26/03/2008
NEWS STORY
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The 2008 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix (April 4-5-6) will play host to a mouth-watering array of machinery celebrating Ferrari's sixty years as a constructor of Formula One and sports racing cars. Since 1947 the scarlet cars from Maranello have epitomised the speed and glamour of international motor sport, and the new-look F1 Village at this year's Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix will be graced by some of the most stylish cars in the sport's history.
"There are very few motor manufacturers with the panache, achievement and heritage of Ferrari," said Martin Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer at the Bahrain International Circuit. "Scuderia Ferrari is one of the biggest sporting brands in the world, with 60 years of achievement in the world of Formula One and international sports car racing, and we are delighted to have this feast of iconic cars on display at our Grand Prix."
Enzo Ferrari started his Scuderia as a customer team for Alfa Romeo in time for the 1933 Grand Prix season, then started constructing his own cars after World War 2. One of the first cars to be built was the 166 series of Formula One and sports cars, and one of these priceless original Ferraris will be present in the form of a 166MM sports car. The most famous victory achieved by the 166MM came in 1949 when Lord Selsdon and Luigi Chinetti won the Le Mans 24 Hours - and Chinetti drove for 23 hours solidly!
Ferrari famously took its first Formula One victory at the 1951 British Grand Prix when Argentina's Froilan Gonzales finally defeated the all-conquering Alfa Romeo team. Ferrari went on to take four world championship titles in the 1950s, and one of the cars to achieve such honours will be present in Bahrain.
The Ferrari Dino 246 is one of the most charismatic Formula One machines of all time. In 1958 the flamboyant Mike Hawthorn (pictured) became the first Englishman to win the world championship at the wheel of a 246 Dino after a season-long battle with Stirling Moss and the British Vanwall team. This would mark the last time a front-engined car would ever take the honours. Appearing in Bahrain in its 1959 form, this particular Dino has been a star attraction at many of the world's biggest motor sport occasions, including the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The second Formula One machine on display in Bahrain is one of the rarest of all - the Pininfarina Sigma design study. Based on the 1967 Ferrari 312 Formula One car, the Sigma was built to demonstrate the possible advances in driver safety that could be implemented in the sport. In the 1960s Formula One was an increasingly dangerous sport, with 11 drivers perishing between 1960 and 1970.
Led by racing driver and journalist Paul Frère, the combined skills of Ferrari's main styling house Pininfarina, supported by Ferrari, Fiat and Mercedes-Benz, created both a futuristic shape and the debut of many basic safety features taken for granted today. Among the improvements were a full driver safety harness, re-sealable fuel cells and automatic onboard fire extinguisher systems.
Representing Ferrari's illustrious line of sports racing cars, the 1957 250 Testa Rossa is one of the most evocative cars to have graced the track. Driven by Formula One stars such as Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips the 250TR was locked in battle for the sports car world championship against the likes of Aston Martin and Jaguar. Two later sports racers also appear in Bahrain from the collection of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, these being the 1972 365 Daytona and 1979 512 BBLM.
Ferrari's racing cars have always been the proving ground for its famous line of exotic street machinery, and some of the most exclusive of all of these cars will also be on display in Bahrain. The 1960 250 SWB was the last Ferrari road car to be able to compete for top honours in international racing events - most famously winning the Tourist Trophy with Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel - and one of these fabulous machines will be on display.
The 275 series was the first bespoke road car range produced by Ferrari, and Bahrain will be graced by several different models from the period including a 275 GTS Spider. BBC Top Gear anchorman Jeremy Clarkson recently wrote that the GTS embodied everything that made him fall in love with cars in the first place. "It's Grace Kelly in a headscarf cruising down the Promenade des Anglais. It's Gianni Agnelli stepping off a Riva speedboat in St Tropez and screaming down the Riviera for a dinner date in Portofino," he declared.
The 1967 Ferrari 275 NART Spyder is one of the most exotic of Ferrari road cars ever made. These cars were built by Luigi Chinetti, the famous winner of the 1949 Le Mans 24 Hours, who was in charge of Ferrari's American operations and North American Racing Team. Originally 25 of these cars were built to be the ultimate in performance motoring, the FXX of its day, but in the end only 10 of these opulent cars were built, making them among the most exclusive - and valuable - Ferraris on earth.
Such exclusive flagship models have always been a Ferrari trademark. In 1988, to celebrate the company's 40th anniversary, Enzo Ferrari himself ensured that the legendary F40 was the fastest production car on earth before passing away that same year at 90 years of age. The F40 and it's successors the 1995 F50 and 2003 Enzo Ferrari are all to appear in the display - together with the unique Ferrari P4/5. This one-off car was commissioned from Pininfarina by Ferrari aficionado James Glickenhaus, capturing the lines of the P-series Le Mans cars of the 1960s but using the chassis and technology of the Enzo Ferrari.
This $4 million masterpiece brings the once-in-a-lifetime gathering of Ferraris right to the present day, completing a stunning record of achievement for Ferrari at the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix