Tag Archives: Ferrari 550 Maranello

Hampton Court Highlights

September has arrived heralding the onset of autumn to be followed, no doubt, by winter. No one needs to be reminded that the pandemic has not only attacked humans but also has decimated the normal calendars of culture and sport, life itself appears to have been on hold during 2020.

The only appropriate response to this disruption is to be stoic, the disappointments of missing events or holidays are nothing compared with the devastation suffered by those who have been struck down, not to mention their families and friends.

However, we would be less than human if we tried to hide our enthusiasm when some small part of the real world surfaces. Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace is firmly established as one of the highlights of the motoring year. After what can only be described as an astounding effort it took place earlier this month, even more incredible was that the show matched the virtuoso levels of previous years. Chapeau!

So it is now left to me to try and describe some of the highlights for those not fortunate enough to attend in person, I hope my efforts do the Concours some form of justice.

Twenty-five years have passed since the F1 GTR burst on to the endurance racing scene, dominating the BPR Global GT Endurance Series and taking the top spot at Le Mans on McLaren’s first attempt to achieve glory at La Sarthe. If one ignores the winner of the first race in 1923, only one other marque has achieved this result, Ferrari, back in 1949. Ironically that actual car was at the Concours last year and I looked at it HERE

The 1995 winner, #01R, was due to make an appearance but a last-minute change of plans prevented that happening. So just two examples of Woking’s finest were on display, #07R, from 1995 and #16R from the following year. The blue #07R came close to glory several times during the BPR season, leading races and scoring second place at Jarama and third at the Nürburgring. At Le Mans it had additional sponsorship from Ethanol be Betterave and the fuel for its BMW V12 engine was a synthesis of beetroot-derived alcohol. There was disaster for the car at the beginning of the race when the starter motor failed and the team replaced it. Further problems with the unit cost #07R an additional 18 minutes in the pits during the opening hour, blunting their challenge. Subsequently the F1 GTR had a largely trouble-free run and recovered to fifth at the finish, the best result ever scored by a ‘green fuel’ car at La Sarthe.

Another veteran of the Le Mans 24 Hours was this Porsche 911 GT1 that came close to winning the great race in 1997. Porsche AG initially concentrated their efforts that season in trying to win Le Mans, only a last minute decision was made to enter the inaugural FIA GT Championship. The Werks squad were running One-Two as dawn broke on Sunday with Thierry Boutsen, Hans Stuck and Bob Wollek leading. Wollek was in his twenty-seventh contest at La Sarthe and must have harboured thoughts that, finally, this would be his year. Just before 07.30 he attempted to pass Jean-Marc Gounon’s McLaren and was held up for three laps. Under acceleration out of Arnage, still stuck behind the F1 GTR, Wollek lost control of the Porsche and clattered the Armco head-on and rear, hitting both sides of the track. A broken driveshaft meant that his attempts to get back to the pits were punctuated by two further spins and he was forced to abandon the car and his quest for victory. At the subsequent meeting with the press he blamed himself entirely, he had made a beginner’s mistake as he declared. “Si vous n’avez jamais vu le roi des cons, vous l’avez devant vous.”

A special event taking place in this year’s Concours was the “Passion of a Lifetime” auction. Gooding & Company were forced to postpone their first-ever sale outside of the USA so the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace was just the right level to act as the venue. Elegance was to be found in spades in the Tudor Courtyard; even Henry VIII, might have lusted after this Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, more than he did with Anne Boleyn.

There were just fifteen cars in the sale but all were ultra desirable. This Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato is one of only nineteen examples produced and lists former Aston Martin Chairman, Victor Gauntlett, as one of its four previous owners. Its breath-taking and timeless styling, courtesy of Ercole Spada, renders it as a piece of modern art of the highest level. Weirdly this was the only car not to sell, failing to reach the £7 million expected.

More ’60s Italian flair was to be found in this Lamborghini 350GT, the epitome of Gran Turismo motoring, I have always had a soft spot for this model.

