[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ferrari launches a new 458 Speciale.
At the beginning of this week on /DRIVE, Mike Musto drove a
special 1955 Buick.
Corvette C7R made a special appearance at
the Monterey Historics.
And all of that inspires me to tell you a few stories about
some other auto racing specials for
each of those brands--
Ferrari, Corvette, Buick.
This is "ShakeDown," the /DRIVE auto racing show.
I'm Leo Parente.
And today, it's all special.
Yeah, special like that short bus I used to have to ride on.
Ah, memories.
[CAR ENGINE]
The Ferrari 458 Italia Speciale--
it's not a race car, but it is cool and a special version of
this great Ferrari.
Now this Ferrari 458, that challenge car, is a race car,
and the closest version to a production car.
And why would anyone ever do that to a
Ferrari, race car or not?
Now, last week we showed you two other Ferrari 458 race
cars, the ALMS and Grand Am versions, both headed to the
2014 United Sports Car Racing Series.
But we're talking about this Speciale--
lighter weight, more horsepower, active aero,
special traction control, and handling management
computerization.
But really, it's making me think about special
Ferrari race cars.
And I'm going to give you just three, and you're going to
drop into the comments section your thoughts on your special
Ferrari race cars.
My first, the 1970 Ferrari 512 S Coda Lunga, specially built
for the Le Mans 24 and the Mulsanne Straight when it
didn't have chicanes.
It was a co-star of the movie "Le Mans" when it fought those
Porsche 917s.
This car is all about aero, and it's just sexy special--
at least it is to me.
Now, the second special Ferrari for me--
and again, I'm showing my age by going back in time, but
loving this story--
is this, 1971 Penske Sunoco Ferrari.
Also a 512, but this one an M Coupe.
But very different from the Coda Lunga, and very special
for a whole bunch of different reasons.
Now, Roger Penske was in his endurance racing mode, and was
the king of taking various brands to victory circle.
In 1969, he won the Daytona 24 with a Lola T70 MkIIIB Coupe.
For 1971, Roger thought Ferrari was the trick.
And here comes the story, or so the legend goes.
And here's an overview of the story, so google for more of
the details.
Penske ordered a new 512 M from the Ferrari factory, only
to receive a horribly used Ferrari race car.
What, there was no Carfax in 1971?
And at the time, I recall, Ferrari race car sales
agreements came with strict rules on negating
modifications or the use of non-Ferrari parts.
So pissed is not what you make Roger Penske, so he made his
own special Ferrari 512 M. Totally rebuilt the car--
stiffened the chassis, added a whole bunch of new tricks, a
quick fill fuel system, suspension tweaks, and unique
features all over the place, plus a rear wing, and cleaned
up the aerodynamics.
All done with Penske show car finish and
attention to detail.
But the biggest holy mostacholi to Enzo was he took
the V12 Ferrari engine to Traco Engineering, his CanAm
engine builder, and opened up the Ferrari.
Started replacing parts and grinding
on the Italian metals.
Ended up with more horsepower than the real Ferraris, pole
position versus everyone else, including the Porsche 917s,
and he got a P2 Daytona 24 finish out of it.
To Sebring, another pole position, but the car raced
and never got great finishes from there on.
But it was a special Ferrari--
but not special enough to win.
My third special Ferrari race car, the 250 GT Breadvan.
Now, some Ferrari employees had had enough of Enzo's
antics and left the company and formed their own race shop
called ATS.
A Ferrari race car customer, Count Volpi, was also one of
the financial backers of ATS.
So Enzo rewarded this alleged betrayal of loyalty by
refusing to sell Volpi a GTO.
I'm a frigging Count, Volpi must've thought.
I'll build my own GTO, and better.
So his 250 GT that he owned got modded.
The V12 engine was pushed back farther for
better weight balance.
GTO parts were added to the car, 100 kilograms of
lightness was added versus a GTO, and the aero body work
was installed.
And a special Ferrari race car was born.
At Le Mans 1962, I think, the car DNF'd with a broken drive
shaft, but was super quick and faster than the GTOs, and all
the other GTs.
Now, Breadvan campaigned four more times in that season,
scoring two GT class victories and a track record or two.
And apparently, even to this day, inspiring other builders
to build Breadvan specials--
like Callaway Cars and the new Corvette C7.
Here Callaway's calling it their AeroWagon.
And here is the Corvette C7.R race car that did some vanity
laps at the 2013 Monterey Historics.
