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Quite a stunning 1960 Monaco vista…

I was trawling the internet, as I do, looking for photos which inspire the articles I write, one of the reasons why this blog is so nuttily diverse is to do with that approach.

I found this shot, unattributed as most of them are, but identified as ‘Monaco 1966’ which it most definitely is not!

Its one of those the more you look, the more you see shots; the steam train, four nurses sitting together, the working port, none of your fancy-schmancy big yachts of today and of course the car itself!

That’s the tricky bit. It’s not sharp in focus but I thought it might, just might be, Luigi Musso’s #34 Ferrari Dino 246 in the 1958 race.

After I posted this shot, reader Grant Perkins did some research and confirmed the photo as Richie Ginther at Monaco in 1960 in the Ferrari Dino 246P…

Stirling Moss won the race in Rob Walker’s Lotus 18 Climax – Colin Chapman’s first championship win as a manufacturer – from Bruce McLaren’s Cooper T53 Climax and Phil Hill’s Ferrari Dino 246.

The shot is historically significant. Ginther made his GP debut that weekend and his mount, the Ferrari 246P, the Scuderia’s first mid-engined racing car, competed for the first time.

Monaco that year is also significant for the long awaited, but far too late appearance of Lance Reventlow’s Scarabs. These superbly engineered, but heavy, unwieldy front-engined cars entered GP racing just as Ferrari, the last team by then racing a front-engined car experimented with its mid-engined replacement. A tangent too far for this article, but see here; Better Late than Never… | primotipo….

Ferrari built the 246P in secret. It was tested at Modena by Hill, Ginther and factory tester Martino Severi on 22 May. The design was perceived by its drivers to have too much weight at the rear causing excessive nose lift under acceleration.

Despite Stirling Moss’ Cooper win in the 1958 Argentine GP Grand Prix, and Jack Brabham’s Cooper win in the 1959 World Championship – firsts mid-engined cars – Carlo Chiti had to fight hard to build a mid-engined Ferrari prototype.

The Scuderia’s conservatism was proven time and again over the years. They were not often innovators or early adopters. Examples include the change from drum to disc brakes, wire wheels to alloys, carburettors to fuel injection, ladder frame to spaceframe chassis, spaceframe chassis to monocoques and so on.

Fortunately 246-0008 showed enough promise to race at Monaco on 29 May. By the end of the year the chassis had morphed from a prototype 2.5-litre F1 car into a 1960 1.5-litre F2 156. It then morphed into an an F1 156 with the GP rule change from 2.5 to 1.5-litre engines with effect 1 January 1961.

0008 became Giancarlo Baghetti’s race chassis for 1961, part of the amazing start to his F1 career. The Italian famously won his first three GPs; Syracuse, Naples and finally the French GP. In so doing Giancarlo became the only man to ever win his first championship GP.

So, 0008 won the first of many GPs the 156 design took in 1961 on the way to dual world titles; the drivers for Phil Hill, and manufacturers for Ferrari in 1961.

There wasn’t a happy ending for the chassis though. Giancarlo spun out of the wet British GP at Aintree a week after his Reims win doing enough damage to 0008 that it was scrapped. Mind you, Ferrari famously destroyed all of the 156s at the end of 1962 when the cars were as uncompetitive as they had been fast the year before.

From mid-engined 2.5-litre F1 prototype at Monaco on May 6 1960 to 1.5-litre F1 winner at Syracusa on 25 April 1961, 0008’s story is a short but historically significant, interesting one.

1960 Monaco Grand Prix…

Ginther qualified the new car ninth, between the front engined Dinos of Von Trips eighth, and Phil Hill 10th. In the race Hill was third, Richie sixth with Von Trips eighth but not running at the finish.

The team then took the 246P to Zandvoort for the following Dutch GP, however, the engine, which had not been rebuilt was burning and blowing so much oil that it was unraced.

Ginther therefore ran a conventional front-engined Dino as did his teammates. They were comprehensively blown off by large numbers of Lotuses and Coopers. Ginther’s 12th was the quickest Ferrari qualifier, with Von Trips fifth, Ginther sixth, while Phil Hill retired with engine failure on lap 13.

The race was won by Jack Brabham’s Cooper T53 Climax on the way to his second title on the trot.

Ferrari Dino 246P technical specifications…

While 0008 car didn’t race at Zandvoort, photographer George Phillips took some rare shots of a Ferrari too little has been written about, the car practiced with the number 3T.

246P’s front suspension by upper and lower wishbones, coil spring/Koni dampers and roll bar. Dunlop disc brakes.

Chassis Tipo 543, of welded tubular steel was described as Cooper in style if not in the quality of the welding! Borrani wire wheels were 15-inches diameter, Dunlop tyres 5.25/6.5 inches wide front/rear. The wheelbase was 2300mm and track 1200mm front and rear. Fuel capacity 150-litres, while the car’s weight, wet was 452kg.

Engine Tipo 171 was derived from the Tipo 134 65-degree, all alloy, DOHC, two valve V6. Bore/stroke 85 X 71mm, capacity 2,417cc. three Weber 42 DCN carburettors with twin plugs fired by Marelli magneto. Dry sumped, the unit developed a claimed 265bhp @ 8,300rpm.

246-0008’s rear suspension comprised upper and lower wishbones, coil spring/Koni dampers and roll bar. The Tipo 543 transaxle had five speed and reverse and an LSD. Note also the clutch location at the back of the ‘box, you can just see the top of the inboard brake rotor beside the chassis member.

