When you are a motor sport nut who as a kid, idolized the drivers of the war era manhandling their beasts on public road courses to victory (or death), what do you do to experience their lives first hand? If you are Peter Giacobbi, you build your own version of the machines they drove and put on some vintage headgear and drive the hell out of it. This is the story of a man who hand built his own Ferrari 250 TR from the 1950s, ostensibly since he couldn't afford the real thing - those cost upwards of $30 million. He designed a supercar and worked as head of design and development for De Lorean. Read on to know more about him..
Peter Giacobbi as a kid admired the courageous, maverick drivers of the pre safety era of racing, like Juam Manuel Fangio and Wolfgang Von Trips. He grew up to race a lot, lived in Italy for more than a decade, and ended up designing a prototype car, the Giacobbi Sinthesis 2000.
The famed John De Lorean saw this car and invited Giacobbi to head his Engineering development team. Raether, his vice president of engineering saw the car. So, he ended up working for De Lorean. Now, Giacobbi maintains he was instrumental in the design of the first two prototypes of the De Lorean DMC-12. The second one, he says, was completely built under his guise. Druing those times, Giacobbi went to Lancia and Renault to check out an engine / sub frame combination that would work with the De Lorean. That is when he checked out the Renault alpine110. By the time he was done with testing the hell out of it (scaring the engineer present with him in the process) he was convinced that it would be perfect for the De Lorean. But De Lorean declines, saying he wasnted to build an 'American car'. It was built in Ireland eventually.
The Ferrari 250 TestaRossa. Now what is a Testa Rossa? For the uninitiated, it might mean the 1984 angular 12 cylinder Ferrari from Miami vice. Testa Rossa literally means "Red Head" - a nod to the red engine covers in these beasts (no, nothing to do with ginger hair). This car was by far Giacobbi's favourite in the world in terms of the design.If only he could afford one. So he did thenext best thing, recreate it!
The 250 series of Ferraris are arguably the best looking cars built by Ferrari ever. Just take a look at the 1962 250 GT/E, for example.
So he set about fabricating parts, copying everything from the original as closely as possible. Some things couldn't be copied, like the engine for example. He used a 4.4 litre engine instead of the original, which proved elusive to procure. All he could do to stay a bit faithful to the original was to modify the aesthetics to mimic it. One by one, all the parts were crossed off the checklist.
When he was done with it, a 2300 pound (1040kg) 400 hp monster was ready to be unleashed on the streets. When he began driving it, he realized the long cherished dream of reliving the days of Fangio et al, and what it brought about was a feeling that those gentlemen were not merely heroes, but supermen in their own right. So much power on a light, decades old frame and no driver aids. Add to this the fact that they drove on narrow public roads, often broken. Quite how these men did what they did is awe inspiring and a bit scary indeed. Gacobbi admits that he would not trade his car even if someone offered him an original 250 TR today. It is the most fun and exciting project he has worked on, according to him. Now, this is not coming from your average garage builder, this man has worked on a supercar and built a prototype for one. So there you have it - a home build like no other.
Peter Giacobbi has gotten a lok of flak from fellow enthusiasts af it being a fake Ferrari. He told off a Ferrari 350 owner that his car was full of Fiat parts, at least this had all Ferrari parts. So the question that lingers is whether this is a replica? It is pretty unique, having lovingly handbuilt with original parts. As far as I am concerned, it would be a shame to pass it off as a replica, it is much more than that.
You can watch the brilliant Petrolicious video on this car below:
The Man
| 1970 Sinthesis 2000. Photo by David Gooley. |
The famed John De Lorean saw this car and invited Giacobbi to head his Engineering development team. Raether, his vice president of engineering saw the car. So, he ended up working for De Lorean. Now, Giacobbi maintains he was instrumental in the design of the first two prototypes of the De Lorean DMC-12. The second one, he says, was completely built under his guise. Druing those times, Giacobbi went to Lancia and Renault to check out an engine / sub frame combination that would work with the De Lorean. That is when he checked out the Renault alpine110. By the time he was done with testing the hell out of it (scaring the engineer present with him in the process) he was convinced that it would be perfect for the De Lorean. But De Lorean declines, saying he wasnted to build an 'American car'. It was built in Ireland eventually.
