974 whom, via Stanley Nowak, sold it to Pierre Bardinon. Like Okada, Bardinon also drove the car in New York City up toward 1993. He commissioned Fantuzzi to restore the car back to its original form,[17][13][18] whilst the coupé body was transferred to a 250 GT Coupé,[19] before auctioning it in 2002 to Fantasy Motors[20] on behalf of Jim Spiro, a money manager from New Orleans.[16][21][17] Spiro drove it in road rallies and frequently used it to commute in city traffic.[13] The car narrowly avoided the 2005 devastation of Hurricane Katrina when, two days before the storm, Spiro drove it 10 miles (16 km) west of New Orleans to his friend's garage.[21] It was sold to Gregorio Pérez Companc in 2007 by RM Auctions after an unsuccessful auction attempt two years earlier.[20][16]

Notes

        References

        Works cited

        External links

        This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/31/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.