Friday's Ferrari

This car took part in the Shell Ferrari Historical Challenge race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It's the 1964 Ferrari 250LM, chassis 8165, of David Piper and was driven in the race by Chris Rea. The '250LM' should indicate a 3 litre engine, but since all but the first example of the model (which did have the 2,953cc V12 Colombo engine) had the 3,286cc version of that engine it should really be referred to as a 275 LM. The intention was for the 250LM to be homologated for the FIA's Group3 GT class so when the larger engine was fitted Enzo Ferrari insisted that the '250LM' should be retained to help with the homologation process.

Friday's Ferrari

This car was lined up alongside several other Ferraris at the Ferrari Owners Club's area in the paddock at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997.

It appears to be the replica of a 1961 Ferrari 250 TRI/61 that was created together with a 1961 Ferrari 156 F1 car for Chris Rea's film 'La Passione' about Wolfgang von Trips. That car was built using Chris Rea's own 1966 Ferrari 330 GTC chassis #9251 as a donor car.

Friday's Ferrari

This car was in a display of Ferraris at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997 which featured a tribute to the marque.

It's a replica of the Ferrari 156 with which Phil Hill won the Drivers' World Championship in 1961, the original cars being dismantled by Ferrari, as was then their custom, at the end of their useful working life. The singer-songwriter Chris Rea had this replica built to be used in his 1996 film 'La Passione', which he intended to be about his childhood dream of this car and driver Wolfgang von Trips, but Warner Brothers took control of the film and effectively ruined Chris Rea's concept. The 1961 car had a 1,476cc V6 engine designed by Carlo Chiti, and Phil Hill won two, was second in two, and third in two of the seven races in which the cars competed that season. They didn't take part in the final race, the USA Grand Prix, after the death of Wolfgang von Trips in the penultimate Grand Prix of the season in Italy.

On 17 March 2017 I showed a photograph of Phil Hill driving the car in a track display at this meeting.

Friday's Ferrari

The Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1997 featured a tribute to Ferrari with a large display of notable Ferraris and track demonstrations by former Ferrari team drivers amongst others. This is one of the cars taking part on a typically British wet summer's day.

.It's 1961 World Champion Phil Hill driving Chris Rea's recreation of the 1961 Ferrari 156 - the car with which he won that title.

Friday's Ferrari

This car appeared in the Visage Pre '72 Le Mans Car Race at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in August 1996, entered by David Piper and driven by the singer Chris Rea. It's shown in the programme as a 1965 Ferrari P1 with an engine capacity of 3998cc. I've looked for this car in www.barchetta.cc and it looks as if it's a 365 P2, serial number 0824, about which there's a note saying: 'David Piper owns two P1 with the chassis number 0824. One has a new frame (built in 90) and one uses the original frame (finished in 98)' 

That's David Piper standing at the side of the car

Friday's Ferrari

On 22 February I featured some photographs of Jan Biekens' Ferrari 156 recreation. That car was partly inspired by the replica of a 1961 Ferrari 156 built by Chris Rea for his film 'La Passione' which is about his boyhood idol, Wolfgang von Trips, who died in one of these cars as a result of an accident in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Chris Rea's replica was at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1995 and below are some photographs of the car I took at that meeting.

The car was apparently entered in a Coys auction in 2000 but whether it was sold, and who the current owner is, I don't know.

I saw the original cars race at Aintree in both 1961 and 1962 and the photograph below is of Giancarlo Baghetti's car at the 1962 Aintree 200 race (serial number 0001).

Friday's Ferrari

Today's photograph is of one of David Piper's cars, 1964 Ferrari 275LM, serial number 8165, at the Coys International Historic Festival meeting at Silverstone in July 1994.

It's lining up in the paddock ready to take part in a practice session for the Pre-1970 Le Mans Car race and is being driven by the singer Chris Rea, who is of Italian extraction and has a well-known passion for Ferrari racing cars.