A serious candidate for the most unusual item at the Concours was this replica of a 1921 Leyat Hélica. Carrying the nickname “the plane without wings” its creator, Marcel Leyat, was seeking to simplify personal transport as there would be no rear axle or transmission. The body made of plywood was extremely light and the whole machine weighed under 300kg, some 400kg lighter than the contemporary Ford Model T. Powered by an 8bhp Scorpion engine the Hélica was recorded at 106mph in 1927 at the Linas-Montlhéry circuit. Just 30 examples were built. I encountered the two remaining Hélicas at Rétromobile a few years back, they can be seen HERE

At the other end of the evolutionary scale to the Hélica is the McLaren Speedtail, now the fastest ever road car from Woking, a cool 250mph, eclipsing Andy Wallace’s famous 240mph run in the F1 GTR back in 1998.

Record breaking is also in the DNA of this Rolls-Royce Phantom ll Continental, one of a trio of Rolls-Royces owned by Sir Malcolm Campbell. He purchased it at the height of his fame for setting world speed records on land and water. Indeed a few months after acquiring the Phantom ll he set his final land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats, on 3 September 1935, becoming the first person to drive a car over 300 mph.

The Chairman of the Concours Steering Committee, Gregor Fisken, drives his HWM Jaguar to take its place around the Great Fountain. This purposeful racer has a dark side to its history. John Heath, co-founder of HWM, was killed in the 1956 Mille Miglia when HWM1 left the road in treacherously wet conditions just north of Ravenna. The car was repaired and raced on successfully for many years.

This is the development Aston Martin DB2 Drophead that was driven for a good part of its early life by the company’s owner, David Brown.

It was also used a press demonstrator, though I expect that the likes of Roy Lanchester, of Sniff Petrol fame, would have been not allowed to get away with antics such as THIS in the Boss’s car.

The Land Rover has been a familiar and comforting part of the British motoring landscape almost forever it would seem. This example is very special, being the first production car. Originally destined for His Majesty King George VI, it ended up in the development department at Rover. Subsequently it was acquired by a Northumberland farmer, David Fairless, in 1970. It remained on the farm for nearly half a century before the family sold it.

This startling creature is one of two N-Technology 550 Maranellos built to compete in the 2003 FIA GT Championship. Both have very disappointing records, especially in comparison with the Prodrive 550 Maranellos that swept all before them in the GT universe. The main achievement of the N-Technology 550s was to act as a test bed for the 575 Maranellos that followed, though these too were not successful against the “British Ferraris”.

After leaving the FIA GT Championship this example was purchased by Piero Nappi who competed in the Italian Speed Hill Climb Championship till 2016, winning the title three times.

A legend in every sense of the word is the Porsche 917K-023. Its competition career only comprised of seven races. A second place in the deluge conditions of the 1970 Brands Hatch 1000kms for Vic Elford and Denny Hulme was followed by a third at Spa with Kurt Ahrens partnering the Brit. As a member of the armada of Porsche 917s that contested Le Mans that June, it was something of an unfancied runner, with an old-spec 4.5 litre engine. The race, immortalised by Steve McQueen’s iconic movie, was another washout and one by one the favourites dropped out. Wily old campaigners Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann grabbed the lead in 023 after midnight and held on to score Porsche’s first outright victory at La Sarthe. The story of the car’s post-race career is almost as exciting, with chassis plates being swapped, identities being confused and false liveries applied; it reads more like a spy novel than an auction catalogue. Eventually the whole story came out and now this legend, properly authenticated, resides in California.

This Ferrari 250 GTO #3387 was the second chassis completed. It was used at Maranello to develop the final specification of the car. It was then sold to Luigi Chinetti whose NART team entered it in the 1962 Sebring 12 Hours with Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien on driving duties. They won the GT class and finished second overall.

