F50 GT1

On Track: Last of the Species

The third and last of Ferrari's fabuous F50 GT1 contenders recently underwent pre-delivery testing at Willow Springs. FORZA's Peter Brock was there with his cameras and tape recorder.

In the fading days of any great art form, the examples that remain usually express the highest standards of the period. It matters not whether they're impressionist paintings or racing cars, the finest survivors of any great era are, as a rule, visually exciting and technically intriguing. The design of GT cars, especially between 1992 and 1998, has been particularly interesting because the rules crafted by the ACO (Auto Club de L'Ouest) and the FIA (Federation Internationale ['Automobile) were imperfectly written. This allowed the most innovative designers to push the scrutineer's level of acceptance in each series far beyond what the technical formulators had intended at the beginning of the period. Indeed, the regulations for this era have been re-interpreted each year so far beyond their original intent that, by early '98, the class, as an international arena for competition, has almost self-destructed. This year will probably be the final one for GT1 in its present configuration (although, even at Le Mans, the cars are being technically reclassified as "prototypes" instead of GT1s). Rising costs and rapid technical obsolesce have caused the demise of equal competition among all the great sports car manufacturers. This is both unfortunate and to a certain extent expected, because, in Darwinian terms only the most capable survive. Those that, for one reason or another, did not rise to prominence during this era are no less interesting to the historian and the racing enthusiast, because sometimes factors other than just technical excellence prevented success. Ferrari's three F50 prototype coupes, designed to win Le Mans in '95 and '96, never made it to the Sarthe circuit, but are still some of the most beautiful and technically interesting cars ever devised for endurance racing.
Each season of this six-year era has produced sparkling innovation and technical superiority not seen since the days of the famed tunnel-hulled Group C prototypes. It was precisely the same sort of technical exhibitionism, however, that pushed that class into the history books and is now doing the same with the present group of GT1s. The Ferrari F40 should have been a strong contender for GT dominance when it was conceived in the late Eighties, but a loophole in the ACO's Le Mans rules for 1992 allowed the German Dauer team to rework a Porsche 962 Group C prototype into a flat bottomed GT1. The Dauer Porsches dominated that year setting off the ever-escalating battle of design by McLaren and Porsche that eliminated the F40s and all other true GT contenders of the time. We'll see the final iterations of this design era at Le Mans in June, but now even Porsche has decided to retire. McLaren didn't compete in '98, so only Mercedes and Toyota are left, and Nissan, like BMW, will run open-top sports racers instead of GT1s.
F50 During each year of this frenetic present era, the top designers of endurance racers have pushed the envelope so far that it became necessary to design completely new cars for the following season, a formula literally destined for self destruction. History has proven that no racing series can survive without rules stability. Ferrari seemed poised to enter the fray in '96 with their incredible F50 coupes, but two factors dictated otherwise. First, budgetary restraints at Maranello, combined with the factory's all-out emphasis on Formula One, killed the program, with only three prototypes ever completed.
The second reason, and this is the most important factor in canceling the program, was simply that Ferrari's design, like the first McLaren, adhered too closely to the spirit of the rules! The Ferrari qualified as a true road going GT, while the later McLaren, Porsche, and Nissan entries had already escalated into the ACO-accepted version of GT1, which allowed true racing versions of GT coupes.
Instead of adhering to the ACO technical committees' original intent, the club officials reversed their original concept of having the constructors rebuild real road cars for racing. The class had evolved into specially-built racing cars detuned to meet road standards. Ferrari was left with one of the most beautiful examples of the era, but one that was obsolete before it was ever able to compete. The F50 GT1 prototype did, however, provide a medium to transfer much of Ferrari's engineering technology to the current production F50. The similarities between the two cars are obvious, but each has its own definitive character that defines its origins.
The last F50 GT1 coupe was recently sold by the factory through Ferrari of Beverly Hills to Jim Spiro of New Orleans. (The first coupe is presently owned by a private collector in the San Francisco area, and the second car is in another private collection in Japan.)
