1961 Ferrari 250 TRi-61

[John Z. Goriup]

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Burdened by an old, highly unreliable iMac that was rapidly loosing the ability to be updated, and as a timely celebration of my 83rd, I treated myself to a new Apple iMac 24" with the remarkable new M1 chip - a package I found at the local Apple specialist, configured exactly as I wanted to order it, since I won't ever again set foot into an Apple retail store where strange & scary creatures with man-buns, purple hair and metal hardware in their faces descent on innocent customers. As is the case with so many other goods these days, there are shortages of one important part or another and these machines have become hard to find, entailing long waiting periods. Much to my delight and mystification, while the files from my old iMac were being downloaded onto the new one we stumbled across some images I thought were lost forever........appearantly they were just hiding where I had unwittingly relegated them to.

Among those images were a few of one of the most exotic, succesful, elusive and desirable cars ever made - the Ferrari 1961 TRi-61  250 Testa Rossa. Only two were ever made, one reserved for the factory racing team ( #10, currently in the R. Lauren collection ) the other for Count Volpi's famous Scuderia Serenissima privateer racing team. The werks car was driven to victories in the '61 editions of the 24 hours of Le Mans, as well as the 12 hours of Sebring by P. Hill & O. Gendebien, while the other car placed second in both races, driven by some of the biggest names in Ferrari history, such as Baghetti, Mairesse, Ginther and Wolfgang von Tripps.

The specs of these cars are really not all that noteworthy, given their appearant invincibility and legendary reputation fore dominance in endurance racing.......maybe the exact reason the 'old man' insisted on keeping things simple, reliable & traditional, and insisted on not fixing what he knew wasn't broken & what had won races for him in the past.

For '61, the 250 TRs received lightened and strengthened tubular frames, new streamlined, redesigned 'aero' bodies with elevated rear ends, often referred to as 'open coupes' and a pointed, twin-mouth front grille, carried over to the 'sharkmouth' 246 F1 car, the 246 series of sports racers, as well as the succesful 62 TRi 330, the final iteration of the Testa Rossa series.

Power was by Giaocchino Colombo's immortal Tipo 128, 60 degree, 24 valve, SOHC V12 of 2953 cc capacity, making approx. 315 HP.

To see and hear these beautiful and historic machines was a real treat and I shall remember that weekend a long time.

Leica SL / 24-90 V.E.

Thanks for looking,

JZG

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Edited August 15, 2022 by John Z. Goriup

[John Z. Goriup]

unfortunately, wasn't able to convince anyone to open the 'bonnet' for some photos.

JZG

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[John Z. Goriup]

In motion the sound of this car will raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

JZG

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[John Z. Goriup]

The high rear and the spoiler ( which was soon to also appear on the 250 GTO ) contributed to higher top speed & stability.

JZG

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[John Z. Goriup]

The view most of the TRi-61's competitors ever saw.

JZG

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[stuny]

I'm so glad you updated your Mac.  These are terrific, and with such a rich historical value.

[Rona!d]

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Am 15.8.2022 um 03:28 schrieb John Z. Goriup:

..., since I won't ever again set foot into an Apple retail store where strange & scary creatures with man-buns, purple hair and metal hardware in their faces descent on innocent customers.

😆