A new display of racing Ferraris are currently featured at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, Italy. The exhibition, entitled Ferrari Sporting Spirit, will be on view through March 2014.
The newest Prancing Horse exhibit highlights 25 cars, from the earliest 125 S to the latest 458 GT2, passing through the 156 F1 which Phil Hill took to the 1961 world championship title, Gilles Villeneuve’s 126 CK, the 330 P3 that won Daytona in 1967 and Nigel Mansell’s F1-89. These cars are the best possible representation of an element fundamental to all Ferraris.
“Sporting spirit is in our DNA and this show symbolises that,” said President Luca di Montezemolo at the opening ceremony. “I am very pleased with the way in which the Ferrari Museum is growing. This year will have welcomed around 300,000 visitors from all over the world: that’s a significant figure for our whole area, not just for us. The busy schedule of special exhibitions – this one comes on the heels of one dedicated to Pininfarina and supercars, where it is possible to admire an incredible car like the LaFerrari, – helps a lot. I hope we can develop this structure still further and, in order to do that, to be able to count on the support of the local council and businesses.”
Other interesting automobiles on display at Ferrari Sporting Spirit include the 312 P and 512 M that starred in the great endurance races, the 750 Monza and 500 TRC, the beautiful early Testa Rossa and the 1947 Ferrari 125 S and its evolution, the 225, in a rare competition version.
Among the single-seaters, apart from the Formula 1 cars that won the World Championship from 1999 to 2008, in the entrance hall there are models that tell the story of Ferrari: from the modern F60 to the F1-89, driven by Mansell which featured the first ever steering wheel-mounted gearchange invented at Maranello, which became known as the “tipo F1.” Going further back one can find the two most important turbo cars in the history of Ferrari, the 156-85 driven by Alboreto and Villeneuve’s 126 CK.
The collection of GT racing cars, for which Ferrari also availed itself of the skills of the specialist company Michelotto from Padua, includes a rare example of the 575 GT1 and the IMSA version of the 348. There are also two interesting versions of the 308: the one fitted with a longitudinal engine which predated the development of the GTO Evoluzione and the Group 4 version which dominated international rallying for many years with drivers of the caliber of Andruet, Toivonen and Waldegaard.
Finally, there are two cars that symbolize the glory of Ferrari: the 166 F2 with which the Scuderia recorded its first ever victory at Silverstone with Gonzalez is a one-off, recreated from the original drawings and fitted with a period engine and gearbox and what many regard as the most beautiful Formula 1 car ever built by Ferrari, the 156, nicknamed the shark nose, for obvious reasons. Even if it is a replica, this car is very important, not just because it won the title in 1961, but because Enzo Ferrari had all of them destroyed when he realised they were not more competitive. This version therefore allows fans to see for themselves what can only be seen in photos and documentary films.
Ferrari Sporting Spirit runs until March 2014 and is open every day from 9:30 to 18:00. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit museo.ferrari.com.
[Source: Ferrari SpA]
That first photo in the article looks like the P3 that won at Daytona in ’67. Too bad they didn’t mention the fact that Ferrari came in 1-2-3 that year beating a pack of 7-liter Ford GT 40’s. This come back victory by Ferrari resulted in their new 365GTB/4 being nicknamed the “Daytona.”