| Alpine-Renault A110. Photo by Jeff Koch. |
That's how those whirlwind days of the car industry went for this Italian who above all else, espoused the design and passion of his home country and wanted to surround himself with all the good stuff from yesteryear racing and its heroes. The mundane Detroit industry which was run by bean counters and punters with the lack of design flair and technical nous of the Europeans was not just doing it for him perhaps. Much later, he began looking for that perfect car that would cheer him up - his dream car. The Ferrari 250 TR from the 1950s. Now, this is a rare car. A 250 Ferrari is in itself a fabled series of cars much in demand in the vintage car circles, but a 250 TR? That's the rarest of the rare.
The Machine
The 250 series of Ferraris are arguably the best looking cars built by Ferrari ever. Just take a look at the 1962 250 GT/E, for example.
| 1962 250 GT/E (source: Wikipedia) |
Other examples of this series include the 250LM, the 250 GT Lusso. The 250 was biult from a953 to 64 and all had a similar, ranging from 2400mm (Short wheel base, SWB for short - pun unintended) and 2600mm (Long Wheel base, LWB).
"Nearly all 250s share the same Colombo Tipo 125 V12 engine. At 2,953 cc (180 cu in), it was notable for its light weight and impressive output of up to 300 PS (221 kW; 296 hp) in the Testa Rossa and GTO. The V12 weighed hundreds of pounds less than its chief competitors — for example, it was nearly half the weight of the Jaguar XK straight-6" - Wikipedia.The 250 TR was, however, no ordinary 250. It was a racing Ferrari, and one of the most successful ones at that - with three wins at Le Mans, four wins at Sebring, and two wins at Buenos Aires. In all, only 2 factory 250 TRs were built from 1957 to 58, and 19 for customers.had unorthodox bodywork by Scaglietti. The front fenders are visually separated from the central "nacelle" body, a design inspired by Formula One racers, with air ducting across the front brakes and out through the open area behind the wheels, this model is often called the "Pontoon" TR.
"A 1957 250 Testa Rossa sold on August 20, 2011 for $16,400,000, a new world record auction price for a car when inflation is ignored. It should also be noted that there was a time where this car, along with several similar models, was viewed as merely a "clapped-out" obsolete racer. They often sold for as low as $4,000 around 1965" - Wikipedia.
| source: http://www.carsbase.com |
| source: http://www.carsbase.com |
The Marriage
Giacobbi started looking all around for a 250 he could build - since he couldn't afford an original. As luck could have it, he found in Italy an original aluminium body shell, handbuilt for the 1959 model year but never made it to the factory. Now at last he had something to begin with - but then it's just a body shell. He would need a chasis, powertrain and other bits to make it into a car. The masterbuilder he is, he decided to fabricate everything. The engine and powertrain would have to be sourced out from somewhere. He couldn't hope to go original with these, with the 250 TRs being rolling meuseum pieces and the chances of an owner tearing up his car to provide parts for him being close to nothing,
| source: Petrolicious |
"I looked at it, and I said 'I have to do it'"
So he set about fabricating parts, copying everything from the original as closely as possible. Some things couldn't be copied, like the engine for example. He used a 4.4 litre engine instead of the original, which proved elusive to procure. All he could do to stay a bit faithful to the original was to modify the aesthetics to mimic it. One by one, all the parts were crossed off the checklist.
| source: Petrolicious |
When he was done with it, a 2300 pound (1040kg) 400 hp monster was ready to be unleashed on the streets. When he began driving it, he realized the long cherished dream of reliving the days of Fangio et al, and what it brought about was a feeling that those gentlemen were not merely heroes, but supermen in their own right. So much power on a light, decades old frame and no driver aids. Add to this the fact that they drove on narrow public roads, often broken. Quite how these men did what they did is awe inspiring and a bit scary indeed. Gacobbi admits that he would not trade his car even if someone offered him an original 250 TR today. It is the most fun and exciting project he has worked on, according to him. Now, this is not coming from your average garage builder, this man has worked on a supercar and built a prototype for one. So there you have it - a home build like no other.
| source: Petrolicious |
Replica?
You can watch the brilliant Petrolicious video on this car below:
