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First published in March 2019

978-1-907085-73-4

Published byPorter Press International Ltd

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Contents

Later Life 90

9 Mistaken identity 92

10 Back on track 98

11 Photo Gallery 110

Acknowledgements 126

Index 127

Introduction 7

The Car 8

1 250 LM – a GT too far 10

2 Technical analysis 28

The Races 42

3 Race debut for 6313 44

4 On home ground 50

5 Disappointment in Germany 56

6 6313’s finest 24 hours 62

7 Setback for Le Mans heroes 82

8 Season finale in Africa 86

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7Ferrari 250 LM

Introduction

T he story of the Ferrari 250 LM contains all of the elements upon which Maranello’s legend has been built. There is the beautiful Pininfarina bodywork, for a start, and the sonorous Colombo V12 engine. There is motor sport success, too, most notably in the shape of victory in the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hours,

and it was driven by many of the greatest names of its time – from Pedro Rodriguez, Jochen Rindt and John Surtees to Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and Richard Attwood.

Ferrari’s intention was for the LM to be the ultimate variation on its fabled 250 GT theme – a rear-engined development of the SWB and GTO – but, perhaps not surprisingly, the governing body did not see it as such and refused to homologate it as a Grand Touring car. It is therefore worth remembering that whatever success the LM had during 1964 and 1965 was achieved despite the fact that it was forced to race as a prototype – often alongside ostensibly faster, purpose-built machinery. Not until 1966, with the introduction of Group 4, did it gain official acceptance.

Also central to the history of the 250 LM are the Scuderia’s most famous and loyal privateers, who were responsible for its biggest successes as well as for maintaining its presence on the international scene throughout the 1960s. Chassis 6313 is one of three LMs that were campaigned in the yellow livery of Jacques Swaters’ renowned Ecurie Francorchamps stable. During a busy 1965 season, it finished second in a memorable Le Mans 24 Hours – so nearly stealing what would have been a truly giant-killing win – and competed at all of the major European venues, from Spa and Monza to the Nürburgring and Reims.

The fascinating history of this particular Ferrari also features twists and turns of which a novelist would be proud, thanks to a long-standing case of mistaken identity that was unravelled only at the turn of this century. More recently, it has been a regular in historic motor sport and has returned to La Sarthe – the scene of its finest hour. As any car of its ilk should be, it has been used, and used hard, despite its now stratospheric value.

In many ways, the era in which 6313 originally raced is long gone. At that time, gentleman drivers in private teams could compete – and win – on the biggest stages. They could enter endurance classics such as Le Mans, Sebring and Daytona, or national club events, or hill-climbs. A 250LM was suitable for them all, and even if it did not get to fulfil the role for which it was intended, still this charismatic racer can take its place among the greatest of Ferraris.

James PageSouth Gloucestershire, 2018

250 LM 6313 on its way to second place in the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hour race – the high-spot of its racing career. The Revs Institute for Automotive Research/Eric della Faille

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92 Exceptional Cars 93Ferrari 250 LM

Mistaken identity

Chapter 9Mistaken identity

F or a long time following their season racing alongside each other with Ecurie Francorchamps, the true identities of 6313 and 6023 were the

cause of considerable confusion, some sources over the years having stated that it was unclear which of them actually finished second at Le Mans in 1965. Not until 2001 was the mystery finally solved, when, in an article for Cavallino magazine, Ferrari authority Keith Bluemel pointed out a tiny detail that had been overlooked, and which had been brought to his attention by Adrian Hamilton. It proved that – at the time Bluemel was writing – the car wearing 6313’s chassis plate was actually 6023, and vice versa. Such had been the case, in fact, ever since they had left Ecurie Francorchamps.

To appreciate how the confusion arose, it is necessary to understand how busy race teams operate – as well as the paperwork that was involved in travelling around Europe in the 1960s. Ecurie Francorchamps owned three 250 LMs in period. The first was 5843, which was delivered ahead of the 1964 Nürburgring 1000Km. Jacky Ickx drove it at Daytona in 1966 and the team continued to run it into 1967 – its last outing with them was at a Belgian hill-climb on 4 June with ‘Beurlys’ at the wheel. Unusually for a Francorchamps car, it was painted red and later featured a long nose by Drogo, visual differences that made it exempt from the confusion surrounding the team’s other two LMs.

The second Francorchamps LM was 6023, which was delivered on 5 September 1964. This one was painted yellow and raced in that year’s Paris 1000Km and Angola Grand Prix – it won the latter courtesy of

Willy Mairesse. Its last outing with the team was the 1966 Kyalami 9 Hours, in which Jacky Ickx and ‘Eldé’ failed to finish.

