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The 2008
Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on April 4-5-6 will play
host to a mouth-watering array of machinery celebrating
Ferrari’s sixty years as a constructor of Formula One
and sports racing cars. Since 1948 the scarlet cars from
Maranello have epitomised the speed and glamour of
international motor sport, and the new-look F1 Village
at this year’s Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix will be
graced by some of the most stylish cars in the sport’s
history.
“There are very few motor manufacturers with the
panache, achievement and heritage of Ferrari,” said
Martin Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer at the Bahrain
International Circuit. “Scuderia Ferrari is one of the
biggest sporting brands in the world, with 60 years of
achievement in the world of Formula One and
international sports car racing, and we are delighted to
have this feast of iconic cars on display at our Grand
Prix.”
Enzo Ferrari started his Scuderia as a customer team for
Alfa Romeo in time for the 1933 Grand Prix season, then
started constructing his own cars after World War 2. One
of the first cars to be built was the 166 series of
Formula One and sports cars, and one of these priceless
original Ferraris will be present in the form of a 166MM
sports car. The most famous victory achieved by the
166MM came in 1949 when Lord Selsdon and Luigi Chinetti
won the Le Mans 24 Hours – and Chinetti drove for 23
hours solidly!
Ferrari famously took its first Formula One victory at
the 1951 British Grand Prix when Argentina’s Froilan
Gonzales finally defeated the all-conquering Alfa Romeo
team. Ferrari went on to take four world championship
titles in the 1950s, and one of the cars to achieve such
honours will be present in Bahrain.
The Ferrari Dino 246 is one of the most charismatic
Formula One machines of all time. In 1958 the flamboyant
Mike Hawthorn became the first Englishman to win the
world championship at the wheel of a 246 Dino after a
season-long battle with Stirling Moss and the British
Vanwall team. This would mark the last time a front-engined
car would ever take the honours. Appearing in Bahrain in
its 1959 form, this particular Dino has been a star
attraction at many of the world’s biggest motor sport
occasions, including the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The second Formula One machine on display in Bahrain is
one of the rarest of all – the Pininfarina Sigma design
study. Based on the 1967 Ferrari 312 Formula One car,
the Sigma was built to demonstrate the possible advances
in driver safety that could be implemented in the sport.
In the 1960s Formula One was an increasingly dangerous
sport, with 11 drivers perishing between 1960 and 1970.
Led by racing driver and journalist Paul Frère, the
combined skills of Ferrari’s main styling house
Pininfarina, supported by Ferrari, Fiat and
Mercedes-Benz, created both a futuristic shape and the
debut of many basic safety features taken for granted
today. Among the improvements were a full driver safety
harness, re-sealable fuel cells and automatic onboard
fire extinguisher systems.
Representing Ferrari’s illustrious line of sports racing
cars, the 1957 250 Testa Rossa is one of the most
evocative cars to have graced the track. Driven by
Formula One stars such as Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins,
Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips the 250TR was locked in
battle for the sports car world championship against the
likes of Aston Martin and Jaguar. Two later sports
racers also appear in Bahrain from the collection of
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, these being the 1972 365
Daytona and 1979 512 BBLM.
Ferrari’s racing cars have always been the proving
ground for its famous line of exotic street machinery,
and some of the most exclusive of all of these cars will
also be on display in Bahrain. The 1960 250 SWB was the
last Ferrari road car to be able to compete for top
honours in international racing events – most famously
winning the Tourist Trophy with Sir Stirling Moss at the
wheel – and one of these fabulous machines will be on
display.
The 275 series was the first bespoke road car range
produced by Ferrari, and Bahrain will be graced by
several different models from the period including a 275
GTS Spider. BBC Top Gear anchorman Jeremy Clarkson
recently wrote that the GTS embodied everything that
made him fall in love with cars in the first place.
“It’s Grace Kelly in a headscarf cruising down the
Promenade des Anglais. It’s Gianni Agnelli stepping off
a Riva speedboat in St Tropez and screaming down the
Riviera for a dinner date in Portofino,” he declared.
The 1967 Ferrari 275 NART Spyder is one of the most
exotic of Ferrari road cars ever made. These cars were
built by Luigi Chinetti, the famous winner of the 1949
Le Mans 24 Hours, who was in charge of Ferrari’s
American operations and North American Racing Team.
Originally 25 of these cars were built to be the
ultimate in performance motoring, the FXX of its day,
but in the end only 10 of these opulent cars were built,
making them among the most exclusive – and valuable –
Ferraris on earth.
Such exclusive flagship models have always been a
Ferrari trademark. In 1988, to celebrate the company’s
40th anniversary, Enzo Ferrari himself ensured that the
legendary F40 was the fastest production car on earth
before passing away that same year at 90 years of age.
The F40 and it’s successors the 1995 F50 and 2003 Enzo
Ferrari are all to appear in the display – together with
the unique Ferrari P4/5. This one-off car was
commissioned from Pininfarina by Ferrari aficionado
James Glickenhaus, capturing the lines of the P-series
Le Mans cars of the 1960s but using the chassis and
technology of the Enzo Ferrari.
This $4 million masterpiece brings the
once-in-a-lifetime gathering of Ferraris right to the
present day, completing a stunning record of achievement
for Ferrari at the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.
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