Following this success the 250 GTO was sold to New York businessman, Bob Grossman, who entered it in that year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. With his renowned NASCAR co-driver, Glenn “Fireball” Roberts, they finished sixth overall, a strong result. The Ferrari continued to be raced for a number of years and after retirement became a prized possession of several lucky owners till it crossed back over the Atlantic to be restored by Joe Macari, who is seen parading this motoring gem around the Great Fountain.

Speaking of motoring gems, I found this sublime Ferrari 275 GTS as a hot contender for best in show, even in the face of such a cornucopia of automotive desirables. Looking through the excellent Ferrari reference website barchetta.cc it appears that the 1980 F1 World Champion, Alan Jones, was a former owner. One of the best features of the Concours of Elegance is the arrival each morning of a new set of cars from the various car clubs. It adds a spice to the already rich mix and ensures that no two days are the same.

The setting of a Royal Palace for the Concours of Elegance has been one of the features that set the event apart right from the first show. Windsor Castle, St. James’s, Palace of Holyroodhouse have all played host before Hampton Court Palace became the “home” of the Concours. There is a strong connection to the Royal Family, with HRH Prince Michael of Kent acting as Patron, and on the Saturday he brought along his elder brother, HRH Duke of Kent, to enjoy the spectacle.

The ninth edition of the Concours of Elegance was held under the most difficult of circumstances but the organisers and owners rose to the challenge and provided a rich celebration of motoring for us lucky ones to savour.

John Brooks September 2020

Going Round and Round – Part Four

2002 ALMS Washington

In August 2001 plans were announced to once again take the races to the fans, the ALMS were nothing, if not persistent in this course. The venues were to be a street race round the financial district of Miami and the Washington Grand Prix at the RFK Memorial Stadium Circuit in Washington DC, or rather in the car park of this former home to the Washington Redskins.

2002 ALMS Washington

A long-term contract was drawn up, ten years duration, between the ALMS and the promoter, with the city underwriting the whole affair. The benefits, or so we were told, would be tourism, prestige and anticipated revenues of $350 million, and these noble aims were much trumpeted. One element that encouraged the staging of the race was the potential bid for the 2012 Olympiad from the combined cities of Washington and Baltimore or such a plot was leaked to the media. However this being Washington DC, the downsides soon began to surface. As was reported at the time, in the media  “On September 5 neighborhood residents shared serious concerns regarding safety, the environment, cost, and the livability of the neighborhood during the event. No environmental authority — not COG, nor the DC Department of Health’s Office of Environmental Health, not the Mayor’s Special Assistant for Environmental Issues, was consulted prior to the August 9 press conference, although planning for the project began in 1999. July, according to the Council of Governments (COG), is the worst month for air quality in the metropolitan region, with the most code-red health advisories because of high ozone levels. On code-red days, COG discourages all daytime driving and refuelling.”

2002 ALMS Washington

These legitimate concerns were amplified by the apprehensions of local residents about noise and the sheer inconvenience of the event and the proximity to their properties, as little as 100 yards in the worst case. Furthermore there was unease about the financial arrangements which involved public funds and were opaque to say the least.

Robert D. Goldwater, the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission’s President and Executive Director, said those details will not be made public because the Commission considers the information proprietary. The only cost he has revealed is that of building the temporary 1.7-mile racecourse: $3 million, which will be split with the Grand Prix organizers.

“The policy we had is the policy we are following: We are not releasing financial information. . . . We need to negotiate private agreements,” he said. “The understanding we have with each of our promoters is such that the expectation they have is that we are going to keep financial information private.”

2002 ALMS Washington

That declaration was soon undermined as The Washington Post dug deeper into the affair.

“The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission and the promoter of this month’s Grand Prix auto race are splitting the estimated $3.5 million cost of constructing a track, but the Commission is assuming the risk by putting up all the money — a contrast to Grand Prix deals in other U.S. cities that generally have avoided using public funds to finance the events.