Now, still GM and Corvette Racing won't discuss the
details until the official launch, but here's what I
think are the basic upgrades versus the last generation
C6.R. Like the road car, there is carry over from the
previous generation, but it's all heavily updated.
And like the road car, this race car is smaller in scale,
and that provides many benefits, including weight
distribution.
This GTE, now USCR GTLM, the rules for that class say a set
weight for all of those cars--
1,245 kilo, 2,745 pounds.
And since smaller is less weight, the Corvette team will
be able to move the weight and the ballast around the car as
they need for better balance.
Aero will be a step forward.
More downforce likely, and probably less drag.
And looking at the rear of the car and how open the airspace
is above the diffuser, I'd bet, just like the road car,
they're focusing on air flow management inside and through
the car to make this a better managed race car.
All in all, a special tease intro at Monterey for the most
special of Corvettes, the factory C7.R race car that'll
run starting in 2014.
Oh, and here's the special C6.R test mule that went on
track when that generation race car debuted.
There was no factory camo back then, but it made for great
die casts and slot cars, and caused a ton of corporate
agita at GM.
But that's a whole 'nother special story for another
time, or never.
OK, and then we have Buick, inspired by Mike Musto's Buick
special showcase video that he did.
But my take is Buick and racing.
And since Buick doesn't race any more, time to show you
some special Buicks that did hit the racetrack--
that's right before this, and this.
Buick raced, and it was good for the brand in my opinion,
versus stuffing some huge basketball players into
compact cars to make--
I don't know what key selling point.
Before that, there were pre-war Buick race cars like
this 1910 special.
There were stock cars like Musto's special, but this was
1954 and this car was built and raced for the Mexico La
Carrera Panamericana race, rally, cross-country thing,
whatever it was.
Five of them were built, and Coca-Cola was their sponsor.
Bonneville Salt Flats is happening now, and Buicks are
still there racing.
Buick raced the Indy 500, more than a few generations.
Actually, is that a Chevrolet in a Buick?
And those spare tire looking things?
That's the radiator.
And then in the 1970s and '80s, Buick V6 Turbo took on
the V8 Turbos of Cosworth and others.
More than a few teams ran them.
More than a few pole positions and big speed, but no wins.
Buick even backed the Indy Lights Driver Development
Series with a supply of V6 normally aspirated engines.
In drag racing, how about a famous racer, "TV" Tommy Ivo,
thinking four Buicks were the answer, and this car was
famously born.
There were many other Buick drag cars through the years,
mainly in the stock racing classes.
And of course, Buick was in NASCAR.
And then there were the Buick sports cars.
How about starting with this 1963 Tojeiro Buick?
A Scottish team, Ecurie Ecosse, a super young Jackie
Stewart, and what the heck, a decision to build their own
race car was the mindset.
And the thing was fitted with a Buick V8, and a win the
first time out.
There were all sorts of other special Buick road racing
cars, and here are a few of them.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
But my favorite was this one--
racing in the IMSA Prototype Class in the 1980s.
A March chassis V6 Turbo, huge horsepower.
And the inter-cooler from hell, because apparently
before being stuffed into this race car, it was
used to cool hell.
Functionally ugly, but all race car beautiful.
Some of these Buicks made their way to Le Mans, the 24.
It's montage time.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So that's it?
Of course not.
How about a Buick Special in Formula 1?
And not any prewar generation car-- how about the 1966
season and a bit more?
This car, Jack Brabham, and the championship winning Jack
namesake, self-built, Brabham BT20 Repco.
Here's Jack in his car at Spa.
And before you say Repco was an Oldsmobile-based motor, I
say listen to this a bit.
This was the start of the 3 litre F1 era, and everyone was
scrambling to find the right engines.
Brabham thought the engine from Repco, an Aussie
technical supplier who was tweaking on an
all-aluminum GM engine.
Apollo plant funded but abandoned by Oldsmobile, but
it was going to be developed by Olds to be installed in a
future Buick production car and to be branded Buick.
So as Jack Brabham won the 1966 F1 championship with a
Buick engine, I win by claiming Buick was in F1.
OK, that's it.
Ferrari, Corvette, Buick--
all specials.
That's what this show is all about.
So now it's time to give me your thoughts on special race
cars that you can think of for Ferrari, Corvette, and Buick.
See you next time.
[CAR ENGINES]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Jesus!
OK.