333 SP for sale #025

They go for about 500K+
Parts and service are BIG $.
Race tuned engines need rebuild after 24 hours.
Gearboxes if you don't shift them properly go boom.

 

That's got to be one of my favorite F's of all time...

 

Current prices for 333 SPs range from $600K US to over $1M for the two most important cars (one sold for over that figure, the owner of the other has turned down that price). At the moment there are three pretty serious people looking for 333 SPs, and there are none for sale. There is one new engine on the market, and one with zero hours since a Michelotto rebuild. A couple of 333s, one described as being maintained with "a set of vice-grips and a roll of duct tape" will be candidates for these engines.

I know the car pictured well, and I very much doubt that it is for sale, or that this "dealer" ever had the car. 025 was sold a few months ago to someone who is unlikely to resell the car. I suspect this is another case of an Internet dealer using listings of cars for sale elsewhere.

A "proper" 333 SP engine, that is, one built or rebuilt by Michelotto rather than someone at the corner garage, is good for 30+ hours of full-throttle operation. One 333 SP I sold several years ago (for the owner) was fitted with a new engine to endurance specs; softer cams and a different fuel map. The new owner has used this car heavily in historic racing and track days, and the engine has lasted for much longer than expected. The engines are pretty much bulletproof if treated properly. There was a problem with valve seats in the first endurance engines in 1995, but that was quickly solved. The problems today are that some of the cars are in the hands of owners who have no idea how to start a race engine. (The owner who I've watched do a cold start then go to high revs should be saving for an engine rebuild in the near future.)

Gearboxes, both versions, are also pretty bulletproof. The five speeds used Hewland gears in a Ferrari case; I'm not sure of the source of the gears for the later six speeds. The 333 uses a sequential shift mechanism, so it's pretty hard to miss a gear. As with any other parts, I don't know that I'd trust a gearbox rebuilt by the guy in the back room of the corner garage.

I think that in the future the 333 SP will be recognized as one of the most successful racing Ferraris. It won its first race in 1994, and won its last major race in 2000. Very, very few cars are successful over such a period.

 

I believe the 333 SP last victory was in 2001 since it won the ISRS championship that year with Marco Zadra ( It won in 98/99/00 too !! ) .
All the more impressive !


http://www.gtwap.co.uk/pda/sportsgt.php?topic=750.FIA_Sportscars.wtxt

 

Great web-site. Thank you!

 

Even taking your 30 hours which BTW is not what Michelotto told Benie, he said 24 at race chat, and taking the 100K he charged him to rebuild it it still comes to 3.3K per hour. Kinda like one of those eurocopters. That of course doesn't include what WWOC, not your cornor garage, charged to take it out and put it back.

As for proper warming up and proper shifting I take your point BUT shall we say for some the box has not been ideal $ wise.

 

Were these all right hand drive or did it vary according to order? (probably best sounding car I have very heard, except maybe a 917 at full RPM>)

 

As most race courses run clockwise there are more rt hand turns therefore most race cars are rt hand drive as it's easier to make a rt turn from the rt seat.

Every 333 I've seen has been rt hand drive.