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1961 Ferrari 250GT SWB Comp ’61 SEFAC Hot Rod
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1961 Ferrari 250GT SWB
THE 250GT SWB WAS CRAFTED BY THE FINEST Ferrari minds, with the likes of Giotto Bizzarrini, Carlo Chiti and Mauro Forghieri combining efforts to develop the 250 programme. The new car was lighter and had a shorter wheelbase, making it much nimbler than its predecessor.
It was also the first Ferrari GT car to feature disc brakes, and when unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 1959 it was a sensation, with orders coming in thick and fast. Aluminium and steel bodies were available, covering a 3.0-litre Colombo V12 that produced between 237bhp and 280bhp. It was immediately successful, winning the GT class of the 1961 Constructors’ Championship, and victorious at the Tour de France three times in a row.
This particular example is chassis 2735 and is known as a Comp ’61 SEFAC Hot Rod. It was first owned by Rob Walker, though it ran under the North American Racing Team (NART) banner for its first event, the 1961 Le Mans 24 Hours. Stirling Moss and Graham Hill set the GT lap record and were running first in class and third overall when in the eighth hour a fan blade sliced through a radiator hose, putting them out of the running.
Moss soon got over that disappointment with a brace of victories and lap records, at Silverstone and Brands Hatch, before taking his seventh and last Tourist Trophy win at Goodwood in mid-August. He raced the car just once more, at the Nassau Tourist Trophy in December of that year, winning the heats and the main race. The most successful of his Ferraris, Moss described it as the best GT car ever.
For 1962, ownership was transferred to UDT Laystall and Chris Kerrison. Disc brake failure retired it from the Daytona USA 3 Hours with Innes Ireland, though he’d later take it to fourth place in April at Oulton Park, taking the GT lap record. Following a factory engine rebuild, it then took on the Tourist Trophy, but was damaged in an accident.
It was then rebodied by Piero Drogo’s Carrozzeria Sports Cars and returned to action with Chris Kerrison, competing through 1963 and 1964.
In 1979 the Drogo body had begun to deteriorate, and it was returned to its 1961 body style. Its current owner took stewardship in 1984, and in 2007 a two-year body-off restoration brought the car back to the exact specification as used by Moss in 1961.
ENGINE
3.0-litre, V12, 24 valves, watercooled, 240bhp (est), triple Weber carburettors
CONFIGURATION Front-engine, rear-wheel drive, four-speed manual, aluminium body, double wishbone front suspension with coil springs, live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, disc brakes all-round
ABOVE Stirling Moss (behind the wheel) called this 250 SWB the best GT car ever.