The North Carolina-based promoter has the duration of the 10-year race contract, and possibly longer, to repay its share of the cost of the temporary track, receiving what amounts to an interest-free loan with no guarantor, according to interviews and documents obtained under the D.C. Freedom of Information Act. The promoter is supposed to make annual payments, the amounts of which have not been disclosed.”

2002 ALMS Washington

The rows over the event rumbled on with a great deal of band-wagon jumping by local politicians, community leaders and ‘activists’. A sound absorbing wall was promised and other environmental issues were declared as having been addressed. The promoters apparently offered free tickets to the locals and other incentives were suggested, some accepted, some rejected. Cadillac were persuaded to be the title sponsor and the United States Mint got in on the act announcing that the Golden Dollar would be the Official Coin of the Cadillac Grand Prix. Whatever anyone said as 2002 rolled by, the tarmac was laid in the stadium car park and the track gradually took shape.

2002 ALMS Washington

So in July 2002 the ALMS circus assembled in the shadow of the RFK Memorial Stadium, along with the Speedvision World Challenge, Trans-Am and a celebrity support race, this felt like a proper motorsport event. The track, sinuous and short – 1.7 miles – was wide with passing opportunities and it would be possible to race even in these confines. July is not the optimal time to enjoy the banks of the Potomac, or the District of Columbia, being both hot and humid, no wonder everyone was so grumpy.

2002 ALMS Washington

Thirty-two cars would line up on the grid and it was clear, that barring unforeseen incidents, victory would be a contest between the two factory Audis and the lead Panoz, the latter now in a revamped EVO 2002 form. Embracing the patriotic spirit in the post 9-11 USA, the livery was composed of Stars and Stripes, and titled ‘Spirit of America’.

2002 ALMS Washington

The Cadillac team were a vast improvement on their 2000 and 2001 efforts but in the background the long-term viability of the project was in doubt as GM management started to grasp the realities of engaging in a technological and budgetary war with Audi.

2002 ALMS Washington

Corvette was a happier GM ship, successive GTS wins at Le Mans will do that for a team. This project made far more sense in achieving the marketing, brand-building and fan satisfaction aims of Corvette than Cadillac’s venture into Prototype Land.

2002 ALMS Washington

In GTS the Vettes had some serious opposition in the shape of the Olive Garden Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello, they could not afford to relax their efforts.

2002 ALMS Washington

The GT class was an almost exclusively Porsche affair, as BMW had packed up their E46 M3 GTR campaign in response to rules on homologation being changed without notice by the ACO. The ALMS were furious, they had not been consulted, and this destroyed competition in the class and also hit revenues substantially. The BMWs ended up at the 24 Hour races at Nürburgring and Spa in the following years. So a solitary Bimmer was on hand to potentially disrupt the Porsche Parade – it did not.

2002 ALMS Washington

One major difference that the DC race had over the other expeditions into Oval Land was spectators, and in numbers. So when the Audis blasted off at the start there were plenty on site to witness the enthralling contest between them and the Panoz. Post race claims of 70,000 attendees over the three days were perhaps true, certainly it was busy. Maybe for a while the ALMS thought it had enjoyed its “Garlic Bread” moment, post event criticisms would cause any such feelings to evaporate.

2002 ALMS Washington

The adjacent Stadium-Armory Washington Metro station no doubt contributed to this popularity, not that I got to experience it personally. The top notch photographer, world class pfaffer and local resident, Regis Lefebure, generously provided a chauffeur service during my stay in his nation’s capital. His technique behind the wheel was certainly different, probably more suited to the roads in the proximity of the Tiber or the Yangtze than the Potomac.

Whatever…………….

2002 ALMS Washington

The Champion Racing Audi struggled to match the pace of the factory cars, not helped when it was hit by the Capello car while being lapped, Dindo got a stop/go penalty for that indiscretion. Neither Johnny Herbert nor Stefan Johansson were happy with the R8 all weekend, this was not a normal state of affairs, quite puzzling.

