Continuing my look back at the fabulous Ferrari 333 SP, here back in 1999 Max Angelelli blasts around the wide open spaces of Las Vegas Motor Speedway in one of a pair of Doyle-Risi Racing cars. It was the team’s last appearance in the ALMS with the open topped Ferrari, which was struggling to keep pace with the Panoz and BMW prototypes. Seventh and eighth places for the team was about all they could expect.
John Brooks, November 2013
1999 and the last appearance of the Ferrari 333 SP at La Sarthe………..by now this customer programme dating back to 1993 was overwhelmed by the big budget factory efforts from Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Toyota.
The JB Racing 333 SP was a brand new chassis and was modified aerodynamically for Le Mans with both the engine cover and rear wing getting a make over. A new endurance gearbox was fitted with modifications to the pinions, strengthened shafts and selector forks. The engine also received attention to make it more durable. The increase in fuel tank size to 90 litres helped, but the wonderful sounding V12 was too thirsty in comparison with the competition; the extra refuelling stops meant that the Ferrari had scant chance of achieving anything significant in the race itself.
It was driven by former Le Mans winner, Mauro Baldi, teamed up with Christian Pescatori and Jerôme Policand. Young Jerôme qualified the car in a 3:38:468, which was roughly the same time that the 1998 winner, Allan McNish had qualified his Porsche 911 GT1-98 some 12 months before. It was a gain of around six seconds on the previous Ferrari best and proved the worth of the modifications. However it was still nearly ten seconds off Martin Brundle’s pole time in his Toyota GT-ONE.
The least said about the race the better. The endurance gearbox was anything but, lasting barely 40 minutes before Baldi had to pit for a replacement. Engine failure just after dark brought the curtain down on the story of the Ferrari 333 SP at Le Mans.
John Brooks, November 2013
Lap one of the Sports Racing World Cup in 1999 has just been completed and a sea of metaphorical red heads towards Elf (the French Petroleum company not the Nordic pixies). That season the Ferrari 333 SP was the weapon of choice in the SRWC until DAMS got their Lola fired up.
Long ago and far away.
John Brooks, October 2013
A few hours will pass and the American Le Mans Series will be just a memory. The final flag will drop appropriately enough at Road Atlanta, motorsport’s Georgia Peach. Although the first ALMS race was Sebring in 1999 as seen above, the spiritual home is, and always will be, Braselton.
Fifteen years ago the world of endurance racing was turned on its head with the alliance of Don Panoz and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the first Petit Le Mans. For the most part this has been a successful partnership, though not without its issues. New management has arrived, let’s hope that they can build on the heritage of the past.
I sit here on a grey, soggy afternoon in Surrey I recall the races and places and faces…………….however I don’t think I can add much to my thoughts written 12 months ago on the way to Georgia HERE
God Speed American Le Mans Series, and thanks…………….without you I would have missed out on seeing some fantastic racing and, much more importantly, missed out on meeting some amazing people. Too many to list but you know who you are……………let’s hope for a safe race today on both sides of the world, there have been too many reminders of our shared mortality this year.
Ciao…………….
John Brooks, October 2013
Motoring events pile up thick and fast during the spring, summer and autumn months and if they are not dealt with immediately they slip down the pecking order. A TVR day at Brooklands in May fell victim to the demands of the Nürburgring 24 Hours and then the big race in France.
Nevertheless it was a pretty good turnout of cars with the sun doing its best to give us all a lift after a pretty grotty couple of months. There was even a fly past by a Lancaster, rather appropriate considering the history of the venue.
And if Blackpool’s fastest were not wholly to your taste there were the other distractions……………always something to see between Weybridge and Byfleet.
John Brooks, October 2013
Earlier this month the excellent Brooklands Museum was the venue for a gathering of the Morgan clan. My brother in law, Marcel and his missus the lovely Sue, were taking their Moggie along for an outing, so I thought I would join them, I’m glad I did.
John Brooks, October 2013
Bonneville Salt Flats and the Speed Week. It is like nowhere else on earth, they tell you….
Yeah, sure……….but they are right………..there IS nowhere like it.
The pure speed, the free spirit, the sense of freedom and the almost infinite space………………I hear that salt gets into your blood…………….I tested positive for Sodium Chloride…………
One day I will go back to the remote salt flats, perhaps you never leave…………..
Ry Cooder caught the mood of the addiction to speed on the salt………..
Three o’clock, this morning, I woke up in a dream.
Thought I heard a FlatHead motor roar, I thought I smelled gasoline.
A feeling came upon me, that I ain’t had in years.
Something like a hot dry wind, whistling past my ears.
Saying “Time, Time, Time is all you got”.
There’s a memory that’s still burning, way down in my mind.
And that’s why, I’m going out and trying, a FlatHead one more time.
I ain’t seen my racing buddies in thirty years, or more.
One by one I lost them, out on the dry lake floor.
We learnt to push those FlatHead cars as hard as they could go.
Just like old Whiskey Bob, down on Thunder Road.
I hear their voices calling, just across the finish line.
And that’s why, I’m going out and trying, a FlatHead one more time.
I’ll get back to you baby, don’t you have no fear.
‘Cos I been there, and I wrecked that, and baby I’m still here.
But I can’t take you with me, when I cross the finish line.
And that’s why, I’m going out and trying, a FlatHead, one, more, time.
Time,
Time,
Time is all you got………………………………….
John Brooks, October 2013
Salon Privé is a delightful affair, relaxed, stylish, just the right way to round off the summer and prepare for the long nights to come. Fabulous cars, gourmet grub and some very pleasant company, what more could you ask for? I even got to ride in an Alfa Romeo 8C courtesy of Dirk, thanks old boy.
So here is a gallery from Wednesday……………..
John Brooks, September 2013
Press releases rarely excite me enough to read, let alone post on DDC, but news from the Nürburgring that Porsche has broken the production car lap record is truly worthy of comment. Actually not breaking the record but smashing it. All round good egg Marc Lieb was at the wheel of the Porsche 918 Spyder which lapped the Nordschleife in 6:57.00 taking 14 seconds off the previous best.
So salut Marc and Porsche!
It has been a week of automotive sensory overload in and around London, Goodwood Test, Salon Privé Tour and Concours, St. James’s Concours of Elegance and today the perfect conclusion, the Grand Chelsea Rendezvous. I need a rest………………
For reasons that are not clear, but almost certainly financial, the Chelsea Auto Legends Show has slipped into history. So here today, as a substitute, is a kind of Cars and Coffee for the Embankment. An interesting selection of cars showed up, some with real history, even the replicas had patina.
There is something comforting about this kind of informal gathering of petrolheads, I hope that it will become even more common in and around the capital..
Here is a small gallery of the participants.
John Brooks, September 2013