Development of the 246P and its evolution into the 156…

Ferrari decided to abandon further development of the 246P as a 2.5-litre GP car. They focused their attention on the front-engined Dinos for the balance of the season, and the future 1.5 Litre GP car for the new Formula 1.

The basis of the new 1.5-litre F1 engine was the Vittorio Jano designed 1.5-litre Dino V6 already used in Ferrari’s front engined F2 cars which first raced in 1957. Von Trips won the 1960 F2 season opening Syracuse GP in March aboard one of these cars ahead of two Coopers.

Chiti progressively modified the engine, initially retaining the 65-degree angle but then changed it to 120 degrees.

The wide Vee angle has/had the benefit of a very low centre of gravity and rear bodywork which was as much a styling signature of the 1961 156 as its Sharknose. Definitive-spec 1961 156s raced with the 120 degree engine, but the 65 degree was also used; 0008 was always fitted with the 65-degree spec unit.

The test bed for the new engine was the 246P 0008

After the car was fitted with a revised bodywork and 1.5-litre V6, it was tested at Modena and then entered at the Tenth Solitude F2 GP, Germany on 24 July. There, Taffy von Trips belted the Porsche 718/2s, a great F2 car, on their home ground, the aristocrat lead home Hans Hermann, Jo Bonnier, Graham Hill and Dan Gurney, all aboard factory Porsches.

Further testing and development of 0008 followed. With many of the British teams punting on the Intercontinental Formula for 1961, Ferrari were developing a formidable weapon for the new 1.5 F1, the implementation of which was confirmed, much to the Brits chagrin, as they wouldn’t have competititive engines until 1962.

At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September, Ferrari raced 0008 in what was getting close to the 156’s definitive 1961 specification.

0008 in 1.5 litre F2 form was raced by Taffy Von Trips to fifth place fitted with an auxiliary fuel tank among the 2.5-litre GP cars.

Von Trips had the 1.5-litre F2 class to himself outrunning Hermann’s Porsche 718/2 by a full lap. Phil Hill won the race, it was the final GP victory for a front-engined car but it was somewhat of a hollow one.

The sneaky Italians decided race on the combined Monza road course and banking to maximise the chances of the old-tech Ferraris winning. Power was Ferrari’s only advantage over the four cylinder Coventry Climax FPF and BRM engined cars. The Brits then told the organisers to jam-it on safety grounds with most boycotting the event.

VI Gran Premio di Modena F2 1960…

0008’s final 1960 race was Ferrari’s home event at Modena on 2 October.

In the same way that Ferrari beat the Porsche’s at Solitude in July, so it was that Jo Bonnier’s Porsche beat Richie Ginther in the front-engined 156 from Taffy von Trips in the new 156 suffering from fading brakes.

Hans Hermann was fourth and Edgar Barth fifth, both also driving 718/2 Porsches.

1961 Beckons…

All of this development work on the new-fangled mid-engined concept was very successful, the 156 was the dominant GP car of 1961.

It took the Constructors Championship for Ferrari and Drivers title for Phil Hill. Let’s not forget the role 246P/156 0008 and Chiti’s development skills and prodigious work output made in that remarkable transition from the back to the front of the grid in less than 12 months.

Etcetera…

More detail, Von Trips Dino 246P/156 Monza 1960.

Ferrari Dino 246P/156 butt shot at Monza, Italian GP 1960. The fairing of the chassis by Fantuzzi’s gorgeous bodywork provided both visual splendour and aero advantage.

Willy Mairesse’ 2.5-litre GP Ferrari Dino 246 tows Von Trips’ 1.5-litre F2 156 to a good time in the little car, Monza banking, Italian GP 1960.

The boss at Monza sussing his new car and the opposition. Enzo Ferrari 1960. The car is Barth’s factory Porsche 718/2 F2.

Etcetera, first 246 test…

Here are a series of photos from Getty Archives of the first test day at Modena in May 1960.

Mr Ferrari is present as is Carlo Chiti, the driver in all of these shots is factory test driver Martino Severi. The car is unpainted, perhaps Ginther was not present on day one.

The 246SP lines are clear in this shot, in short front-engined styling on a mid-engined car! Ferrari with his back to the camera looks on with a tad more paternal interest than usual.

Fantuzzi’s hand formed aluminium panels of the prototype clear as are Borrani knock-ons and Dunlop disc brakes.

The boss looks on and contemplates the new design of his cars, certainly as big a change in direction as the famous marque ever made. They got the hang of it quickly enough too!

Check out this brief article i wrote about the Ferrari 156 a while back… https://primotipo.com/2014/12/21/ferrari-156-duet-ricardo-and-phil-spa-1962/

Also see this article on Giancarlo Baghetti which covers the 1961 record of both him and 156 0008 in 1961…https://primotipo.com/2015/05/08/giancarlo-baghetti-lotus-49-ford-italian-grand-prix-1967/

Some great Monaco 1960 Race Footage…

Photo Credits…

George Phillips, Dave Friedman Collection, Archie Smith, Getty Images

Bibliography…

F1 Technical, F2 Register, 8W.forix.com, James Allington cutaway drawing, barchetta.cc, ‘History of the GP Car 1965-85’ Doug Nye

Tailpiece…

Let’s leave Monaco by train, just as we arrived…

Finito…