17 replies to this topic

[AMICALEMANS]

Hello

Who can help to solve two little mistery about this car which ran the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1966 and 1967.


Le Mans 24h 1966: The 365 P2 s/n 0838 of the N.A.R.T. got a new body from Drogo for the ’66 season. The car with it’s long tail was nicknamed White Elephant. At Le Mans, Masten Gregory and Bob Bondourant retired in the 9th hour.

In 1967, the same car came for Rodriguez (not the real one)/Parsons and retired at 8 pm. The car had a wing.(Maybe the fisrt one in Le Mans to have a wing)





-As you can see on the picture, there is an elephant on the side wing. Was it here just because of the nickname, or is there any other specification ?


-As you can see also, there is a Goodyear sticker on the car whith all the lettres G O O D Y E A R. We know that advertisement in europe was forbidden in 1967. All other cars wore some stickers but without the letter of the sponsor : Firestone logo on the Chapparral, Autolite on the Ford, BP logo or Marchal Logo on the Lola Aston, ELF logo on the Matra. So this car was, i think, the only one to break the official rule !
Who knows how or why nobody noticed it ?

[Nanni Dietrich]

Am I wrong, or the car seems to me having race number 26 (hand painted) and race number 37 on the rear?


If I remember well it finished off road at Mulsanne in 1967.

[AMICALEMANS]

Look closer, it is 26 ! Threre are some black hole (for air intake ?) on the body !

[Pedro 917]

Can you tell us why it was forbidden? I've never heard of that.

[sterling49]

Never seen this car before! Take the Ferrari stickers off and (especially in German National Colours) it takes on a Porsche look.......lovely looking car, why white though?

[Bjorn Kjer]

NART in US colours !!

[Barry Boor]

This is Italian model manufacturer Top Model's version of the car in its 1966 incarnation.



Not sure about the NART colours. Didn't they always have blue stripes?

[AMICALEMANS]

Before january 68,in europe under CSI rules, sponsoring stickers was forbidden on cars ! I dont know why ! a kind of rubish thing !

I saw that the 66 version has also a rear wing, wich make this car the firts one ever in Le Mans to wear this !

[Pedro 917]

Not this one Barry :



Copyright Ford Motorsport

[sterling49]

I have to admit that I do not recall this car at all, however it is one of the prettiest P2s that I have seen, my recollection of NART was of red cars as in Maranello :

Great shot of the old sand trap Luc, wasn't it "Yogi' Muir that burnt the clutch out trying to extricate the Gulf GT40 from sand, in the late '60s? (amongst many,many others!)

[Pedro 917]

Yes indeed, 1968 it was, when Pedro (in the GT40 # 9) won with Bianchi :




Copyright unknown

[klemcoll]

0838 was probably the only 1965 365P2 built as a 365 from new. There was a 365P (looking like a 330P) built that year, using left over P bits, but the other 365P2 cars were converted from 330P2's in 1966, sometimes being called 365P2/66. 0838 had another body (!) after 1967 and was used on the road. It is now back in its original 1965 P2 configuration as delivered to NART for Le Mans in 1965.

[S&M Minis]

I don't have the time to do the research at the moment, but perhaps someone can build on this. In this timeframe, 1966 - 1967, Ferrari had a tiff with the FIA (or the Italian home organization) about something (homologation of the 250 LM?) and the F1 cars were entered by NART in white and blue for at least the Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. They were, as I understood, technically US entries in US colors and they did carry the rectangular NART logo. I've previously seen pictures of the 365 P2 in question and always assumed the white and blue colors had some tie-in to the one-race white and blue F1 colors. If the white/blue 365 P2 precedes the white/blue F1 car, then the theory doesn't work. Maybe NART was just moving to proper national colors like other Ferrari quasi-private teams?

[Pedro 917]

In the US GP of 1964, the Ferrari Team was entered under the North American Racing Team banner and the new paintwork was in their honour, the reason behind this change being an Enzo Ferrari fit of pique : after a row with the Italian Sporting Commission, he had vowed that his cars would never again race in Italy, and never again race in Italian colours. (source : The Formula One Record Book 1961-1965).
In the Mexican GP, the Ferrari's were also white & blue).

[GeoffE]

Originally posted by Pedro 917
Not this one Barry :



Copyright Ford Motorsport

What's the little white bump if it's not the corner of a wing? It seems to be in the right place relative to the larger protuberance (if the model is in any way accurate).

[sterling49]

Luc, I have just spotted something else, the stripe on Yogi's GT40, never seen that before, the shape of an arrow head, usually it was a broadband down to the nose, unlike the car Pedro is driving. Are they not just the most evocative cars? Those were just great days of Sportcars with the 330P4,2F,T70 et al

[Arjan de Roos]

Ferrari 365 P2 0838 has run three times at Le Mans

1965 Pedro Rodriguez/Vaccarella 7th (only Ferrari prototype to finish)
Red with blue band as NART entry
(1965 Reims with Guichet, 1966 Daytona Rodriguez/Andretti 4th, fire at Sebring)
1966 Rebuild by Drogo after fire with long tail and roof.
1966 Gregory/Bondurant DNF
1967 Pearson/Ricardo Rodriguez (as indicated no family to Pedro)
Rebodied late 67 for second time and painted red.
It was white with blue at Le Mans in 1966 and 1967. Only in 1967 did it sport the White Elephant rampante.

In the seventies rebodied for third time to original P2 open body.

See also:
http://www.tybrainst.../drogo/p-2.html

As Road & Track mentioned it after the first rebuild:

[RStock]

Some good stuff here on the 66 and 67 seasons . Perhaps something to answer your questions .

http://www.imca-slot....com/QUIZZ3.htm

http://www.imca-slot.../1967-PART2.htm

Lots of other stuff there if you want to poke around a bit .