|
|
 |
|
Delivered to its first owner the famed Risi
Competizione team of Texas dealer Giuseppe
Risi in 2001, the car was raced just once,
at the Daytona 24 Hours in 2002 driven by
Eric Van de Poele, David Brabham and Stefan
Johansson where it retired in the seventh
hour after an accident. |
|
|
|
One
of the many rare cars set to go under the hammer
at the prestigious 20th annual Bonhams Monaco
auction next Monday (May 18) to stand right out
from the crowd will be the penultimate Ferrari
333SP to be built (number 40), with the V12
engined sports car having made just a solitary
racing appearance, when it was entered by the
famous Risi Competizione outfit in the Daytona
24 Hours back in 2002. With an estimated price
of 700-900,000 euros this dazzling race car only
left the confines of the Risi Competizione
showroom two years ago for a new home with a
Swiss Ferrari collector.
“The
333 SP signals Ferrari’s return to the
production of sports cars for the gentleman
driver. As a mark of respect for a tradition
that dates back to its earliest successes in
racing and in sales, Ferrari has taken the
opportunity offered by the new IMSA regulations
to launch this two-seater that will be produced
in extremely limited numbers.” Thus read Ferrari
SpA’s literature for the launch of the 333SP
model.
The
road racing world underwent a mild seismic shift
in 1992 as interest and participation paled in
the face of a set of rules that negated
technical innovation and creativity. The
spectacle was gone, with increasing numbers of
backyard specials running around with weird
engine-chassis combinations while being shown
the rear end of a Porsche, Peugeot or Nissan
prototype every ten laps or so. It was, frankly,
embarrassing. It also was boring for spectators.
In 1992 there were just eight rounds of the
Sportscar World Championship. The last round at
Magny Cours brought a whole twelve cars to the
track. Of those, four didn’t even start the
race.
The
Automobile Club de l’Ouest and its North
American running mate IMSA took a bold step in
1992, announcing a new class of open two-seat
sports-racing cars called the ‘World Sports Car’
intended to bring a measure of interest and even
a modicum of competition back to high end sports
car racing. The core concept was high
performance sports-racers like the Can-Am cars
of a generation before, purpose-built racers
with production-based engines intended to
re-ignite excitement, performance, lurid
over-powered handling and phantasmagorical
auditory impressions. In other words, real
racing.
The ACO/IMSA WSC was, in essence, a flat
bottomed, two-seat, open-top sports-racer
powered by a production-based engine with no
traction aids. It could race both in IMSA’s
North American races and at the ACO’s Le Mans 24
Hours. Simple, right? Not so fast...
Enter Gianpiero Moretti, longtime IMSA and
endurance competitor and creator of the Momo
brand of steering wheels and motoring
accessories. He ran the idea of a Ferrari-based
sports-racer past his acquaintance Piero Lardi
Ferrari. Hooked by the concept, they enlisted
Ferrari North America’s new CEO, Gianluigi
Longinotti Buitoni, who believed that North
America, Ferrari’s most important market, was
inspired by Ferrari’s racing record. Ferrari
Formula One at the time was doing little to
reinforce Buitoni’s marketing efforts.
The idea of a factory-built Ferrari V12
barchetta ignited a fire among the marketers at
IMSA and they made a few accommodations in the
rules for the 1994 season to qualify the 5-valve
engine from Ferrari’s upcoming F50 supercar
within the ‘production-based’ concept of the WSC
as well as to accept Ferrari’s insistence that
its 333SP be offered only as an integrated
package of chassis, three engines and spares.
The allure of the first Ferrari V12 sports-racer
in a generation was worth it.
The 333SP first appeared at Road Atlanta in
April 1994. Driven by Jay Cochrane, his
Euromotorsports team Ferrari 333SP won its
inaugural race and while the 333SP wouldn’t win
the driver’s or constructors’ championships in
1993, it would make up for it in 1994 when 333SP
driver Fermin Velez and Ferrari captured both
championships. Back in 1993, however, the
Ferrari 333SP’s second appearance in competition
was at Lime Rock Park in north-western
Connecticut on the U.S. Memorial Day weekend,
31st May. You probably weren’t there, but the
writer was – along with a throng of fans.
Muffled though it might have been by Lime Rock’s
decibel limitations, the V12 powered 333SPs of
Moretti/ Salazar, Cochran, Evans/ Morgan and
Baldi emitted music which road racing fans in
North America and around the world had been
waiting to hear for a generation. The Ferrari
333SP V12 at 12,000 rpm is all but exactly equal
to the resonance of today’s 19,000 rpm Formula
One V8s. It shivers onlookers’ spines.
There were arguments about the $850,000 cost for
a complete 333SP package compared with
proprietary chassis from Spice, Kudzu and Tiga
powered by engines from Chevrolet, Mazda, Buick
or Oldsmobile. In the end, however the 333SP was
everything Gianpiero Moretti, Piero Lardi
Ferrari, Gianluigi Buitoni and the
powers-that-were at IMSA and the ACO thought it
might be. It encouraged constructors and
entrants to challenge the vaunted Ferrari
reputation with home-grown talent, innovation,
tuning and preparation. They were sometimes
successful. Even when they lost, road racing
won.
The Ferrari 333SP was the catalyst for a new age
of competitive, imaginative prototype racing.
Its contribution to today’s vibrant
international competition cannot be minimized.
It revitalized Sebring, Daytona, Le Mans, Monza
and any number of events. The Ferrari 333SP
introduced competitive endurance racing to new
venues in Japan and China.
Built by Michelotto to a formula prescribed by
Ferrari, IMSA and the ACO, the 333SP is based
upon Ferrari’s early 90’s Formula One chassis
design with a carbon fibre composite and
aluminium honeycomb core laminated tub, a
3,997cc 65° V12 engine with four gear-driven
overhead camshafts and five valves per cylinder
based upon the engine designed for Ferrari’s F50
supercar. Titanium valves and connecting rods
along with a short stroke give it 12,000 rpm
capability. Natural aspiration with
Weber-Marelli electronic fuel injection
differentiates it from the earlier turbocharged
288 GTO and F40 supercars.
Ferrari 333SP number ‘040’ is the next-to-last
of the series, the penultimate 333SP
incorporating all the developments, resolutions,
enhancements and improvements noted in seven
years of competition. Among its important
original features are its remote reservoir Koni
shock dampers, power-assisted steering, enhanced
floor pan and gearbox and revised aerodynamics
with more effective and balanced downforce.
Delivered to its first owner the famed Risi
Competizione team of Texas dealer Giuseppe Risi
in 2001, it has been raced just once, at the
Daytona 24 Hours in 2002 driven by Eric Van de
Poele, David Brabham and Stefan Johansson where
it retired in the seventh hour after an
accident. It was subsequently returned to
pristine, race-ready condition by Risi’s
experienced team, a wonderful, nearly new and
exceptionally well preserved example of
Ferrari’s last barchetta, the 333SP V12. It was
displayed at Risi’s Ferrari of Houston
dealership until 2007 when it was acquired by
its present Swiss owner, one of Europe’s most
respected and best known Ferrari collectors.
|
