BELGIUM & VINTAGE FERRARI HISTORY

On a regular basis I will be posting interesting videos, pictures, etc, on the great history of Ferrari in Belgium.
We start with a beautiful video about the great Belgian racing driver Willy Mairesse at Ferrari. Gorgeous, rare filming inside the factory and on the racetrack of Modena. Speaking French is not a must to enjoy these images of a great automobile era.

https://www.sonuma.be/archive/visite-chez-ferrari-avec-willy-mairesse

 

great video from the good old handmade cars

 

Really cool footage!

 

Thank you very much.

 

Next in this thread is the great Belgian racing driver Olivier Gendebien.

For fifteen years, Olivier Gendebien (1924-1998) held the record for most victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with four wins, all with Ferrari in eight appearances. This enviable Le Mans record might suggest that Olivier Gendebien drove cars of a single manufacturer ... but it was at the wheel of a Porsche that the Belgian driver began his career in La Sarthe in 1955 . With the German driver Wolfgang Seidel, he finished fifth in an RS 550. Expert in the major road marathons of the fifties (Liège-Rome-Liège, Targa Florio, Mille Miglia), Olivier Gendebien was truly built for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and another major endurance race, the 12 Hours of Sebring which he won three consecutive years (1959-60-61).

Full racing biography:
http://www.historicracing.com/driver_detail.cfm?driverID=1860

Olivier Gendebien is beautifully remembered on the official Ferrari website:
https://formula1.ferrari.com/en/happened-today-10-02/

More interesting things about Gendebien:
https://primotipo.com/2014/10/29/olivier-gendebien-sports-car-ace/

http://8w.forix.com/gendebien.html

In the last picture, we see Gendebien between 2 of his best friends: Phil Hill and Paul Frère, 3 Le Mans winners in a row, short before the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1971 (Klemantaski collection). The 3 men would meet, probably for the last time 21 years later, at the greatest Ferrari Meeting of all times: FF40, the great celebration of Jacques Swaters' 40 years of collaboration between Ferrari and Garage-Ecurie Francorchamps, in Brussels and at the racetrack of Spa-Francorchamps in September 1992. More about that in one of next posts.

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Spending an evening with Olivier Gendebien as he told me many tales of his racing years was one of my most special occasions with a driver, then there was a tornado during dinner but it was all water off a duck's back to him...see Cavallino 90 December 1995 issue page 46...time flies the actual evening was July 10, 1993...

Paul Frere was always very gracious when I spoke with him at Le Mans in the 1990's and when I interviewed him summer 2007 for well over an hour on the phone for two books. A true authority as a driver journalist, they don't make them like him any more. I was in Geneva, he in the south of France and it may have been his last interview as he passed six months later.

Phil Hill was always welcoming, I interviewed him several times on the phone and an amusing moment decades ago was passing him pontoon fendered TR 0748 after I finished test driving it for Cavallino at that hillclimb near la Jolla from the beach up (Torrey Pines?), he asked how it was I said the brakes were weak but consistent, he just nodded his head and helped his wife into her seat and they drove off in a mellow way...it was a real privilege to have been able to listen to them, I hope they are conversing in the great circuit in the sky like in the wonderful photo above

 

Yes that's exactly right. Torrey Pines.

 

Thanks.

 

The one and only real Ferrari icon in Belgium was Jacques Swaters (1926-2010).

Jacques Swaters, along with friends Andre Pilette, Roger Laurent and Charles de Tornaco, formed the Ecurie Belgique racing team, a Talbot-Lago Grand Prix car was purchased and the three entered various races with the car—resplendent in its yellow national livery. Ecurie Belgique was later to become Ecurie Francorchamps and ultimately Ecurie Nationale Belge. In 1953, still quite young, Swaters’s dream was to own a Ferrari that he could race in the Grand Prix des Frontières in Chimay, Belgium. He travelled to the Ferrari factory in Modena, Italy and ordered a Ferrari 500 F2 chassis, which was specially customized to his specifications and painted yellow. In his mind, transporting the car back to Belgium was quite simple—drive it! This was overnight, without lights, number plates or insurance. At the Italian border, officials were stunned, but it was “Forza Ferrari” and he was let through. Similarly, French border customs officers also let him through. It wasn’t until he got to Belgium he encountered problems. The border was closed, the barrier was down and unattended. Fortunately, the barrier was high enough for him to drive underneath. Enzo Ferrari got to learn of this epic 1000-kilometer journey and branded him the “craziest man of all.”

Competing in more than 50 races in both sports cars and formula cars with such marques as Veritas, Talbot-Lago, Ferrari and Jaguar before retirement, it was his first victory at the 1953 Grand Prix de Berlin that gave him the most pleasure. As he stood on the top step of the podium with over 100,000 Germans watching, he heard the Belgium national anthem played. It was an unimaginable feeling of sweet joy as he remembered those Belgians who were persecuted and perished in WWII.

Following his (racing) retirement he concentrated on his team management skills, and worked alongside Johnny Claes and Paul Frére, helping young drivers such as Olivier Gendebien, Lucien and Mauro Bianchi in Cooper-Climax F2 cars. In 1964, Swaters concentrated on sports car racing and under the banner of Ecurie Francorchamps, which had remained an independent company of his, entered many races with frequent visits to the podium. Willie Mairesse took the team to victory in the 1965 Spa 500 kms at the wheel of a Ferrari 250LM.

To augment his racing passion, Swaters set up a very succesful Ferrari dealership in 1953 : Garage Francorchamps. Importer for the Benelux, innumerable Ferrari road and racing cars were sent to the modest workshop in Rue de la Brasserie, later in Rue Goffart and Rue Colonel Bourg, before opening the majestic new logistics in 1992 at Lozenberg in Zaventem, close to the airport.

