Motoring writers are often asked which is the best car they have driven. It is an impossible question to answer unless you precisely define the word ‘best’. Best car to spend a few hours in a traffic jam? Best car to leave in the station car park? Best car for a family holiday? Best car to run on a shoe-string? It is a question I have always sidestepped, until today at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Something is telling me that this 1966 Ferrari P3 takes the title. Officially a P3/412P and sometimes a 330P3 or P3/4, in the interests of ink conservation let’s call it a P3.

P3 chassis number 0844 was made in 1966 and is the first of only three. I was looking forward to comparing the P3 with preceding endurance Ferraris as well as those that followed: the 512S, 512M and 312P – all of which I have driven. In 1966, Ferrari was at war with Ford. Following a failed takeover bid, Ford wanted a showdown with Ferrari. The gunfight at the OK Corral was being re-enacted at Le Mans. Ferrari first won Le Mans in 1949. Between 1960 and 1965 Ferrari totally dominated the 24-hour race. Ford had its revenge with wins in 1966/7/8/9 with the 7.0-litre GT40s. After doing battle with Ford, Ferrari had waves of Porsche 917s coming at them. Although Ferrari went on to have countless ‘normal’ race wins, the red cars never won Le Mans again. One of this P3’s race wins was right here at Spa-Francorchamps in the 1966 Spa 1000Km.

Our day at Spa is being run by trackday supremos RMA. See RMA-limited.com to find out about the King of Trackdays. The P3 is supplied by the ever-impressive Tim Samways Sporting and Historic Car Engineers (see www.timsamways.co.uk). This car came in from the USA in, let’s say, ‘show condition’. Samways totally rebuilt the P3 to race spec and it has since been campaigned successfully in the Shell Historic Ferrari Challenge.

Strolling up to the P3 and ignorant of its outstanding history I make notes. It is a low car – well below waist height. I can feel its presence and I don’t know why. The colour is that sort of bluey red. Similar to Alfa red (a bit like Alfa 501 to paint-spotters). Then there are the rivets to remind you that this is a man-made aluminium car although the doors are in glassfibre. Peer in and you spot the steel tube spaceframe chassis with aluminium floor and inner panels. Tyres are Goodyear Historics 600x15 at the front and 800x15 Blue Streak Sports Car Specials at the rear on beautiful centre-lock Campagnolos with triple-eared spinners. I continue my walk around the car. Air enters the nose and radiator to escape just ahead of windscreen. Nose fins provide a few kg of front downforce. High front arches have a pair of mirrors on tripods rising high so that from the driver’s seat the rear view is over the rear deck. Two more mirrors are set close to the driver: one on the screen pillar the other inside and just off-centre. The rear panel is vented for cooling and the subtle rear lip has a beneficial aerodynamic effect by reducing lift as well as cutting off the air stream and reducing drag. The windscreen, cockpit, roof, side glass and rear screen form one beautiful teardrop shape; from days when style mattered even on a race car. Under the rear deck, its 4.0-litre V12 is fed by a stack of Webers, and scavenged by those beautifully bunch-of-banana exhausts that helped make the Ferrari F1 cars of the period look so good. Indeed, many say that this P3 is the world’s best-looking racing car.

Time to make notes from the cockpit. Problem – the seat is one of those individually created foam jobs: tailor-made for a specific driver and one smaller than me (Peter Hardman). No problem as these types of seats simply rest in the car and are held in place by the strapped-in driver. With the seat removed and just a small sheet of foam, my new sitting position is perfect. Room to manoeuvre, plus headroom, gearlever room, steering wheel room, pedal room.... all just so.

The solitary seat is positioned almost in the centre of the car. Typically, the P3 is right-hand drive since this is an advantage on right-hand race circuits and most circuits are clockwise. With such a low roof, the sitting position is reclined giving a large surface area for support and negating the need for padding. A Willans six-point harness clamps you to the car. The tiny Racetech steering wheel removes for easy entry as there is a right-hand gearlever to negotiate. The gearlever has sliding fingers to prevent gate-jumping and a reverse lock-out. First gear is on a dog-leg, left and back. Pedals are offset to the left for wheel arch intrusion. There is also a dead pedal for the left foot. Straight ahead, the tacho red-lines at 7750rpm, flanked by just two smaller instruments for water temp and oil pressure. Ignition and starter button are on the right. On the centre console there are two further instruments for oil temp and amps plus a big oil light and an electric kill-switch.

