Ferrari
Classiche, the specialist division set up in Maranello
to provide owners of historic Prancing Horse cars with
restoration, maintenance, supply of parts and issues
Certificates of authenticity, has recently completed the
restoration of the Corsa Indianapolis single-seater
(chassis 0388), a one-off built in 1953.
The project’s
specific nature is based on several elements, in particular
the restoration activities and the historical research by
the Ferrari Classiche department’s technicians and thanks to
documents from the Ferrari archives, which confirmed that
the Monoposto Corsa Indianapolis – the original name in the
original Certificate – was developed as a prototype at the
1953 500 Miles of Indianapolis. In the end the car didn’t
participate in this race, but was used in several other
competitions in the 1950s.
THE CAR’S
HISTORY
The Monoposto
Corsa Indianapolis project starts in the year 1953 with the
idea of participating in the 500 Miles of Indianapolis,
which eventually wasn’t completed, probably due to the
numerous projects at the Scuderia department and the various
competitions connected. On 21 January 1954 the car was sold
to Luigi Chinetti, then Ferrari importer for North America.
The following month the car was shown at the New York Motor
Sports Show.
The Daytona Speed Week Grand Prix, in February 1955,
was the car’s first official appearance in a race, where it
was driven by Bob Said. The year 1956 was the busiest year
for the Monoposto Corsa Indianapolis: in May Giuseppe Farina
used the car for a test in Indianapolis, on 15 July it was
driven by Carroll Shelby at the SCCA Mount Washington
hillclimb and on 22 July at the SCCA Golden Jubilee
hillclimb in Indianapolis. In the year 1958 the car returned
to the factory for modifications for the Monza/Indianapolis
race, with Harry Schell behind the wheel. After the
competition the car returned to Maranello for repairs and
further modifications, for a new coachwork in Formula 1
style in 1960 bodied by Carrozzeria Fantuzzi. In the same
year the car was tested by Cliff Allison on the Modena race
track. The Monoposto Corsa Indianapolis concluded its
motorsport activities and changed the owner several times.
HISTORIC
RESEARCH
The historic
research for such a particular project started with the
identification of the assembly sheet 250/I (Indianapolis).
The tubular chassis with extra tubular bracing (with no
existing designs) was made by the chassis supplier Gilco.
Naturally it is important to underline the existence of a
specific list of components dating from March 1953, entitled
"250 Indianapolis", encompassing components that were
specifically designed and identified as "250". These
included clutch, suspensions, hubs, braking system, fuel
tank, oil radiator and tank (the car also had a double
Houdaille shock absorbers rather than the usual single
absorber). In that context, the design in February 1953 of
the Tipo "250 I" engine had an identical bore and stroke (68
mm) yielding an overall displacement of 2963.45 cc. The
engine was initially equipped with a single-stage
supercharger, then with two superchargers and twin Weber
carburettors (various types were tested: twin Weber 40
IF4Cs, 46 DCFs and 42 DCFs).
Probably because
of the many different racing projects dealt with by the
Racing Division at the time, the development of this design
didn’t go according to schedule and it was only bench-tested
at the end of September 1953. A few days before the other
test, a 375 engine was tested, while this was subsequently
fitted when the car was delivered to Chinetti.
RESTORATION
ACTIVITIES
The restoration
of such a highly unusual car involved followed Ferrari
Classiche’s usual methods for restoration work carried out
at the factory, while the running gear was stripped down and
verified in correspondence to the original design and state
of deterioration, to determine whether the parts could be
re-used. The car’s correspondence to the original design and
eventual modifications made by the factory over time were
verified through the analysis of the assembly sheet,
analysis of the list of components (all of the components,
divided by group, required to complete the car). In the
following a verification of the components installed and
correspondences of the same to the original design was
carried out, followed by a verification of the components’
treatments (engine, gearbox, differential, suspension,
brakes, transmission assembly, timing gear, ignition,
lubrication, cooling system and exhaust system) to ensure
that the same were rendered compliant with the initial
specifications.
FERRARI
CLASSICHE
Ferrari
Classiche provides owners of historic Prancing Horse cars
with restoration, maintenance and supply of parts, thanks to
a process that involves researching the cars’ original
designs which are held in the company’s own
technical-historical archive and issues Certificates of
authenticity to road-going Ferraris of 20 years old as well
as to all competition cars (such as the Monoposto Corsa
Indianapolis), including Formula 1 single-seaters,
regardless of the year they were built. The Company’s body,
responsible for evaluating the cases presented, is the
CO.CER (Comitato di Certificazione), chaired by Engineer
Piero Ferrari. The certification document officially attests
to the cars’ authenticity and also provides a further
guarantee for buyers should the vehicles ever be sold.
Introduced in 2009, the Attestation for vehicles of historic
interest is now available to Ferrari cars that, although
they do not fully comply with the strict Ferrari
authenticity certification criteria, have been deemed, as a
result of their competition and/or international recognized
show history, to be of historic interest. Based in the
original old factory building, Ferrari Classiche opened its
doors in July 2006 and has since become a major player in
the protection of the unique Ferrari heritage. In fact, it
has already issued around 1,200 certifications of
authenticity and has completely restored a total of over 30
cars at its workshop.
ItaliaspeedTV
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Ferrari Classiche Department
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