FORZA recently had the exclusive opportunity to compare the factory's F50 GT1 prototype with the production F50 roadster when prospective buyer Jim Spiro and Ferrari of Beverly Hills brought several rare cars to Willow Springs for a test session. Jim Spiro was anxious to run his new acquisitions, but wanted a top-caliber driving talent to not only evaluate his cars prior to completion of the sale. but also to give him some instruction in using the cars to their full potential. Spiro is not a "glass case" collector - he loves to drive his cars. So Giacomo Mattioli, president of Ferrari of Beverly Hills, invited one of Ferrari's top endurance-racing stars, Belgian Didier Theys, to test drive the cars for Spiro's acceptance, and also to give the New Orleans Ferrari enthusiast his first hands-on experience with a thoroughbred racer on a real racing circuit.
Willow Springs is not exactly the best circuit for an inexperienced or faint-hearted new owner. It's a very fast, technically challenging track, located about two hours northeast of Los Angeles. Willow has been a fixture on the SoCal racing scene since the early Fifties. It has a reputation for being absolutely beautiful, or frustratingly miserable, with high winds and choking dust. Late-season conditions in the high desert of Southern California are some of the best, as the days are cooler and the wind tempered by the very minimal variations in temperature. So the conditions for Ferrari's private test day at Willow Springs could not have been any better.
When Beverly Hills' huge, red race transporter arrived at Willow Springs, there was great anticipation among the small gathering of Prancing Horse aficionados who had taken the day off to see and sample some of Maranello's best. In addition to the F50 prototype and the production F50 roadster, Spiro had asked Mattioli to bring another recent acquisition, one of the few remaining factory Dino competition roadsters. Also, Ferrari Challenge racer Lawrence Kenyon, who will drive this year for Beverly Hills' sister operation in Orange County, had requested some of Spiro's time at the race facility, which had been graciously given, so there were four very fast examples of Maranello's finest to compare.
Didier Theys had flown in that morning to Los Angeles, and was driven up personally by Mattioli and his partner, Philippe Lancksweert. The two arrived at the same moment that Ferrari's technician Kerry Agaipiou, and Ferrari Formula One mechanic Umberto Boni began unloading the cars from the transporter. Spiro, too, rolled in as the cars were being positioned in the paddock. His friend, Roland Linder, a well known name from the GT and Formula Atlantic wars of the Sixties, had also come along for the test, so it was like a home-coming of sorts as friends and friends of friends became reacquainted and introduced before the day's activities.
Theys wasted no time, and immediately proceeded to evaluate the circuit. He climbed into the gleaming black F50 and took off around the circuit to check the track conditions. In the quiet morning air, the F50's rpms could be heard rising and falling around the entire 2.5 miles, as Theys gradually increased his speed. He soon came in to have Umberto Boni make a quick check of the car and the tire pressures before attempting any serious speed. Spiro, himself no stranger to fast equipment, was fascinated to watch Theys at work. Spiro owns a rare 427 competition Cobra, which he uses as a daily driver in New Orleans, but the V12 Ferraris and the Willow Springs circuit were totally new experiences. "I had no idea how fast, and how smoothly; a car could be driven until I sat in the F50 and watched Didier at speed," said Spiro. "The torque and smoothness of that 6 4.9- liter engine are incredible - so different from anything I've ever driven before."
Next in turn for a test was the F50 GT1. The red coupe was equipped with racing tires and short-course gearing, just as it had been when it last ran at the Fiorano test track in Italy. Theys now invited Spiro along, and the two cruised almost effortlessly for several laps until Theys again came in for a final check before really using the revs. "The prototype of the F50 appears similar to the road version" said Theys, "but their characters are completely different. The coupe is a true racing car, very stiff and twitchy, compared to the roadster. The prototype has a sequential gearbox rather than the conventional shift pattern used on the F50, so the driving techniques are different for each car."
"It's a pity," continued Theys, "that this car never had a chance to run at Le Mans - all the tunnel work was done for high speed racing."
