Our Favorite Race Cars from the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours
Class M-2: Ferrari Competition and Gran Turismo Trophy, 1966 Ferrari 330 P4 Drogo Spyder, Lawrence Stroll, New York, New York
The spectators at the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance were treated to some truly exceptional sights on and off the show field at the Pebble Beach Golf Links. From a Panhard et Levassor Type B1 that won the 1901 New York to Buffalo endurance race to a pair of Le Mans-winning Ford GT40s, this year’s Concours d’Elegance highlighted race cars that competed on the show field in the following classes: Ferrari Competition; BMW Centennial Prewar and Postwar; Fiat Custom Coachwork; Bizzarrini; Two-Man Indianapolis Race Cars and Ford GT40 Victory at Le Mans 50th Anniversary.
Choosing favorites at an event like the Pebble Beach Concours is tougher than it sounds, as virtually of all the entrants are the best of the best in their respective categories. While the task was difficult and we gave it our best efforts, we welcome your comments below if we missed your favorite.
In no particular order, here are the Top 15 race cars we would like to see at the SCD Garage:
1965 Iso Grifo A3/C Catarsi Competition Berlinetta, Bruce Meyer, Beverly Hills, California – This competition berlinetta (chassis B0222) is the most successful of the Iso Grifo Bizzarrini-built A/3C works race cars in existence. It has a light fiberglass body by the yacht-builder Cantieri Nautici Catarsi and was the first A3/C with independent rear suspension and inboard disc brakes. With its potent 5.4-liter Chevy engine, driven by Regis Fraissinet and Jean de Mortemart, it finished 1st in class and 9th overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1965, achieving a top speed on the Mulsanne Straight of 186 mph — a speed matched only by the 7-liter Ford GT40s. It went on to participate in World Sports Car Championship races at the Reims 12 Hours and the Nurburgring, and later tackled the Mt. Dore Hillclimb, where it was driven by Maurice Tritingnant in his last ever race. Later owners included American actor Remington Olmsted, the Maranello Rosso Collection and Gregor Fisken. Its current caretaker acquired the car in 2012. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)1966 Ford GT40 P/1046 Mk II, Robert Kauffman, Charlotte, North Carolina – This GT40 Mk II (chassis P/1046), driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, placed first at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966, leading two other GT40s across the line for the famous 1-2-3 photo finish. Following its memorable win, the car passed to Holman & Moody and was entered in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967, driven by Lloyd Ruby and Denny Hulme. After running among the race leaders, Ruby crashed on his 300th lap and P/1046’s racing days were over. Once repaired, this famous car was shipped around the United States as part of a Ford marketing tour. It was later rebuilt as a road-going supercar, complete with a gold metal-flake paint job. Its new owner recently restored the car to its 1966 Le Mans–winning configuration (Photo: Steve Burton. Used courtesy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance)1937 BMW 328 Mille Miglia ‘Bugelfalte’ Roadster, Oscar Davis, Elizabeth, New Jersey – This BMW 328 MM was originally built as a special and participated in the 1937 Le Mans 24 Hours, with A. F. P. Fane behind the wheel. It went on to compete in the 1937 Donnington Tourist Trophy, and in 1938 Fane and his co-driver, William James, raced it in the last prewar Mille Miglia, finishing 8th overall and first in class. In the fall of 1939, the car was dismantled by BMW and the chassis was used to build this streamlined race car, designed by Wilhelm Kaiser and finished by Wunibald Kamm, in preparation for the 1940 Mille Miglia. The pronounced ridge on the fenders resembled the crease in a pair of ironed trousers, giving the car its nickname of Bugelfalte (‘ironing crease’). The 1940 Mille Miglia encompassed nine laps of a 110-mile route between Brescia, Mantua and Cremona, and this roadster, driven by Hans Wencher and Rudolf Scholz, finished 6th. During the war, the roadster was given to German Minister Albert Speer, then was seized by Russia as reparations and given to MiG aircraft engineer Artem Mikoyan. He lent the car to his young son before he traded the car to Guido Adamson of Latvia in 1972 for a modern Lada! Its current caretaker acquired the car in 2010. (photo: Pavel Novitski)
