Ferrari 121LM Spider by Scaglietti
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Car producer : |
Ferrari |
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Model: |
121LM Spider by Scaglietti |
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Year: |
1955 |
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Type: |
Roadster |
The Ferrari 121LM was a racing car that Ferrari built in 1955 and which Scuderia used in the same year at sports car racing.
The 121LM, like the Ferrari 118LM, belonged to Ferrari's early six-cylinder racing cars before the Dino era. The 121LM had an in-line engine, which produced 330 hp with a displacement of 4412 cm³. The engine, still developed by Aurelio Lampredi, had originally been designed as a four-cylinder engine, retrofitted to compete against the dominant competition of Mercedes-Benz. In 1955, four pieces of the 260 km / h fast racing car at Scaglietti were fitted with a bodywork.
For the first time in a race, the 121LM was driven by the Mille Miglia in 1955. The scarcely tested car chassis number 0558LM with a bodywork of Scaglietti was controlled by Eugenio Castellotti, who did not get there. The reason for the failure was not a lack of technical maturity, but a tire damage, which forced the Italian to the task. The second round of the Le Mans 24-hour race this year followed. Three wagons were reported in the long-distance race, which had been overtaken by a serious accident. Phil Hill and Umberto Maglioli drove the chassis 0558LM, which was already used by the Mille Miglia. The two new vehicles - 0532LM and 0564LM - were driven by Eugenio Castellotti, Paolo Marzotto, Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell. All three cars fell through technical defects, with the car of Harry Schell and Maurice Trintignant still the furthest with 107 rounds.
In the 1000 km race of Kristianstad, which was not yet part of the sports car world championship in 1955, the first goal was to enter a factory 121LM. Behind the two Mercedes-Benz drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss Eugenio Castellotti reached the third overall ranking. Only once did there exist a work assignment; Umberto Maglioli fell out with an overheated engine at the Venezuela Grand Prix.
Afterwards all four wagons - Maglioli drove in Venezuela chassis 0484LM, a converted 118LM - sold to US-American privates, which were successful with the 121LM. Ernie McAfee won the two SCCA races in Santa Barbara in 1956 with the chassis 0564LM. With the same vehicle, however, he fatally killed the Pebble Beach National Championship Sports Car Road Race in 1956. Also Carroll Shelby, Rory Cheryholmes and Phil Hill won SCCA races with privately reported 121LM. The 1959 Ferrari racing car had the last race at the Riverside 200-mile race; at the wheel of Rodger Ward, who could not compete for the second race after an accident in the first race