When, after a while, Theys had completed the first serious laps with the red coupe, it was interesting to note that the black F50 roadster - on street tires - was only two seconds per lap slower than the prototype on racing rubber! The level of sophistication attained in the F50 roadster must be experienced on a real racing circuit to be believed. There is no way that the car's true characteristics can be experienced on the street- the speed would be so high that it would be impossible to run over the same roads twice, so it must be brought to a racing circuit to be fully appreciated. I took several fast laps with Didier at speed to get photos, and was so comfortable with the chassis' signals at very close to maximum speed that I could concentrate fully on operating the camera rather than trying to anticipate what might occur at the next corner. Didier and the F50 were truly a magical combination. The tachometer's numbers and the acceleration, braking, and cornering forces are almost unimaginable for someone who has never driven a contemporary GT car. But what is most amazing is the fluidity of the F50's transitions. Straights, corners, and sweepers all blend into one smooth, powerful flow. Theys' skill in transferring power to the pavement in the fastest corners is really brilliant, but the F50 is so smooth that one finds it difficult to easily assimilate the chassis' aplomb at speed and during heavy braking. Having run literally hundreds of miles at Willow Springs over the last three decades, I have acquired a sort of programmed-in feel for each corner that seems right for each type of car driven there. The F50 prototype coupe and roadster exceed those mental numbers effortlessly. Like any real racing car, there was little engineering effort to make the prototype comfortable in street terms. No compliance in the suspension bushings or ease of transition in the tire line through the sweepers! It's a harsh, precise feel, dedicated entirely to speed. Impressively, the black F50 production roadster seems so much more at ease because of its genuine civility. It had been a couple of years since I'd driven an F40, and the difference between the two cars was so vast as to be almost incomparable. Even the F50 prototype seemed civilized in comparison to my memories of the F40. The F50 roadster is in a class by itself. Had there been an F40 available for comparison, I feel that the F50 roadster on street tires, with all the accouterments of its own gracious road manners, would still have easily trounced a fully race prepared F40!
#25 Spiro, too, was suitably impressed. "I know how fast my Cobra is, but this F50 really is in a class by itself. It's fast and totally composed- amazing." Spiro and Theys spent several hours at speed together. By the end of the afternoon, Spiro's lap times in his new cars were noticeably faster than the morning's first forays into the unknown. "This is all very new to me," he said. "I realize I'm so far in over my head that its going to take a long time to absorb all I've learned. But having Didier here with the cars to teach me was a truly wonderful experience. It's something I've wanted to do all my life, and now that the day is coming to an end, I'm just beginning to understand how much I really have to learn. These Ferraris are the most amazing cars I've ever driven - I'd never have believed it had it not been for today."
Almost overlooked in the morning's scramble to test the GT1 prototype and the F50 roadster was the little Dino competition roadster. Surely one of the loveliest and most classic shapes ever to emerge from Maranello, the V6 Dino is one of racing history's most legendary endurance racers. This car, s/n 026, has an incredible history that includes racing in France, Italy, and England. One of 11 cars campaigned by the factory out of a production run of some 20 cars, this Dino is a real thoroughbred. Had not the F50 proto coupe and the production F50 roadster been so prominent in the day's activities, the Dino would have been the standout car of the test. Aesthetically, there isn't a bad line on the Scaglietti body, and the 2000cc V6 has one of the most impertinent and lovely exhaust notes in all of racing. Didier and Jim finally got around to running the car in the late afternoon, when the warm light made the Dino's distinctive red paint glow with an almost psychedelic fervor. The bright yellow wheels contrasted so beautifully that one couldn't help but wonder why the F50 coupe's wheels weren't done in yellow as well. The F50 is a package endowed with tremendous technical and aesthetic magnetism, but in terms of pure, classic racing shape, the little Dino is as beautiful as they come. It may have seemed anti-climactic to run the Dino after the two F50s, but the car has such presence and history that all attention soon focused on the tiny racer. Roland Linder had a chance to run the Dino for several laps and emerged truly impressed. "I've driven many racers, but this car now has to be one of my absolute favorites!" Theys added to the outpouring of accolades by saying that it must have been a wonderful era in which to race. "The car is so tiny that it feels like an extension of your body."
Spiro kept driving the magical Dino until the sun set. "What a day," he said as he parked Enzo's can-do little miracle of a machine. "This is incredible. I've always heard that Ferraris are magic...and now I know why."

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