The third LM, of course, was 6313, which Ecurie Francorchamps acquired on 22 April 1965. After its debut in the Monza 1000Km, 6313 was also painted yellow. For the rest of that season, Ecurie Francorchamps therefore ran two yellow 250 LMs and, as has been standard practice for as long as teams have raced cars, mechanical components would be swapped between them whenever necessary to keep them both going.

But it did not stop there – the chassis plates would also be swapped because, during the 1960s, it was necessary for cars that were not road-registered to have a carnet in order to travel between different countries. This was long before changes to European Union legislation made such paperwork unnecessary.

So, for example, Ecurie Francorchamps could have entered 6023 for a race in another country and had a valid carnet to that effect. The previous weekend, however, it suffered a mechanical failure or damage during a race and could not be repaired in time, so they decided to take 6313 instead. It would have been much easier to change the chassis plate – which, on an LM, is only tack-welded to the centre of the rear chassis frame – to match the carnet than it would have been to obtain a new carnet at such short notice.

For anyone attempting to trace which cars competed in which races, such things can be a nightmare, but teams did what needed to be done in order to keep racing. And this was by no means unique to Ecurie Francorchamps – many others would have done the

Trouble with the windscreen wipers! This was a

Goodwood 2017. Chassis 6313 was built with two

wiper spindles, even if it was not always fitted with

two wipers. Eric Sawyer

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96 Exceptional Cars 97Ferrari 250 LM

Mistaken identity Mistaken identity

David Piper

A lthough his name is now inextricably linked with Ferrari, David Piper’s racing career started in an ex-works MG J4, which he bought from Johnny

Cavendish while doing some farm work for him – Piper’s family were farmers. Having cut his teeth in the MG during 1953 and 1954, he acquired a Lotus MkVI and first came to prominence for winning the 1955 Leinster Trophy. Ignoring his father’s disapproval, Piper then embarked on a nomadic existence that involved touring

Europe and going from race to race with his Lotus Eleven – surviving on his wits, a bit of sponsorship, start money and whatever he managed to win.

Although there were outings in single-seaters – he later owned two Lotus 16s, plus a 20 – it is in sports cars that he really made his name. In 1962, he ordered a 250 GTO (3767) from Colonel Ronnie Hoare at Maranello Concessionaires, and so began his long association with Ferrari. He replaced 3767 with 4491, which was

heavily modified – Piper lowered the roof line, fitted wider wheels and reduced the weight.

Throughout the 1960s, he drove almost all of the contemporary Ferrari sports cars, from 250 LM and 365 P2 to 412 P and 312 P – he shared the last of those with Pedro Rodriguez as part of the factory team. For much of that time, Piper was supported by his faithful mechanic Fairfax Dunn. ‘Fax’ was a fiery character, to the extent that Lucien Bianchi nicknamed him ‘Screaming Dramatic Fax’.

Although Piper was all set to run a 512 S for 1970, delays meant that instead he switched to Porsche and its new 917. In late 1969, with his old friend Richard Attwood, Piper won his sixth Kyalami 9 Hours. Others to share the 917 included Brian Redman and David Hobbs, while Piper and Gijs van Lennep were lying third at Le Mans in 1970 with another 917 when the engine blew.

That year, Piper was heavily involved with the filming of Le Mans, Steve McQueen’s movie about the 24 Hours. During one sequence between Arnage and Maison Blanche, his 917 suffered a tyre failure and crashed heavily. Piper’s badly injured right leg became infected and had to be amputated below the knee. This most committed of privateers nonetheless continued to race, and has long been a stalwart of the historic scene – most often aboard his instantly recognisable green Ferraris.

Over the course of a long and illustrious career, a number of significant Ferraris have passed through the hands of ‘Pipes’. There was a period where he owned both 6313 and 6023! Motorsport Images

Piper’s much-campaigned Ferrari 250 GTO (3767 GT) in his trademark ‘Piper green’ (reflecting BP sponsorship)

in the Nürburgring paddock for the 1963 1000Km where

it finished third in class. Getty Images/Rainer

Schlegelmilch

From Ferrari to Porsche. Piper was one of the

first privateers to run a Porsche 917 but had

his first drive in this works car at the 1969 Nürburgring 1000Km,

when the factory drivers refused to drive it. He and

Frank Gardner took the difficult-to-handle car to

eighth place. Motorsport Images

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98 Exceptional Cars 99Ferrari 250 LM

Back on track

Chapter 10Back on track

A lthough it had the occasional Stateside outing, it was not until the 21st century that 6313 would return to serious motor sport. It stayed

in America throughout the 1980s, passing from Kimball McCloud to Richard Freshman of Fossil Motorsport in 1985. In August 1990, Swedish ex-racer Boo Brasta paid $5.3 million for the LM but shortly afterwards, on 31 March 1991, it failed to sell at an auction in Tokyo. The high bid on that occasion had been $5 million, and some indication of the volatility of the market at that time comes from the fact that, in 1992, it was sold by Coys for ‘just’ $1,707,750.

