One of the most instantly recognisable historic racing cars to tackle the Goodwood "hill" during the Festival of Speed last weekend was the legendary Ferrari 250 GT SWB based racer known to motorsports enthusiasts simply as the "Breadvan". Photos: Jonny White.

One of the most instantly recognisable historic racing cars to tackle the Goodwood "hill" during the Festival of Speed last weekend was the legendary Ferrari 250 GT SWB based racer known to motorsports enthusiasts simply as the "Breadvan". This was entered alongside an immaculate Ferrari 250 GTO in Class 03: Classic Endurance Racers, Legendary Long Distance Racing Cars of the 50s and 60s.

The 250 GT "Breadvan" was entered at Goodwood lasr weekend by Klaus Werner and the eye-catching 3.0-litre V12 engined sports car was driven up the hill by himself and Monica Werner. The 250 GTO, built a year after the Breadvan in 1962, was entered in the Festival by Ten Tenths Motorsports and driven up the hill by Annette Mason. The 250 GTO was one of racing's most successful cars winning the World Manufacturers Championship from 1962 to 1964 and the example at Goodwood was campaigned by Ecurie Francorchamps and claimed the final podium step at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1962.

The "Breadvan" though is a huge draw wherever it appears and it was no different last weekend for the car that was famously born out of a revolt amongst top Ferrari engineers, The "Breadvan" gained its nickname at the time from the press due to its boxy rear end. Engineers Giotto Bizzarrini and Piero Drogo were closely involved in the ambitious project. At this year's edition of the Festival of Speed the Breadvan joined a host of other famous historical racing Ferraris in the "Cathedral Paddock" and was in the company of an official Ferrari 250 GTO which was its rival on the race tracks.

The Breadvan, chassis 2819 GT, started life as a 250 SWB (the predecessor to the GTO) and was raced immediately following completion in September 1961, coming second in the Tour de France. Before the year was out, it had passed into the ownership of Count Volpi for competition use by his by his Scuderia SSS team. After a falling out at Ferrari at the end of 1961, Count Volpi seized the opportunity to staff his team with the Ferrari’s top engineers - and in doing so provoked Enzo Ferrari to refuse him the delivery of one of the much-heralded GTOs. As Volpi now had the engineers that had created the GTO working for him, he commissioned 2819 GT to be 'evolved' in order to compete with Ferrari directly. The result was the birth of a car that quickly earned the name of 'La Camionette' (The Breadvan); engineered by Bizzarrini and with aerodynamic principles pioneered by Professor Kamm, the Breadvan featured a rakish nose and an abrupt rear end.

The car may have lacked the five-speed gearbox of the GTO, but using a similar mechanical specification proved a worthy contender. At Le Mans in 1962 the Breadvan was leading all the GTOs before a driveshaft failure in the fourth hour forced retirement and later in 1962 at Montlhèry it finished third overall (behind two and in front of seven GTOs) - it also took class honours at Brands Hatch in the hands of Carlo Abate.