Today 9/12/21 on Sky Sports- The Ferrari 156 Sharknose

[pnance26]

If you were watching "Grand Prix Sunday", the pre-race show to F1 on SkySports, this morning you got a real treat.

Since the race was the Italian Grand Prix, of course, it was all things Ferrari... and at about 38 minutes into the show, Martin Brundle and Damon Hill were allowed to take an ontrack spin in two replica 1960 Ferrari 156 Dina sharknoses. They were replicas because, according the story, Enzo Ferrari held little sentimentality for his former race cars and as such, he removed the engines and drivetrains for the 156, put them on a shelf and destroyed the rest of the car. As such, replicas were built from the existing plans and used the same engines and drivetrains that had been gathering dust.

The 156 had no seatbelts or driver restraints and neither did the replicas. Both Brundle and Hill remarked on how brave and crazy you had to be to drive a car at 170 mph completely surrounded by fuel tanks... and no restraints.  Both were amazed at both the power and the "nimble" quality of the car.
 
They did pay tribute to Wolfgang von Trips who was killed in a crash at Monza in 1961 at the curve known as the Parabolica. They did not mention the fact that after colliding with Jim Clark, von Trips car left the track, went up an embankment where the crowd was gathered as was the custom of the day, and 15 spectators were killed as a result. It was one of the worst tragedies in F1 history.

Because of von Trips accident, Phill Hill, driving also for Ferrari in a 156, won the World Championship that day.

it was quite the story and can be found here... www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/f1/12406034/brundle-hill-take-the-ferrari-156-for-a-spin.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks for the heads up. And thanks for the more complete perspective on the Von Trips crash than modern F1 types might have us ponder. 1961 was the first year of the 1500cc formula, down from 2500 with commensurate power reduction from around 280 to around 150. The drivers of the era in particular dreaded the change. It was still a period where tires were narrow and, as much as the British rear engine cars represented a step change upwards in handling and cornering drivers still expected to power the cars through the turns in a four wheel drift. As a result the 1.5 litre cars were driven at the absolute limit, the danger being compounded by construction that was as light weight as an engineer's conscience would allow.

For 1961 Ferrari stole a march on the competition by developing a purpose built 65-degree V6 based on the 2.5 litre Dino 246 motor. As the season progressed a smoother running and more powerful 120-degree motor was introduced while the British teams waited for the Coventry Climax FWMV V8 to make its appearance which first raced in 1962 I believe. The four cylinder British cars gave away a good 20-25 bhp to Ferrari in '61. It's the 120 degree motors that makes these replicas special. Beginning with Chris Reas's replica built for his movie La Passione, there have been a few 65 degree replicas using Dino V6s of various provenance. Reas's car, for example, has bodywork to appear to be a 120 degree car but has run with various 246 motors. Combined with the Lotus 25 the FWMV changed everything and it can be argued that this ushered in the modern era.