The victorious Olivier Gendebien/Phil Hill 4-litre Ferrari 330 TRI/LM V12 chassis # 0808 blasts through The Esses on the way to victory at Le Mans over the June 23-24, 1962 weekend.
Ferrari finished 1-2-3 in a dominant display. The one-off car of the Belgian/American duo completed 331 laps with Pierre Noblet’s Ferrari 250GTO five laps in arrears, the driving duties shared with Jean Guichet. In third was the Leon Dernier/Jean Blaton Equipe National Belge entered 250 GTO on 314 laps.
In fourth and fifth place, best of the rest, were two of the new Jaguar E-Type Lightweights, Briggs Cunningham and Roy Salvadori in an open drophead, and Peter Lumsden and Peter Sargent aboard the latter’s coupe.
When the CSI created a new 4-litre GT class for 1962, the ACO were keen to retain big-open sportscars to draw the crowds, so they adopted an ‘experimental’ class of 4-litres as well. Ferrari built one final variant of its long running, successful Testa Ross series and ‘threw the keys’ to their most experienced endurance pairing, the Gendebien/Hill duo who had won at La Sarthe in 1958 aboard a Ferrari TR/58, and in 1961 with a Ferrari 250 TRI/61. Gendebien was also victorious in 1960, sharing his Ferrari 250 TR59/60 with Paul Frere. See here for this feature about Olivier: https://primotipo.com/2014/10/29/olivier-gendebien-sports-car-ace/
The Maranello mob had been focusing their energies on new fangled mid-engined Dino V6 and V8 sportscars (above), but rightly figured they may be able to squeeze one more win out of old hardware. In so doing the Ferrari 330 TRI/LM #0808 – the design of which was commenced by Carlo Chiti and finished by Mauro Forghieri after the ‘Maranello Palace Coup’ – became the last front-engined car to win the 24 hour classic outright.
The 1962 Le Mans winner (above) started life as 250 TRI/60 chassis, #0780TR, a Fantuzzi Spyder that was badly damaged by Cliff Allison at the Targa Florio in March 1960 when he had a front tyre blowout in practice. Back at Maranello it was rebuilt from bits donated by the wrecked 250 TR59/60 #0772TR, then raced at Le Mans. Willy Mairesse and Richie Ginther drove the car but retired with a broken driveshaft on the Sunday morning.
#0780 was then returned to the factory and fitted with a TRI/61-style high rear body incorporating a Kamm tail, the front was unchanged. In this form it was used as an aerodynamic test-bed by Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarini to develop the definitive ’61 TRI body.
The car was raced extensively in 1961, placing second at Sebring (Giancarlo Baghetti, Ginther, Taffy von Trips) and at Targa where it was crashed. The car was fitted with another TRI/61 nose before finishing second at the Nurburgring 1000Km driven by the Rodriguez brothers, Ricardo and Pedro. A late pitstop to replace a broken front wheel lost the NART entered car a chance to win. Mairesse and Mike Parkes raced it at Le Mans, finishing second behind the winning sister, works Gendebien/Hill Testa Rossa. The chassis finally bagged an overdue win when Lorenzo Bandini and Georgio Scarlatti won the Pescara 4 Hours late in the year.
Convinced that one of their big front-engined TRs could still do the trick, #0780 was torn down and rebuilt around a new chassis – #0808 – and a Tipo 163 Colombo 4-litre SOHC, two-valve V12. The dry-sumped, 60 degree, 3967cc (77×71 mm) engine had Testa Rossa cylinder heads incorporating bigger valves. Fed by six twin-choke Weber 42DCN carbs, it gave about 390bhp @ 7500rpm, 50bhp more than the 250TR unit. The five speed gearbox was modified to take the extra power and torque.
The new chassis was a more sophisticated mix of the traditional ladder frame, and multi-tube spaceframe. It was 63mm longer than the 250’s, in part this was to accommodate the slightly longer engine and to improve overall balance. Suspension design was a carryover from the 250; upper and lower wishbones, coil springs and Koni dampers both front and rear. Steering was by way of worm and sector.
Wheels/tyres were Borrani wire/Dunlop-6×16 inch and 7x16inch front/rear, brakes were Dunlop disc front and rear, front/rear tracks 1225mm, the wheelbase 2400mm – same as the short-block – and weight quotes vary from 685Kg to 820Kg!
To cap it all off, Carozzeria Fantuzzi built a new, Pininfarina designed body. It was developed with the aid of Ferrari’s small wind tunnel installed in 1960, and incorporated an aerodynamic roll hoop which served to aid the flow of turbulent air caused by the cockpit/windscreen, and therefore improved high speed stability.