In recognition of their long standing relationship, Ferrari unveiled the Ferrari 456 GT to the world at the memorable FF40 in 1992. (More about FF40 in next posts). At the same time the "Blue Swaters" was introduced by Ferrari as a new, official colour to celebrate 40 years of partnership Ferrari-Swaters.

During his lifetime Jacques Swaters collected everything about Ferrari, original documentations, important vintage cars, sculptures, and other automobilia. With all these items he opened "the bunker" as he would call the Galleria Ferrari, an impressive collection in which featured a lot of gifts given personally by Enzo Ferrari, for example 1 of only 3 bronze crucifix crafted at Ferrari's foundery, on the occasion of the pope's visit to the Maranello factory, as well as a wooden sculpture of the Prancing Horse, that used to decorate Enzo Ferrari's personal office at Ferrari's Fiorano circuit. The collection also housed the only Ferrari four-door ever made, the "Pinin" prototype, the Ferrari GTO Evoluzione, a Ferrari California and other very rare and important cars of the Ferrari brand.

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In his Ferrari 500 F2.

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Jacques after his Ferrari win at the 9.Internationales Avusrennen in 1953.

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Jacques and his racing friend Charles de Tornaco at Circuit de Mettet (F), filling up gas..... whilst smoking a cigarette!

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Garage Francorchamps, Official Ferrari Dealer, Rue de la Brasserie, Brussels.

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Ecurie Francorchamps, Le Mans 1957.

 

Bellow Yellow! This is a must read for any racing enthousiast : gorgeous interview (1998) with Jacques Swaters, by the great Chris Nixon. (Copyright Motorsportmagazine.com)

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/may-1998/49/bellow-yellow

And a must see of the 500 KM of Spa-Francorchamps 1965. Ecurie Francorchamps in action:




Equipe Nationale Belge Ferrari 500 TRC - #0682 MDTR, Le Mans 1957 - Lucien Bianchi / Georges Harris

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One of the mighty GTO's of Ecurie Francorchamps, #4153

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Willy Mairesse and Jean Blaton "Beurlys" drove this 412P in the 1967 Daytona 24hours.

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The great Belgian racing driver Andre Pilette driving a Ferrari/Lancia D50 for Ecurie Franmcorchamps, at Spa, 1956.

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The Écurie Francorchamps 512S “Coda Lunga” driven by Hugues de Fierlandt and Alistair Walker. 5th overall at the 1970 Le Mans 24 Hours.

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Lucien Bianchi/Jean Blaton "Beurlys" in a 365 P2 on the banking of 1000 KM of Monza 1966.

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Willy Mairesse/ Jean Blaton "Beurlys" in a 330 P4 #0856 Le Mans 24h,1967

 

ULTRA RARE HISTORIC 330P4 FILM!
Please watch these exclusive images of Ferrari Mechanics working and assembling several 330 P4's..... Even young Head Engineer Mauro Forghieri and Franco Gozzi appear and help fixing the engine cover.
This is gorgeous, rare craftmanship. Beautiful times!
(unfortunately some guy added silly music, so I would advise to put OFF the sound, pity)

In a next post, we will enjoy some great historic pictures of the 330 P4 of Ecurie Francorchamps.

 

Fantastic video. Forghieri and Gozzi with some mechanics like Antonio Bellentani and Carlo Amadessi working on a 206 S and a P3. The cars are not new. Looks like they make some repairs or modifications.

 

The famous 330 P4 #0856, driven by Mairesse/Beurlys winning a glorious 3rd place at 24H of Le Mans in 1967.
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More of the Holy nr.24.
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And the last series.
Admire the action in the pits and the celebrating mechanics!

 

According to Ferrari Classiche this was #0858. Great pics.

 

Well, have a look at this.....
http://www.barchetta.cc/english/All.Ferraris/Detail/0856.330P4.htm

A phonecall to Mr.Obrist in CH could help as well.

 

Ferrari revised the history a number of years ago apparently, stating #0858 was the 1967 Monza 1000KM winner too.

 

Well, I am old enough to have enjoyed the FF40 Meeting in Brussels, in september 1992, where #0856 was one of the stars. And I am young enough to remember clearly that this car hadVIN #0856.

Whatever the reason may be, it wouldn't be the first time that Ferrari Classiche "revises" VIN or engine numbers...
Messes up is a more correct term. And in some cases just fraud.
The result is that there are certain cases where "new" built engines got "old" numbers. Just to satisfy a good client and deliver the nice certificate in the Red Book. In some cases , the real original engine (with the same number) still existed at the other side of the Atlantic. Just sad.

 

Any document, file or source about this?
Thanks.

 

It's in the Red Book Classiche Documents for 0858 dated around the time it was auctioned at Maranello as a 350 Can Am when it did not sell.

Talacrest did have a copy of the actual document on their web site at one time.

 

But that's a different car.
#0858 was 2nd at the 1967 1000 km of Monza, it didn't win.
#0856 won that race. And that's the car which is shown in all the pictures above.

 

Barchetta speaks about a very different palmares than #0856.

http://www.barchetta.cc/english/All.Ferraris/Detail/0858.330P4.htm

 

Not according to Ferrari.

 

And do you think that is correct?
Piper did a rebuild of the #0858, back to (kind of) 330 P4 specifications. It had been changed to CanAm spec long before that.
Practically no original 330 P4 part was left over, apart from the chassis.
We all read the transformation Piper did to that car (#0858).
And then, suddenly #0856 becomes #0858?