Help with Ferrari Spice results and general info

The Spice Ferrari ran in the IMSA Camel Lights division during the early 90s I remember that particular car at the 1990 and 1991 24 Hours of Daytona with drivers Finotto and Melgrati (think that is correct). The team was the Uli Bieri Racing team from Canada as I recall, a team that used to run some really cool looking Alba chassis with Ferrari V8 engines.

They had some decent results but other Spice chassis/engine combinations seemed to fare better than the Ferrari V8. The Spice chassis began life with Pontiac power and were actually called "Fieros" in their first year, 1987. Other teams used engines supplied by Buick, Chevrolet and evenually Honda/Acura which came in with a factory team and swept everything with Parker Johnstone as their driver.

Gordon Spice built some very competitive chassis in those days for Camel Lights and Group C-2 in Europe scoring major victories at Le Mans and the Group C-2 Championship along with many IMSA victories and Championships.

If there are VINs on the cars, we could do a search and find out if they were winners. According to the Sebring record book, the car competed there in 1990 finishing 12th Overall and 3rd in the Camel Light class. They were at Sebring again in 1991 finishing 30th Overall and 8th in class. I dont see any records beyond that at Sebring but they did do the entire championship in those days and perhaps may have won a race or two but it was tough to beat that Acura/Spice combination.

The cars always looked very sharp with the deep red paint scheme and a very
sweet sounding engine. I could probably scare up some images from those days but the originals are buried deep in the college archives.

The last time I saw one of these cars was at an FCA event at Sebring and the guys who brought it were having a hell of a time getting it started.

BHW

 

Martin,

Try this site and click on IMSA.

http://wspr-racing.com/chassis/chassis.html#races

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod
www.flatoutracing.net

 

Here's a couple links to a Ferrari Spice

http://obin_jess.tripod.com/GTP/spice%20ferrari.jpg

There was an '87 Ferrari Spice (#002) that ran in the HSR 2004 Watkins Glen Group 6 Historic GTP 1 hour feature race - same car ran at the 2004 Sebring Fall Historic Classic November 19-21, 2004. Absolutely beautiful classic car as shown in the below link.

http://www.racing-photos.com/gallery_pages/cat_other/sebring_historics_11-2004/DSC_0006.html

The one is your post is beautiful too.

Carol

 

Photos from the GTP/WSC Enduro at the Sebring Historic Fall Classic Nov 20, 2004. Awesome sound! Unfortunately it didn't complete the enduro.

GTP/WSC Enduro Results:
http://www.hsrrace.com/HSR/HSRHome.nsf/attachmentweb/EJEN-673JUU/$file/Group+6+GTP-WSC+Enduro.pdf?OpenElement
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The results posted by HSR list it as a 1987. For whatever that's worth.

Too bad someone (the Factory?) hasn't submitted Ferrari's current V8 to Grand American for eligibility in their Daytona Prototypes. Ferrari powered DPs would be a big attraction and they's sound great too! Not much reason for Ferrari to be interested though.

Al