[full_width_banners]
1931 Rigling and Henning Wonder Bread Special, Pat and Gina Phinny, Carmel Valley, California – This is the imaginatively painted Wonder Bread Special that was built by the Indianapolis-based firrm of Herman Rigling and Cotton Henning, who were renowned for their race-winning Indy chassis. Although the engineering pair often used Buick straight-8 engines mounted in steel-rail frames, this car is powered by a special engine designed and built by Fred Duesenberg based on the Duesenberg Model A block and intended exclusively for racing. The Wonder Bread Special finished 12th in the 1931 Indianapolis 500 driven by Phil Shafer of Des Moines, Iowa. The car returned to the Brickyard in 1933 and it finished 17th driven by Joe Russo. Wonder Bread was among several Indy 500 sponsors who saw the benefits of this exciting form of advertising some 35 years before Colin Chapman enticed the Gold Leaf sponsorship onto his Lotus Grand Prix cars. (photo: Pavel Novitski)1956 Ferrari 290 MM Scaglietti Spyder, Les Wexner, New Albany, Ohio – After losing out to Mercedes-Benz in the 1955 World Sportscar Championship, Ferrari recognized that it needed a more powerful car for 1956 and, at the suggestion of engineer Vittorio Jano, returned to its tried and trusted 320 bhp, 3,490 cc V12 engine to power his new sports cars. Driving solo, Juan Manuel Fangio piloted this car (chassis 0626) to 4th place in the 1956 Mille Miglia, one of the wettest on record. Then Phil Hill, Ken Wharton, Olivier Gendebien, and the Marquis de Portago took 3rd overall in the Nurburgring 1000 km. When Wolfgang (Taffy) von Trips and Peter Collins finished 2nd with it at the 1956 Swedish GP at Kristianstad, the Championship was back with Ferrari. In the spring of 1957, the car was sold to American team owner Temple Buell, and it was raced until 1964 by Masten Gregory, Jo Bonnier, Paul O’Shea, and Manfredo Lippman. The car was never crashed and is one of the most valuable cars in the world, having sold for $28.05 million to claim the highest automotive auction sale of 2015. (Photo: Steve Burton. Used courtesy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance)1975 BMW 3.0 CSL Alexander Calder Race Car, BMW Group Classic, Munich, Germany – This BMW 3.0 CSL is the first of BMW’s world-famous Art Cars. Created in 1975, it was one of the last works produced by American artist Alexander Calder before his death. A sculptor normally accustomed to producing shapes of his own, Calder brought his own, inimitable character to the stunning shape of the BMW CSL. As with his sculptures and mobiles, he used powerful colors and attractive curving expanses, which he applied generously to the fenders, hood and roof. The Alexander Calder Art Car made its first and only race appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975, driven by Sebring 12 Hour–winner Sam Posey and two French drivers, Jean Guichet and the team’s owner, Herve Poulain. The 3.0 CSL drove for 9 hours, well into the night, before retiring. An exhibit piece since then, it still wears its Le Mans race number 93. (photo: Michael Richard Owen)1968 Ford GT40 P/1075, Rocky Mountain Auto Collection, Decatur, Illinois – This Ford GT40 (P/1075) is one of the most important GT40s ever built, having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1968 and 1969. It is one of only two race cars in history to record consecutive wins there. For the 1968 Le Mans race, the regulations were changed and a 3-liter limit was imposed on all prototypes, eliminating the 427-cubic-inch Ford engines. Fortunately, the team at J.W. Automotive Engineering, under the direction of John Wyer, saw the potential of the GT40 as a Group 4 sports car, and they built two lightweight GT40s with carbon-fiber reinforced bodywork that was virtually identical to the original GT40 Mk I. As a result, this car, driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi, scored a resounding win at Le Mans in 1968. With the GT40 win, Ford was again at the top–and, incredibly, this GT40 repeated its Le Mans win in 1969 driven by Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)1959 Maserati Tipo 60/61 Allegretti Birdcage, Andreas Mohringer, Salzburg, Austria – At the end of 1958, when many race car designers