The world's most beautiful racing car and the world’s most beautiful race track await. Combining the two borders on the surreal. Spa is a drivers’ circuit. What makes it so is simple – trees and gradients. The only exception to this rule is Monaco, and even then you do have trees; it’s just that they’re tall, rectangular, made of concrete and cost a lot of money.
 

Gradients provide 3D visibility in corners such as Eau Rouge, as well as the excitement of blind brows. Meanwhile the passing trees give a sense of speed. The very nature of a driver’s circuit is that space and run-off areas are often at a premium, ie mistakes are costly.

Turn the key, press the button and 12 cylinders explode into action and bring the car alive. Left and back on the lever for the long first gear and slip the clutch until up to speed. It is easy to get blasé in this job but driving out of the pits and onto the Spa circuit reminds you otherwise. The non-synchro gearbox operates like a switch. Whap, whap, whap through the gears as clean as a whistle. That Ferrari was making cars like this in 1966 at the same time as ponderous road cars, shows just how far a racing car from any period is from a road car. Down the long straight, the P3 screams to 7000rpm in fifth by the halfway point. How fast should I go? Should I ease off?

We must be travelling at a hell of a speed but the car feels rock-solid. I wait until the 200-metre board and brake for Les Combes. It becomes obvious that the P3 will still slow down enough even if I wait for the 100-metre board. A bit like waiting until you see the spectators’ jaws drop before hitting the brake pedal. Dive, squat and roll are minimal. The set-up is a good compromise for varying conditions. Torque is immense and at 5000rpm the P3 rockets away. With such acceleration it could make a driver lazy. Point-and-squirt is not the way to get round a track. You need to carry speed into corners. The P3 does this with initial and very mild understeer, with a dash of power oversteer on exit. This is no sideways rally car but slip angles need to be there in measured amounts for proper driving – something much harder to achieve with later cars. Considering the ancient rubber, grip is amazing, and a sure sign of a brilliant chassis and well-designed suspension. Steering is super-quick, response is instantaneous and direction change immediate. Aiming the P3 between those high front wings, the view ahead through that gorgeous windscreen is awe-inspiring. Bringing the P3 back into the pits is difficult. I want to stay out in it – a sure sign of a great racing car. This P3 does feel more old-fashioned than the later 512S, 512M and 312P but in no way does it feel worse. It may be slower than later Ferraris but the P3 is easier to drive.

Snags: just one. The view through the interior mirrors is clouded by reflection through that long sloping rear perspex screen. The front wing mirrors should be convex as the distant flat glass presents a microscopic field of vision. Surrounded by four mirrors, rear vision is poor.

Finally: it was after writing the track test that I acquainted myself with P3 0844’s noble history. Had I known whose bums had sat in this P3 my words might have been blinkered as the period pilots were my teenage heroes. I told you the car had presence.

Competition History of Chassis Number 0844: 1966 April, Monza 1000Km, John Surtees/Mike Parkes: 1st, Pole Position, Fastest Lap; 1966 May, Targa Florio, Nino Vaccarella/Lorenzo Bandini: Did not finish; 1966 May Spa-Francorchamps 1000Km, Mike Parkes/Ludovico Scarfiotti: 1st, Pole Position, Fastest Lap; 1966 June Le Mans 24 Hours, Lorenzo Bandini/Ludovico Scarfiotti: Did not finish; 1967 Feb Daytona 24 Hours, Pedro Rodriguez/Jean Guichet: 3rd; 1967 April Monza 1000Km Pedro Rodriguez/Jean Guichet: Did not finish; 1967 June Le Mans 24 Hours, Pedro Rodriguez/ Giancarlo Baghetti: Did not finish; 2003 and Beyond: Driven by both Peter Hardman and Harry Leventis, the car’s race history has continued, including regular victories in the Ferrari Maserati Challenge

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS: Engine: 3960cc V12 mid-longitudinal, 4 overhead cams, 2 valves per cyl; Bore x stroke: 77mm x 71mm Ignition and fuel: Twin-plug Marelli ignition with 6 twin-choke Weber 40DCN; Power: 410bhp @ 8200rpm; Transmission: Ferrari-type 603 transaxle, non-synchro dog construction 5-speed manual plus reverse, choice of transfer gear ratios to suit each circuit; Brakes: Girling ventilated discs and alloy calipers; Wheels: Centre-lock Campagnolo; Tyres: Goodyear Historic 600x15 front; Blue Streak Sports Car Specials 800x15 rear; Kerb weight: 700kg approx; 0-60mph: 3.5sec (est); Top speed: 150-200mph depending on gearing; Current value: £6m approx.

Test by Roberto Giordanelli / Photography by Paul Jarmyn