The Ferrari 250 GT SWB Breadvan is a one-off Ferrari made in 1962 from a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB, chassis number 2819 GT. It was built to compete against the new 1962

Ferrari 250 GTO The Ferrari 250 GTO is a GT car produced by Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for homologation into the FIA's Group 3 Grand Touring Car category. It was powered by Ferrari's ''Tipo 168/62'' Colombo V12 engine. The "250" in its name denotes the displa ...

at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

and other

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and ...

races.

Development

In 1962, the engineer

Giotto Bizzarrini Giotto Bizzarrini (born 6 June 1926 in Quercianella, Livorno Province, Italy) is an Italian automobile engineer who was active from the 1950s through the 1970s. After graduating in 1953, Bizzarrini eventually joined Alfa Romeo as a test driver. ...

was hired by Count

Giovanni Volpi Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata (born 1938 in Venice, Kingdom of Italy) is an Italian-Algerian nobleman and a former automobile racing manager and Formula One team owner. He inherited a fortune, at the age of 24, from his father, Count Giuseppe ...

, owner of the

Scuderia Serenissima Scuderia Serenissima and Scuderia SSS Republica di Venezia were names used by Giovanni Volpi to enter his own cars in Formula One and sports car racing in the early 1960s. Scuderia Serenissima was an auto racing team in the early 1960s. Funded ...

racing team, to upgrade a Ferrari 250 GT SWB so it would be competitive with the then-new

. Enzo Ferrari had refused to sell any GTOs to Count Volpi, due to Volpi's hiring of former Ferrari employees at ATS. The donor car for this project was a 250 GT SWB Competition, serial number 2819 GT. This car had previously competed in the 1961

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

, where it took 2nd place overall driven by

Olivier Gendebien Olivier Jean Marie Fernand Gendebien (12 January 1924 – 2 October 1998) was a Belgian racing driver who was called "one of the greatest sportscar racers of all time". Rally racer Gendebien spent some years in the Belgian Congo. On his return ...

and

Lucien Bianchi Lucien Bianchi (10 November 1934 – 30 March 1969), born Luciano Bianchi, was an Italian-born Belgian racing driver who raced for the Cooper, ENB, UDT Laystall and Scuderia Centro Sud teams in Formula One. He entered a total of 19 Formula One W ...

. The car was sold by Gendebien to Volpi shortly afterward for use with Scuderia Serenissima. As with other competition-spec SWBs, this car had a lightweight body and chassis, minimal trim, and a more powerful 286 bhp Tipo 168 engine with Testarossa-type heads. Bizzarrini applied all the ideas he had developed working on the GTO and together with the car body specialist

Piero Drogo Piero Drogo (born in Vignale Monferrato, Alessandria, 8 August 1926 – died in Bologna, 28 April 1973) was a racing driver and coachbuilder from Italy. He participated in one Formula One Grand Prix, debuting at the 1960 Italian Grand Prix. He ...

developed an aerodynamically advanced body, even lower than the GTO's, with the roof line dramatically extended to the rear end following Kamm aerodynamic theory. The resulting

shooting-brake Shooting brake (sometimes mis-identified as "shooting break") is a car body style which originated in the 1890s as a horse-drawn wagon used to transport shooting parties with their equipment and game. The first automotive shooting brakes were ...

appearance led to the French press nicknaming it "''La Camionnette''" (little truck), while the English-speaking journalists called it the "Breadvan." Bizzarrini moved the engine and radiator further back to the center of the chassis than the GTO, and lowered it by fitting a dry sump system. The original three 46 DCN

Weber carburetors Weber Carburetors is an automotive manufacturing company founded in 1923, known for their carburetors. History Eduardo Weber began his automotive career working for Fiat, first at their Turin plant (in 1914) and later at a dealership in Bologna ...

were replaced with six twin choke 38 DCN Webers. The original 4-speed gearbox was retained. Giorgio Neri and Luciano Bonacini of Modena were contracted to perform all the mechanical modifications and race preparation. The resulting car was significantly lighter than the GTO, at compared to the typical GTO weight of .