#0808 first appeared at the Le Mans test in April driven by the defending winners, Gendebien and Hill. It recorded fastest time of the day despite damp conditions and being fitted with only three Webers, so wasn’t raced in the following enduros, but was rather developed at the factory and one test session at Monza before dominating Le Mans.
It wasn’t a complete cakewalk though. Hill broke Mike Hawthorn’s long-standing 1957 lap record (4-litre Ferrari 335S Spyder) in practice by over two seconds (3:55.1) but both drivers experienced a slipping clutch all weekend. This had to be managed by precise ‘changes and using a taller gear than optimal, neither driver expected it to last the race.
The major potential opposition comprised a mix of other Ferraris, three 3.9-litre, 360bhp V8 engined Maserati Tipo 151s entered by Briggs Cunningham and the works 4-litre, 330bhp Aston Martin DP212.
The 330 TRI led the first hour from Graham Hill in the Aston DP212 and three Maserati 151s of Bill Kimberley, Maurice Trintignant and Bruce McLaren. After the first round of pitstops, the Rodriguez’ better handling Dino was soon up to second, while Phil Hill broke Hawthorn’s race lap record in the third hour.
Two Maseratis retired during the night – Thompson and McLaren – while the two Ferraris swapped the lead with the leading 250 GTO, Noblet’s in third.
Sunday dawned sunny with 33 of the 55 starters still running. Ferrari were looking good but the Rodriguez’ Dino broke its final drive at about 4.45am allowing Gendebien and Hill to be gentler still, albeit Olivier had a big moment avoiding a dawn-light spinner.
Positions remained static for the last four hours with Hill/Gendebien a comfy five laps ahead of the Noblet/Guichet GTO and the similar Dernier/Blaton machine. Only four of the 15 Ferraris finished the race but they were four of the top six!
Don Rodriguez acquired the car after the race, with Pedro driving the NART prepared car – now devoid of roll hoop which Chinetti didn’t consider aerodynamic – to a Bridghampton GP win and second place in the Canadian GP in late ’62. After Ricardo Rodriguez was killed during unofficial practice over the Mexican GP weekend (right-rear suspension failure aboard a Rob Walker Lotus 24 Climax), Masten Gregory raced #0808 to fourth in the Nassau Trophy.
Into 1963, Pedro and Graham Hill raced the car to third at Sebring behind two new, mid-engined 3-litre V12 Ferrari 250Ps. At one stage the 330 led by three laps until a combination of mechanical, electrical and exhaust manifold problems intervened.
NART entered the car at Le Mans to defend its title. Pedro and Roger Penske started from pole, then trailed the works 250Ps until a conrod failed during the ninth hour. Lubricant on tyres can be a lethal mix, Penske lost the car and took Jo Bonnier’s Porsche 718/8 GTR out in the ensuing prang which left Roger uninjured but #0808 severely damaged, never to be raced again.
Returned to the factory for repair, the car was fitted with a Fantuzzi coupe body (below) and returned to the US where it was purchased by Hisashi Okada who used it as roadie from 1965 to 1974. Pierre Bardinon used it similarly briefly, until commissioning Fantuzzi to return it back to ’62 specs in 1974-75. It continues its life as global investment commodity today.
Etcetera…
The Mairesse/Parkes 250 TRI/61 #0780 – the 330 TRI donor car – with a touch of the opposites at Le Mans in 1961.
“The clutch Mauro, the clutch…”, “Treat it like your girlfriend Pheel…very, very gently.” Or words to that general effect. Phil Hill at 36 was the reigning F1 World Champion, and Forghieri at 28 was Technical Director-Racing Cars, a position he held at Ferrari until 1984.
Works Scuderia Ferrari line up before the off at Le Mans in 1962. Tail of the 330 TRI, the Parkes/Bandini 330 LM/GTO DNF 56 laps, blocked radiator, then the almost totally obscured Dino 248 SP of Scarfiotti/Baghetti, DNF gearbox 230 laps, and then the #28 Rodriguez/Rodriguez Dino 246 SP, DNF gearbox after 174 laps.
330 TRI/LM during 1962, feel the vibe, assistance with the corner names welcome folks.
Pedro Rodriguez 330 TRI/LM at Sebring in 1963, he shared the car with Graham Hill to third place.
Pedro Rodriguez and Roger Penske at Le Mans in 1963 above, and below in #0808, DNF engine.
Credits…
MotorSport Images, LAT, Wikipedia, Louis Galanos, F2 Index
Tailpiece…
Silhouette of a Shell sign as night falls, oh to have been there in 1962…
Finito…
primotipo... 