2002 ALMS Washington

The Audis and the Panoz traded the lead, rarely more a few seconds gap from first to third, the crowd were certainly getting their money’s worth. Which was than could have been said by me. Looking back into the archive there is a big hole in the race, then it clicked, I remembered a microdrive had failed, as they regularly did, and I had not been bright enough to make a back up. Mind you from what remains on file it was clear that I lacked inspiration at Washington, a rather lacklustre performance all round.

2002 ALMS Washington

All three pit and engineering crews worked flat out to optimise their car’s performance, trading off taking new tyres against shorter pit stops and track position, gambling on Yellow Flag periods and fuel consumption. In the end fresh Michelins on the Panoz versus used ones on the Audis were the critical difference. When the Checkered Flag dropped the gap was .766 of a second, in the favour of Magnussen and Brabham, they had won!

2002 ALMS Washington

For Don Panoz it was his day of days, a car bearing his name winning in Washington, it really does not get any better than that. It was the final triumph for the rumbling mid-front engined car. Audi, as they always are, were gracious in defeat. They learned that the value of their own victories is, in part, measured by the respect that they show and receive of the opposition.

2002 ALMS Washington

GTS went to the #3 Corvette of Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell while Alex Job Racing’s Porsche driven by Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr scooped the prize in GT.

And that pretty much is where the fun stopped, though I did get to buy Regis dinner as a thank you after the race and we were joined by the Great Dane, TK. A thoroughly agreeable way to end my one and only visit to the District of Columbia.

Ah yes, the hair pulling and name calling started almost before the engines went silent in the paddock. The media reported the antics:

“Cost overruns spilled into the millions, the promoters were fined for noise violations, and allegations of abuse of power were bandied about in the City Council.

City Inspectors found the sound wall constructed in the Kingman Park neighborhood measured only 584 feet long with sizeable gaps between some sections, and over the weekend, at least nine large panels were removed, in some cases for photography reasons.(My experience would suggest that this would be for TV rather than us humble snappers, as ever access was a big issue for us.)  District tests recorded during the event registered 93 to 105 decibels, far exceeding the city’s 60-decibel limit for residential areas.”

In August 2002, Washington Post columnist, Colbert King, blasted Anthony Williams, the D.C. Mayor,  for “the noisy, noxious-fume-spewing Cadillac Grand Prix that was insensitively and stealthily imposed on a stable, predominantly black North-east Washington neighbourhood over the residents’ strong objections.” Considering that I recall the Post being a partner to the event this was strong stuff.

In the face of all this controversy the race was cancelled in 2003 and there have been no attempts to revive it. How the money situation played out is also not clear, my guess is that the taxpayer got hosed and the lawyers got richer, plus ça change……….

The city race experiment has had limited success over the years, for every Long Beach there was a Miami or Baltimore, perhaps motor sport and metropolises do not mix.

That concludes my look back into ALMS history for now, more soon.

John Brooks, December 2014

Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation

Even as I spotted the potential shot while driving round the perimeter road at Brno, my mind was chasing a link with something I had seen before. While reviewing the files later on the laptop I had my eureka moment, it was the album cover for Caravanserai, Santana’s 70’s masterpiece. The opening track was a musical expression of this other world where light bends and dazzles. Tom Rutley, Neal Schon and  Michael Shrieve’s composition still holds the attention absolutely some four decades down the road. Art that has stood the test of time.

My own effort is but a pale attempt to imitate and capture that sense of magic and wonder. One can but try…………….

John Brooks, August 2012

On The Waterfront

In the endless search for the new bestest thing in motorsport, we have been dragged to some strange places, Miami’s financial district was one of the more agreeable, even if totally unsuited to racing.

A car that coulda been a contender was the Rafanelli Ferrari 550 Maranello, never quite fulfilled its potential.

John Brooks, August 2012