Superb shot of British International Peter Whitehead’s Ferrari 125 (#0114) enroute to winning the Lady Wigram Trophy in 1954.
He won the race from Tony Gaze’s HWM Alta 2-litre s/c and Ken Wharton’s BRM P15 1.5-litre V16 s/c. Whitehead’s mechanic brings the car back into the paddock to a most appreciative crowd below.
The Ferrari is shown in the Ardmore paddock below during the NZ GP weekend, that race was won by Stan Jones’ Maybach 1 after the star of the show, Ken Wharton’s BRM retired with mechanical problems. See here for a piece on the 1954 NZ GP: https://primotipo.com/2019/11/18/ken-wharton-and-brms-grand-turismo-south-in-1954/ and on Whitehead’s Ferrari 125, later sold to Dick Cobden, and later still one of Tom Wheatcroft’s first Grand Prix car purchases here: https://primotipo.com/2020/04/09/1955-south-pacific-championship-gnoo-blas/
Upon reflection, nobody did more to build the Ferrari brand in New Zealand way back then, than Peter Nield Whitehead. Others quickly followed mind you!
Whitehead had a nice little earner going with his Grand Prix Ferraris. By carefully specifying his ex-F1 Formule Libre cars he made a nice little earner from start and prize money post-war, visiting New Zealand from 1954-57 and doing exceptionally well.
In 1955-56, Peter and his Australian buddy, Tony Gaze raced a pair of F1/F2 2-litre Ferrari 500s fitted with 3-litre Monza engines. With these Ferrari 500/625s they did rather well: at Ardmore Whitehead was second in the’55 NZ GP, and Gaze third, while Whitehead won at Wigram and Ryal Bush, and Gaze at Dunedin in 1956. Peter was third in the NZ GP that year in the race won by Moss’ Maserati 250F.
More about the Ferrari 500 here: https://primotipo.com/2019/06/24/1956-bathurst-100-lex-davison/
The grid at Wigram in 1956 with the partially obscured Reg Parnell at left aboard the one-off Aston Martin DP155. Then Whitehead’s Ferrari 500/625, Lesley Marr’s Connaught B-Type Jaguar and Tony Gaze’s Ferrari 500/625. On row two is Ron Frost, Cooper 500, and Ron Roycroft’s Bugatti Jaguar
With no shortage of quick Maserati 250Fs racing in non-championship F1 and Formule Libre racing around the globe Whitehead returned to Maranello for a faster car. Unsurprisingly, wily Enzo Ferrari palmed Peter – no fool by any stretch – off with a pair of 3.5-litre Monza engined 555 Super Squalos, one of the unsuccessful series of cars that led Enzo to beg for the Lancia D50 programme after Gianni Lancia’s profligacy drove his family company into the wall at warp-speed.
These Ferrari 555/860s were driven with great skill by Whitehead and his new ‘teammate’ Reg Parnell. The factory Aston Martin racer was another worldly businessman who enjoyed his tour of NZ with an uncompetitive Aston Martin DP155 the year before and was keen to return for more with a competitive mount.
The pair finished one-two in the NZ GP with Parnell ahead of Whitehead after 120 laps/240 miles. Reg repeated the dose at Dunedin, while Whitehead won at Wigram and Ryal Bush.
I love this ‘the times are a changin’ shot below, not that said paradigm shift was clear at the time. The big beefy Ferrari 555/860s of Reg Parnell and Peter Whitehead stand at left with no shortage of presence in the Ardmore pitlane during the January 1957 New Zealand Grand Prix weekend.
#3 is Jack Brabham’s Cooper T41 Climax 1.5 FWB, and at far right is Alex Stringer’s similar Cooper T41 Climax FWA 1100 he had leased from the by then dead Ken Wharton. #2 is Horace Gould’s Maserati 250F. It’s the sheer economy of the Cooper’s packaging – and ride height – that grabs the eye.
Parnell won from Whitehead and Stan Jones’ Maserati 250F. Brabham and Stringer were 10th and 12th, while Gould dropped a valve in the 250F. As the Cooper’s Climax engines approached 2-litres the mid-engined packaging advantages became abundantly clear.
More on the Whitehead and Parnell Super Squalo’s here: https://primotipo.com/2015/08/25/arnold-glass-ferrari-555-super-squalo-bathurst-1958/ and on the epochal series of Coopers here: https://primotipo.com/2019/10/04/cooper-t41-43-45-51-53/
Etcetera…
The front row of the Lady Wigram Trophy grid in 1954. Ken Wharton, BRM P15, Whitehead’s Ferrari 125, then Tony Gaze’ HWM Alta and on the far side, #12 Fred Zambucka, Maserati 8CM.
Peter Whitehead ahead of Leslie Marr at Ryal Bush in 1956, Ferrari 500/625 and Connaught Jaguar. And below being pushed into the dummy grid.
Whitehead with the spoils of victory at Ryal Bush in 1956, and below aboard his Ferrari 555/860 in the two shots below in 1957.
Credits…
John Manhire, Graham Woods, Vic Browne, Tony Adams, Kelvin Brown, Gordon Nimmo, Milan Fistonic, Nigel Logan, Giuseppe Cavara, MotorSport Images, Naomi Tait, Robert Sternberg
Tailpieces…
Peter Whitehead didn’t start 1958 as he had the previous four years, but had one more great result before his untimely death.
Peter and his half-brother, Graham Whitehead contested the June 1 Nurburgring 1000km in a privately entered Aston Martin DB3S and finished eighth in a warm up to Le Mans, which was held three weeks later. Peter had won at Le Mans with Peter Walker in 1951, taking Jaguar’s first historic win aboard a C-Type.
There, the Whiteheads finished a magnificent second behind the winning Olivier Gendebien/Phil Hill Ferrari TR/58 – the two cars are shown in the shot above. It was an amazing save for Aston Martin after all three of the works DBR1 300s failed to finish.
On September 20 the pair were contesting the fourth stage of Tour de France Auto in a 3.4-litre Jaguar Mk1. They were leading the touring car category when Graham lost control on a dark, foggy transport section between Mont Ventoux and Pau. The Jag plunged off a bridge in Cros landing upside down in a stream in a ravine 35 feet below. Poor Peter, still only 43, was killed instantly, Graham survived with minor leg injuries.
It was a sad end for the popular, talented wealthy sportsman who served his country in the war and barely bent a panel on any of the cars he raced…
Finito…
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