In 1996, the LM was bought by Prince Jefri, brother of the Sultan of Brunei, and was subsequently offered by Christie’s at its Exceptional Motor Cars auction at Pebble Beach on 29 August 1999. It featured on the cover of the catalogue and was, at that stage, sporting red bodywork.

Having been sold for £1,352,925, it was shipped to the UK and offered for sale by Adrian Hamilton – initially, of course, as 6023. As explained in the previous chapter, it was while the car was with Hamilton that its true identity was established. It was fitted with an engine that was stamped ‘6023’, but which was actually identified as numero interno 16/LM – which made it the unit that had originally been fitted to 5909, the NART car that finished second in the 1964 Reims 12 Hours. The real 6023, on the other hand, retained its correct engine – numero interno 18/LM.

Hamilton sold 6313 to businessman and racing driver Juan Barazi, and so began its busy and occasionally hard life in historic motor sport. Barazi

entered it for the Tour Auto in April 2002 and, in August that year, took the LM to the revered Shelsley Walsh hill-climb as part of a magnificently supported Ferrari invitation class. Also tackling the Worcestershire hill that weekend were historic aces David Franklin in Carlos Monteverde’s sublime 212 E, Peter Hardman in Harry Leventis’s Dino 206 SP, and Ferrari specialist David Cottingham in his 500 TRC.

Franklin – the 1978 British Hill-climb Champion – was quickest, posting an ear-splitting best of 30.20 seconds. Barazi’s best time aboard 6313 was an impressive 38.37 seconds, good enough for second in class – once the handicaps had been applied – behind Cottingham.

The following month, Barazi was all set to take part in the Whitsun Trophy at the Goodwood Revival but, having set a time that would have been good enough for 14th on the grid, he went off in a big way between Fordwater and St Mary’s. The LM’s bodywork was badly damaged and some of the chassis rear support tubes had to be replaced during the car’s subsequent rebuild at DK Engineering, but fortunately the main frame survived intact. The original rear panel – complete with those all-important repairs following the Le Mans tyre blowout in 1965 – was also replaced, although Barazi retained it because of its historical significance.

The LM was rebuilt in time for the 2003 Goodwood Festival of Speed, and in 2004 Barazi took it back to Le Mans for the Classic meeting, although sadly he and Michael Vergers were non-starters.

In 2005, Barazi sold 6313 to its current custodian and, over the course of the following decade, the LM

The LM was a regular winner in the Trofeo Nastro Rosso series.

Here at Paul Ricard in 2013, it came out on top in both races.

Eric Sawyer

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100 Exceptional Cars 101Ferrari 250 LM

Back on track Back on track

would continue to be raced regularly and with notable success. First up, however, was the inaugural Grande Prémio Histórico do Porto, which sadly ended in a shunt. The event was held from 8-10 July on a 2.7-mile derivation of the old Porto circuit, and 6313 was one of many cars to come to grief on the unforgiving layout.

There were better days ahead. At the 2006 Goodwood Revival, Gary Pearson drove 6313 in the Whitsun Trophy. The Ferrari was up against some seriously heavy metal, Frank Sytner putting his Lola T70 on pole position with a lap of 1m 22.513s. Then came Nick Whale’s McLaren M1B, Ray Bellm’s GT40, Howard Redhouse’s Lotus 30, and the T70s of Stuart Graham and Chris Chiles. Pearson lined up seventh on the grid, but by the chequered flag he had worked his way up to fourth, behind only Sytner, Whale and Bellm. Pearson drove it in the same event the following year but could manage only 13th, with Bellm taking his GT40 to victory.

The LM was regularly entered for the Ferrari Maserati Historic Challenge – winning at Mugello in April 2008 – and in June 2009 it finally took victory at Le Mans, 44 years after it had so nearly claimed a famous win there. The Legends race was a 45-minute curtain-raiser to the modern 24 Hours, and that year was for cars that competed between 1949 and 1965.

At the 2002 Goodwood Revival, 6313 had set a time good enough for a mid-field starting position, but sadly it was destined not to start the race. James Mann

This is how the weekend came to an end – on the back of a low-loader after a big accident. Note the red rear panel! Eric Sawyer

Back at Le Mans: in 2004, 6313 returned to the scene of its most famous race, this time for the

popular Classic meeting. Eric Sawyer

Gary Pearson nips at the heels of Ray Bellm’s GT40 during the 2006 Goodwood Revival. Pearson

finished fourth in the Whitsun Trophy. James Mann

Next spread Pearson leading the GT40 of Richard Meins through Madgwick at the Goodwood

Revival in 2007. The positions were reversed come the chequered flag, the Ferrari finishing 13th.

Eric Sawyer

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