were moving towards a rear-engined layout, Maserati developed this front-engined, 2-liter prototype Tipo 60. In May 1959 this car (chassis 2451) was tested for the first time by chief mechanic Guerino Bertocchi on the road between Modena and Verona. Stirling Moss was influential in the Tipo 60’s fine-tuning, driving it at Modena before breaking the 2-liter lap record with it at the Nurburgring. It first raced at Rouen in July, where Moss drove it to victory, defeating a large grid of Type 15 Lotuses. At the end of 1959, the car’s engine was enlarged to 3 liters, it was renamed Tipo 61, and was sold to Lloyd “Lucky” Casner for his Camoradi team. The Tipo 61 was driven by both Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby at the Bahamas Speed Week and later at Sebring and the Targa Florio before being re-bodied with this ultra-streamlined windscreen and extra-long tail for the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans. It retired from racing at the end of 1963. (Photo: Steve Burton. Used courtesy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance)
[full_width_banners]
1953 Ferrari 250 MM Vignale Spyder, William E. “Chip” Connor, Hong Kong – Ferrari 250 MM Vignale Spyder (chassis 0326 MM) is the 19th of the 250 MMs built and one of 12 Spyders built by Vignale. The car was sold to the Portuguese amateur driver, Fernando de Mascarenhas, the Marquis of Fronteira, who entered it in numerous races in Portugal and Brazil, where it enjoyed a successful career between March 1953 and the end of 1954. The car’s second owner, Antonio Borges Barreto, continued to race the car successfully during 1955. For the next 40 years the car was owned by collectors in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland and it took part in several Mille Miglia retrospectives. Its current owner, Chip Connor, and his co-driver extraordinaire, Bruce Meyer, entered it in the 1997 Mille Miglia. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)1961 Jaguar Lightweight E-type Roadster, Gregor Fisken, London, England – Briggs Cunningham ordered three of the Lightweight E-types directly from Jaguar in 1961. This car (chassis 875027, registered 9023 DU) is the third of the three and one of the earliest left-hand- drive E-types still in existence. After arriving at Cunningham’s West Palm Beach garage, it was modified extensively by Cunningham’s friend and team manager, Alfred Momo, and it continued to be developed throughout the early 1960s. This Jaguar was one of the cars that challenged the Ferrari 250 GTOs, and at the grueling 12 Hours of Sebring in 1962, this car, driven by Briggs Cunningham and John Fitch, famously won its class. The car later finished fifth in class at Daytona in the hands of Walt Hansgen before being shipped to the Le Mans test weekend in April 1962. Its final races were in SCCA events in the United States during 1963. In 1974 it returned to the UK, where it has been maintained ever since. (Photo: Steve Burton. Used courtesy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance)1949 Porsche 356 SL Coupe, Cameron Healy and Suzy Snow, Portland, Oregon – This Porsche 356 (chassis 063) is one of four cars prepared for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1951. Sadly, three of these crashed in testing, so this is the only car that started. The Porsche finished 20th overall but 1st in the 1100 cc class, recording Porsche’s first win in an international race and the start of a long-running association with international endurance racing. Following Le Mans, the factory entered the coupe in the Liege-Rome-Liege race and the Montlhery Speed Trials. It was then exported to Max Hoffman in New York City and sold to John von Neumann, who campaigned the car in West Coast SCCA events, including the 1952 races at Pebble Beach. Chuck Forge later raced the car from 1982 until 2009. The coupe has now been restored to its 1951 Le Mans specification. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Scaglietti Berlinetta Competizione, Jean-Pierre Slavic, Geneva, Switzerland – Ferrari introduced a new alloy-bodied 250 GT short wheelbase racing Berlinetta, based on its Tour de France–winning 250 GT long wheelbase car, at the 1959 Paris Auto Salon. Developed by Giotto Bizzarrini, Carlo Chiti, and Mauro Forghieri, 165 examples were built by Carrozzeria Scaglietti, using aluminum for the racing cars and steel for the road-going version. This alloy-bodied car (chassis 2159GT), the 44th Ferrari 250 GT SWB, was delivered to its first owner, Gerard Spinedi in Geneva, towards the end of 1960. It won its first race, the Rallye Lyon-Charbonnieres, driven by Jo Schlesser, and between 1961 and 1964, the gold-painted car was raced all over Europe by Spinedi, often winning its class, and completing three Tour de France rallies. After retiring from racing, the car was kept in several collections before being acquired by its current owner in 2012. (Photo: Steve Burton. Used courtesy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance)1901 Panhard et Levassor Type B1 Race Car, Robert Kauffman, Charlotte, North Carolina – After competing in a 1900 motor race in Newport, Rhode Island, in which the first Vanderbilt Cup was awarded, this 12 hp 4-cylinder Panhard et Levassor Type B1 was given to works racing drivers David Wolfe Bishop and Fernand Charron to compete in the New York to Buffalo endurance race in September 1901. Rene Panhard was the first to manufacture a motor car with an engine mounted in front and rear-wheel drive–a revolutionary design at the time. The Panhard was victorious in every stage of the 1901 endurance contest and was declared the overall winner. The car was then equipped for road use. Its exciting race history was not unearthed until very recently. This car features many original racing components not seen on other surviving Panhards and is the earliest known Panhard racing car from this influential period. (Photo: Steve Burton. Used courtesy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance)
[full_width_banners]
1965 Ford GT/109 Roadster, Dana and Patti Mecum, Geneva Lake, Wisconsin – Five Ford GT40 roadsters were built by Ford Advanced Vehicles in England, and this roadster (GT/109) is one of two steel-bodied prototypes delivered to Shelby American for testing in March 1965. This is the only GT40 roadster to have a race history; it ran at Le Mans in 1965, entered by Ford of France with drivers Maurice Trintignant and Guy Ligier. As with all the GT40s at Le Mans that year, it retired. Then it was shipped back to Shelby American, and the roadster project was shelved because Ford decided to focus its development on the coupe. After three years of use as a test car for various GT40 modi cations, the roadster was spotted in a dusty warehouse by Dean Jeffries, and he acquired it from Shelby. The roadster remained with Jeffries until 2013 when its current owner became its custodian. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)1966 Ferrari 330 P4 Drogo Spyder, Lawrence Stroll, New York, New York – This Ferrari 330 P4 (chassis 0856) is the only original example of the three P4s built for the 1967 race season. The aerodynamic, mid-engined racer was designed and built by Pierre Drogo and was further updated by Ferrari before every race it entered. The P4’s 450 bhp V12 engine was modeled on Ferrari’s Grand Prix–winning unit, with Lucas fuel injection in place of carburetors. In its first race at the 24 Hours of Daytona in February 1967, Ferrari stunned the racing world when this car crossed the line in 2nd place, alongside the other two P4s in 1st and 3rd for a photo finish to mirror the legendary moment when the three Ford GT40s won Le Mans in 1966. The car continued its success that year, winning the 1000 km race at Monza driven by Lorenzo Bandini and Chris Amon, and finishing 3rd at Le Mans driven by Willy Mairesse and Jean Blaton. Its last international race for Ferrari was at the Brands Hatch BOAC 500 Mile that July after it had been converted it to the open-roof configuration it has today. (photo: Richard Michael Owen)
[Source: Pebble Beach Concours; photos: Steve Burton, Richard Michael Owen, Pavel Novitski]
Cameron Healy and Suzy Snow run a number of cars in vintage events. Their 1949 356SL ran Rennsport V. Lawrence Stroll ran two significant Ferrari’s during this years RMMR a 1970 512M (the Penske 512M) and a 1981 512BBMM. I know Cameron and Suzy and appreciate all the cars they bring to the track . Lawrence Stroll owns my favorite race track in North America and has a son who is on the fast track to F1 fame.
Still my question is what are these “race cars’ doing parked on grass. They would have been met with appreciation on Laguna Seca’s asphalt. On asphalt is where they belong.
Still a great selection of “race cars” on grass or not on grass.