Behind the Fence: Ferrari, 1960

Story and photos by Jeff Allison

Jeff Allison continues the series looking at Ferraris he photographed – this time in 1960.

American Pete Lovely hurries the 2953cc V12 250 TR59 he shared with owner American Jack Nethercutt through the Webster Turn. The pair ran in the top ten until a ruptured gas tank cost them time to repair. Lovely then began what he once told me was “…the drive of his life…” climbing from twelfth and driving into the night to finish third overall. Years later Lovely explained the crinkled right front fender. During the chaotic Le Mans Start, Lovely and American Richie Ginther’s 250 Testa Rossa 59/60 touched as they turned onto the track. Lovely escaped with bent sheet metal but the tire valve stem on Ginther’s left front tire was damaged, and he pitted later to replace a deflating tire.

I remembered this photo that showed damage on the left side as well. I asked Pete Lovely about it in one of our many chats. He recalled being bumped on the left side at the Le Mans Start but didn’t know who it was, shrugging his shoulders and remarking he could have been hit by any of the cars in the swarming stream entering the track at the same time he did. (PRANCING HORSE, First Quarter 2009). Both front fenders damaged with 11 hours and 59 minutes left and Lovely hadn’t gone 50 yards down the track yet! The two photos of chassis 0768TR show the results of new for 1960 Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile rules requiring racing cars to look more like production road cars so us plebeians could relate to them. Easily seen are the ridiculous at-least-nine-inches-high windscreen and provisions for luggage. Note how clever the luggage requirement was solved by integrating it with the headrest and fuel filler cap and pipes on the rear deck.

Luigi Chinetti entered this alloy-bodied 2953cc V12 Ferrari 250 GT SWB (Short Wheel Base) Competition berlinetta for Americans George Arents, Bill Kimberly and Lance Reventlow. Designed by Pinin Farina with the body built by Scaglietti, it was an alloy-bodied competition version of the standard road-going car. It had yet to be homologated as a Grand Touring car and had to compete in the Sports 3000 class. In its first race, chassis 1773GT completed 183 laps of the 196-lap event, finishing seventh overall and fifth in class.

No, it’s not a tropical paradise with swaying palm trees but the flat, bleak 5.2-mile, twelve-turn road racing course on the Sebring, Florida airport. American George Reed’s RRR (Reed’s Racing Rats) Motors entered this 2953cc V12 250 GT LWB (Long Wheel Base) Spyder California Competition. The competition model featured an alloy body designed by Pinin Farina and built by Scaglietti, a more powerful engine, wider wheel arches, larger gas tank, etc. Reed and American Alan Connell finished an excellent fifth overall and third in class. The yet-to-be-homologated GT car raced in the Sports 3000 class but finished an excellent third in class and was the second GT car to finish.

Eighteen-year old Ricardo Rodríguez (in car) and his 20-year old brother Pedro shared the North American Racing Team’s 1984cc V6 Dino 196 S. It must have been very difficult to see through the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile-mandated windscreen (minimum nine inches height) when it was covered with dirt, oil, rubber and bugs accumulated during racing. Hey, it was in Florida! The car was delivered to Luigi Chinetti in November 1959 and was first raced by Ricardo Rodríguez at the 1959 Bahamas Speed Weeks before racing here at Sebring. COMPETITION PRESS (April 16, 1960) observed, “The Rodríguez boys were extracting revs by the thousands out of the poor Dino, but it was the gearbox/clutch that finally gave out.” They retired in the ninth hour when the clutch failed at 126 laps of the 196-lap race.

This 2953cc V12 250 GT SWB (Short Wheel Base) was special to me as it was unloaded at my neighborhood Sinclair gas station in Orlando, Florida. It was ensconced in a wood crate, and my sports car buddy Jack Leete and I watched German mechanic Jimmy Stukley and the truck driver extricate the car from the crate. Owner Gordon Pennington was there, and he walked up to the car, kicked it in the door sill on the driver’s side and remarked that if it’s going to be damaged, he should be the first one to do so. It was the first 250 GT SWB berlinetta built and was shown at the October 1959 Paris Salon. American Pennington was the first owner, and this was its first race. American Bill Sturgis entered it for himself and Brazilian Fritz d’Orey. They completed 183 laps but were fourth in class because the car had to run in the Sports 3000 class as the SWB model had yet to be homologated as a GT car.

As an aside, Jack Leete and I used to cruise around the Orlando-Winter Park area looking at exotic sports cars we’d spotted. One was this Ferrari that was parked in front of a duplex under a thick canopy of oak trees dripping with Spanish moss – something one probably wouldn’t do these days! We would occasionally see the Ferrari in the driveway or at the Sinclair gas station where mechanic Jimmy Stukley maintained and serviced it for owner Pennington.

Americans Chuck Daigh and Richie Ginther were entered by Luigi Chinetti in this Fantuzzi-bodied 2953cc V12 250 TR 59/60. The car was first raced by the factory in 1959 at Le Mans, the Tourist Trophy and the Buenos Aires 1000km, where it won, before racing here with Chinetti’s North American Racing Team. Later, in 1960, it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frère driving for the Ferrari factory. At the start, Pete Lovely’s 250 TR59 and Ginther came together, and Ginther’s left front tire valve stem was damaged, requiring a pit stop to replace the deflating tire. Daigh set the fastest race lap making up the lost time, and the car was in second place for four hours before disappearing from the lap charts with an overheating engine and retiring on lap 123.

This 2953cc, V12 250 GT LWB (Long Wheel Base) Spyder California was entered by Italian Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurati, or, if you prefer, the Scuderia SSS Republica di Venezia. Okay, Scuderia Serenissima for short! Pinin Farina designed the body and Scaglietti built it. Originally assigned to Italians Giorgio Scarlatti and Prince Fabrizio Serena di Lapigio, Italian Carlo Mario Abate joined them after his 250 GT LWB Berlinetta retired after just 28 laps. Chassis 1459GT was a standard road car, which finished eighth overall and first in the GT Touring class, outdistancing the second-place car in class by 12 laps. Note the lack of a roll bar!

This model was popularly called the Tour de France honoring Ferrari’s four consecutive wins in the grueling event from 1956-1959. The 2953cc V12 Long Wheel Base Ferrari was entered by Italian Count Volpi for Italians Gianni Balzarrini and Carlo Mario Abate. Delivered originally to Abate in 1959, the pair raced the car frequently in Italian national events and hillclimbs before Volpi bought it for his Scuderia Serenissima. Abate practiced but didn’t have a chance to drive it in the race because Balzarrini retired it after just 28 laps (reason unknown). Abate was then moved to the Serenissima 250 GT LWB Spyder California driven by Giorgio Scarlatti and Prince Fabrizio Serena di Lapigio.

Bob Publicker entered this 2953cc V12 LWB (Long Wheel Base) Spyder California for himself, George Constantine and Dean McCarthy. Pinin Farina designed the body, and Scaglietti built it. Despite an off that damaged the exhaust system, the trio finished tenth overall by completing 174 laps, which was two laps ahead of the Porsche 356 Carrera in eleventh place. Note the roll bar – are you kidding?

The author attended these races and photographed the cars. His personal knowledge and memory of the events was greatly assisted and reinforced by historian and VeloceToday.com contributor Willem Oosthoek’s seminal SPORTS CAR RACING IN THE SOUTH – TEXAS TO FLORIDA 1959-1960 (2013).

Behind the Fence: Ferrari, 1959 Part 1

Behind the Fence: Ferrari, 1959 Part 2