N.A.R.T. Ferrari 330P, Rodriguez/Fulp - Sebring 12 Hrs 1964

[René]

This time not a Grand Prix car but a small sports car from the 1960's, the Ferrari 330P. For the model maker: I used the Monogram 275P shell, a PCS 32 adjustable chassis and BRM alloy spoke wheels.

The 330P is in effect the same car as the 275P but it has a bigger 4 liter V12 engine. The 1964 Sebring race was won by the works Ferrari of Mike Parkes and Umberto Maglioli but I decided to do something different and chose a less reproduced version, namely the North American Racing Team entry driven by Pedro Rodriguez and John Fulp. The car qualified 3rd and ran at the front until lap 40 when it got black flagged with engine problems.



The Monogram shell is very good but it has no real interior, only a flat tray with two arms as driver so I decided to improve the look by creating an interior with full size driver figure. The difficulty though is the very small size of the car that doesn't allow for a sidewinder (transversely placed) engine. The inline motor (placed in longitudinal direction) protrudes very far in the cockpit area so it needed some creativity to give at least the impression of a full interior. In the first images you can see how I managed this. The shell also needed a few small add-ons with an air intake on the nose and round air intakes on each side of the car. The side windows needed to be removed and I had to shorten both axles because the car is quite narrow.



This colour scheme was used by N.A.R.T. during the 1964 season at Le Mans and Sebring. It almost gives the impression as if there was already some kind of agreement between Philip Morris and Ferrari...











Here's the real car in action:



I am happy with the end result. A neat little Ferrari that runs very well and looks just a little bit different with this livery.

[robmarsh]

Excellent model René-lovely job. Looking at your track in your pics I see the two lanes run very close together in the corners. This obviously reduces the advantages of having the inside lane and makes it more realistic in that you can't try and overtake in the corners without crashing. Very nice and much better than the standard width one gets on a purchased track.

You just need to Red Bull cars now.

[charleselan]

That is a really nice slot car model René, and beautifully executed. Hard to imagine that the origins in that shell go back to the 1960's, and one can bet that it was a very accurate 1/32nd scale rendition as well.

I always liked the 275/330P Ferrari Prototypes, for they had a really chunky feel and were genuine prototypes of future production cars, which is what that category should be in my eyes.

[René]

May 11, 2018 17:52:10 GMT robmarsh said:

Excellent model René-lovely job. Looking at your track in your pics I see the two lanes run very close together in the corners. This obviously reduces the advantages of having the inside lane and makes it more realistic in that you can't try and overtake in the corners without crashing. Very nice and much better than the standard width one gets on a purchased track.

You just need to Red Bull cars now.

Rob, I mostly race alone at my track so I decided to let the cars follow (sort of) the ideal line. Just looks so much better but it certainly is more difficult if you want to have a two car race.

Two Red Bull cars, hmmm, never thought of that! I am sure they sell them now as a 'Crazy racer crash set'! Must be fun! 

[René]

May 11, 2018 20:14:56 GMT charleselan said:

That is a really nice slot car model René, and beautifully executed. Hard to imagine that the origins in that shell go back to the 1960's, and one can bet that it was a very accurate 1/32nd scale rendition as well.

I always liked the 275/330P Ferrari Prototypes, for they had a really chunky feel and were genuine prototypes of future production cars, which is what that category should be in my eyes.

Thanks JC. The Monogram, Revell and also MRRC models are all very good models and accurate to scale.
I build this car many years ago and then used the original wheels, chassis and tray interior. It still looks ok but this one now is much better. More interior detail, certainly for an open top car and more accurate wheels make such a difference.

And yes, the Ferrari prototypes of the 60's are gorgeous little cars!

[mikael]

Beautiful car, and beautiful model. All the P's (P, P2, P3, P4) were true beauties. The "Batmobile-like" P5 (250/330 P5) was, as I understand it, a concept car which was never developed further.

[charleselan]

All of the "P" series of 1960's Ferrari prototypes were great looking racing cars. 

The North American Racing Team ran some very interesting versions, particularly in America where the regulations offered to that of the World Sports Car Championship. The regulation high wind shields were not mandated in the American races so that brought some very interesting variations.

One of my favourites is this NART Ferrari P2 with beautifully styled low screen and bare roll over hoop.

 

[Deleted]

www.ferrarichat.com/0846project.pdf

[Carl]

Rene,

That's a wonderful film of the 1964 Sebring 12 Hours. So many great drivers! Surtees, Gurney, Penske, Miles, Bandini, Scarfiotti, Rodriguez. I hope the spectators realized how fortunate they were, or how smart to be there! The young and immensely talented Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe driver Dave MacDonald would die terribly two months later at Indy.

Pedro Rodriguez went off at the end of what the announcers then called the warehouse straight, turn 10 today and called the Cunningham Corner.

Cheers, Carl