Competition history

The rebodied Breadvan made its competition debut at the

1962 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 30th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 23 and 24 June 1962. It was the eighth round of the new 1962 International Championship of Manufacturers. Regulations The CSI (Commission Sportive Internatio ...

. It quickly passed all Ferrari GTOs and was 7th overall during the 4th hour when a driveshaft failure caused its retirement. Results at other races proved the design's effectiveness, as the car won the GT class in two races during the 1962 season. The car's last race in period was at the Coppa Gallenga Hillclimb in 1965, however since 1973 it has appeared regularly at historic races worldwide, including events such as the

Monterey Historic Automobile Races The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is an annual event held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Its purpose is to provide an event in which historic racecars can compete. It takes place over the course of one weekend ...

, the

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in late June or ...

and the Tour Auto.

Influence

The 250 GT SWB Breadvan's unusual but effective aerodynamics proved the

Kamm tail A Kammback—also known as a Kamm tail or K-tail—is an automotive styling feature wherein the rear of the car slopes downwards before being abruptly cut off with a vertical or near-vertical surface. A Kammback improves aerodynamic drag, thus ...

design that would be used on many other racing cars, including the Ford J-car and the

Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ The Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ (also known as the Alfa Romeo TZ or Tubolare Zagato) was a sports car and racing car manufactured by Alfa Romeo from 1963 to 1967. It replaced the Giulietta SZ. In 2011, the name was reduced from Giulia TZ to TZ in the n ...

. Following the success of the Breadvan, two additional 250 GT SWB cars (S/N 2053 GT and 2735 GT) were modified for privateer drivers by Bizzarrini, Drogo, Neri and Bonacini, distinctively bodied with similar shapes. A third modified Ferrari was planned but not completed. An

Iso Rivolta ISO Rivolta is an Italian car and motorbike manufacturer active in the motor vehicle sector since 1938. Over the years, the company has taken various names, including Isothermos, Iso Autoveicoli Spa in 1952, Iso Rivolta in 1962, Iso Motors in 1 ...

, chassis number IR460368, was also rebodied by Drogo in a similar style to 2819 GT. Similar

shooting brake Shooting brake (sometimes mis-identified as "shooting break") is a car body style which originated in the 1890s as a horse-drawn wagon used to transport shooting parties with their equipment and game. The first automotive shooting brakes were ...

designs were used on later Ferrari concept cars and production cars such as the 456 GT Venice and the Ferrari FF. In 2018,

Niels van Roij Niels is a male given name, equivalent to Nicholas, which is common in Denmark, Belgium, Norway (formerly) and the Netherlands. The Norwegian and Swedish variant is Nils. The name is a developed short form of Nicholas or Greek Nicolaos after Saint ...

, car designer and coachbuilder, was commissioned to create an homage vehicle. A

Ferrari 550 The Ferrari 550 Maranello (''tipo'' F133) is a front-engine V12 2-seat grand tourer built by Ferrari from 1996 to 2001. The 550 Maranello marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for its 2-seater 12-cylinder model, 23 y ...

Maranello was the base vehicle. The design and realisation of the vehicle was documented and regularly released for public viewing by van Roij.Remember The Ferrari Breadvan Hommage Project? It's Almost Done
Christopher Smith, Motor1, 2020-11-30, accessed 2020-12-23Breadvan Hommage
Niels van Roij website, accessed 2020-12-23Breadvan Hommage - The Most Exciting Ferrari Build of this Decade !
Ratarossa, 2020-11-09, accessed 2020-12-23

References

External links

Supercars.net article on the Ferrari 250 GT "Breadvan"Coachbuild.com encyclopedia: Ferrari 250 GT "Breadvan"
250 GT SWB Breadvan 24 Hours of Le Mans race cars 1960s cars One-off cars Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Station wagons

Development

Competition history

Influence

See also

References

Further reading

External links