Ferrari 333sp Question

There were many suspension and aero changes throughout the 333SP run. Some early cars were given successive upgrades as they were introduced.

I'm pretty sure the motors weren't de-tuned or up-tuned each race, though. It's not as if they could "dial up the boost". Pretty much, they had a useful life of 24 hours in all applications.

A couple of teams did experiment, and Doran's team made significant upgrades under the bodywork.

CW

 

Was around $750,000 about 6 months ago, now probably over $1+ million, assuming not ever wrecked and paperwork in order.

 

Regarding pricing, s/n 019, which is the gold standard 333SP (won the 36-hours of FL), was involved in a trade years ago at the $1MM mark. Since then, the prices have continued to creep up. Asking prices are regularly north of $750K, with a few at the $1MM point. I do regret not buying at $450K when I had the chance. However, prices may see a decline. Stay tuned.

At least some of the pricing is dependent upon the spares package. Also, time left to a rebuild. Motor rebuilds are not inexpensive, but they're not required (as some will tell you) to go back to Michelotto at $100K+. There are even a few owners having parts manufactured for 333SPs now. So, parts supply is reasonably good. However, one very expensive maintenance issue is the battery replacement for the dash electronics. Must send it back to Michelotto when it dies. I've heard $15K, but please don't quote me until I have an invoice to back that up. Whatever the actual number is, they're not cheap to campaign even in vintage. I've also heard that tire supply is getting tight.

CW

 

A lot of that sounds very familiar with the 360 GT's

 

2 are in France and were private tested at the P.Ricard some weeks ago, the JMB cars that raced at Le Mans in 1998/2000, see at the end of the page :

http://www.gurneyflap.com/sportproto2.html

 

360C,

Wasn't it you who quoted me the "Costalotto" phrase? Good'un.

CW

 

Sound is uniquely 333SP. All were the same engine spec, I believe, though I wouldn't be too surprised if someone has tinkered along the way. Story was all motors had to go back to Michelotto for their rebuilds (party line, even today), so they kept them reasonably standardized. As I mentioned, a few folks have begun manufacturing parts and even doing re-builds here in the States. Shouldn't change the sound, though.

However, Doran dropped a Judd motor in 025 for a while. That sounded different. It's back to Ferrari power, now.

CW

 

Yup, from personal experience as well
It gets worse too, if you cut them out of the loop and buy from sources other than Michelotto you run the very real risk of being black banned from any further support from Michelotto. Prices for full engine rebuilds on 360 GT's are eye watering. From memory they are lifed at 4000 race km's.

 

Ballpark? Can you purchase the parts from Ferrari or do they have to come from Michelotto and if so do they have the option to just buy the parts?

 

I do know both those cars and have seen both the videos, of course. They sound identical in the flesh. Can't tell you why they sound different in the videos. However, it may have something to do with using a camera phone to to record the video. Not great quality.

CW

 

Pics? Anyone? I love the 333 SP and find all of this very interesting.

 

That is really sad

 

I have not looked at the price list for a while; but I seem to recall a full rebuild is circa $120k and a light refresh about $45k; but figures would be way out of date now. I remember paying over $20k for a muffler, pipes and fittings for my N-GT. My full Tubi system on my F50 was less and that was new manifolds and everything back to exhaust tips.

 

Very harsh; but reasonably effective....

 

Oh, and Michelotto won't release the full 333SP engine management software. You can get the "lite" version that allows you to start and run the car, but you cannot get the full-blown software that lets you tinker with the settings. That's Michelotto proprietary. Reportedly, even Doran sent engines back to Michelotto and never messed with the software. I have heard that at least one dealer has the full version of the software, but his sales pitch is "send me the car, I'll send you a bill." And, the car may come back running worse! The only way to fix it is to ship it to Michelotto with a blank check.

Lot of blank checks flying around these days at SpA, though, so this isn't anything new! It's called sucking you dry!

CW

 

Wow, thanks for sharing! That makes Group C cars cheap!

 

What do you want to know about the software? It's supposedly unobtainable. I've never seen the full-blown version and have only heard about it. I've seen the basic version that is conveyed with the cars when sold. I do have it on good authority, though, that even the basic software code is pretty difficult to impossible to follow. Maybe an owner should hire a crack hacker to get on this?

Anyway, there is at least one copy of the full software supposedly floating around here in the US in the hands of a dealer. I cannot verify that, but I have been advised that it's a typical "special" deal. In other words, give us a blank check, we'll tell you we're doing something to your car (which you can't verify, of course), we'll send it back to you and we'll drain your bank account dry for good measure.

CW