7 replies to this topic

[William Hunt]

Does anyone know the details about Ferrari entering their cars in NART colours in American , Canadian & Mexican F1 events in the '60s. Why was this ?

[rdrcr]

Well, Ferrari didn't enter the cars. N. orth A. merican R. acing T.eam
entered them. Luigi Chinetti was the importer at the time. They are Blue and white to represent the US.

Here is some of the History behind the 275 cars.

1. Serial No. 09437-First of the NARTs has an aluminum body. Raced by Denise McCluggage and Pinky Rollo, who finished 2nd in class at Sebring, 1967. Road tested by Road & Track in September 1967, the car was driven by Steve McQueen in the film, The Thomas Crown Affair. First owned by well-known Ferrari collector Norm Silver, the car is now owned by Bruce Lustman.

2. Serial No. 09751-Also aluminum-bodied, this NART was initially bought by Jake Kaplan, and is currently owned by Jon Shirley of
Seattle, Washington.

3. Serial No. 10139-First sold to John McGreary, this is one of many NARTs that has been repainted classic Ferrari red. Now owned by Jim Jaeger.

4. Serial No. 10219-Ben Gould bought the fourth NART and kept it until the car was sold in 1984 to designer Ralph Lauren, who still has it in his collection.

5. Serial No. 10249-Sold new to George Lamberson, who has since died, but the NART is still in the family.

6. Serial NO. 10453-Steve McQueen, who loved No. 09437 when he drove it in The Thomas Crown Affair, bought this example. After being hit while at a stoplight, McQueen had the car's rear end slightly modified with flared fenders and a taller spoiler. Currently owned by Ferrari collector Tony Wang.

7. Serial No. 10691-Delivered in January, 1968, to Donald W. Rose, this NART had two well-known owners in Los Angeles, Andy Cohen of Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories fame, and Noel Blanc, son of famous cartoon voice creator, Mel Blanc. The car is one of two NARTs owned today by John Moores.

8. Serial No. 10709-Eddie Smith's car, the only NART still with its original owner.

9. Serial No. 10749-First sold in New York to Michael Serman, this is the second NART owned by John Moores.

10. Serial No. 11057-The only NART never imported to the U.S. Sold to General Trino de Foncubierta Roger. Eventually bought by Swiss Ferrari collector Albert Obrist, the car brought $2.6 million in one of its many sales. Currently in England with owner Bernie Carl.

The rest of the experts around here can add a great deal I'm sure.

Regards -

rdrcr

[William Hunt]

Thanks for your great research .

Off course I know that the cars were entered by NART and not by Ferrari, but why was this the case ? I heard that there were problems with the American importer of Ferrari .

[Vitesse2]

I don't think rdrcr read the question properly! The NART entries were a bit of Ferrari politics when Enzo was variously in dispute with the authorities - FIA, Italian authorities etc. Chinetti's team was used as a way of maintaining Ferrari's presence in the WC, without being Ferrari! Sorry, don't have time to go into details right now ...

[rdrcr]

Thanks for the clarification Vitesse...

[Rainer Nyberg]

Further information can be found here under the John Surtees entry :

http://8w.forix.com/8w-1199.html

Who? John Surtees
What? North American Racing Team Ferrari 158
Where? Watkins Glen
When? 1964 US GP
How? A Ferrari logo on a car other than scarlet red? Yes, it's another occasion of Ferrari politics which is responsible for this freak occurrence. So what happened that the works Ferraris turned out at Watkins Glen and Mexico in the white and blue colours of the North American Racing Team? It seems that an argument with the Italian Automobile Federation was the root of all this. Subject was the disputed homologation of the 250LM sportscar over which a huge row broke out between the two parties, since the Italian federation refused to back Ferrari's case against the FIA - a case which wasn't one, actually, since Ferrari built not nearly enough 250LMs to reach the homologation level of 100. So the Old Man decided he would start one of his frenzied ravings. Someone was bound to pay attention in Ferrari-loving Italy. Well, maybe the press was, but the ACI wasn't. Enzo Ferrari was to have none of it and angrily announced he would relinquish his Italian license and that his cars would never be painted red again. Ah, if that's the deal, then you can have it your way, the Italian federation must have thought, and it responded by allowing Ferrari to pull off his "gesture". So, as a result of this hot-blooded and counterproductive decision, the Ferrari cars appeared at Watkins Glen in the national American colours and were entered by Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team, Chinetti being the US Ferrari concessionnaire. In fact, and forgotten by many, for the first race of the 1965 season at Kyalami the argument was still unresolved. Although the cars were back in their red livery they were entered by Eugenio Dragoni(the Ferrari team manager) as Ferrari still hadn't got his entrants license back… At the start of March, just before the Race of Champions, the conflict was finally resolved. A year later Ferrari used the same ploy when it was entangled in a legal argument with Dunlop. Again in Mexico,
Ferrari fielded a NART entry, this time for Rodriguez to drive the Firestone semi-slick tyres without breaking their regular tyre contract with Dunlop.

[William Hunt]

Thanks , Rainer , that's just the kind of information I was looking for.

[rdrcr]

Amazing the stuff one learns... I thought that the NART cars were specific to sports cars and not the Grand Prix cars.

Thanks!