It was Lord Brett Sinclair (Simon Kidston) who’d hatched the plan. “Let’s take my Aston Martin V8 Vantage 6.3-litre, pair it up with a Dino and drive from Geneva to the Monaco Historics,” he’d said.
“Nice weather, bit of fun, really Roger Moore and Tony Curtis stuff. And the Aston’s just back from Aston Martin Works; it’s ready to go.”
In production at the same time as the 275 GTB and 330 GTC, the Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 had all the magical attributes of big-capacity (3,967cc) V12 motoring with the added practicalities of extra rear seats and a generous boot.
When introduced, like its more sporting relations, these luxurious cars found their way into the garages of the rich and famous, with a list of owners that included Enzo Ferrari himself, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and John Lennon, who bought his 330 GT 2+2 the same day he got his driver’s licence.
Headline features for the G65 AMG include a 604bhp, 6.0-litre V12 and a price tag of 264,180 euros – almost mocking the circa 190,000 euros the manufacturer asks for its high-tech supercar, the SLS AMG.
With the 63 and 65 near-identical in terms of performance (just one tenth shaved off the 0-62mph sprint) and styling (only a chrome grille, new wheels and subtle ‘V12 BiTurbo’ badges differentiating), it’s difficult to see how the 126,675-euro gap between the two can be justified.
That’s no mean feat, looking at the figures from last year: consider an attendance of 80,000, over 1,100 race entries and 800 competing cars – not to mention a tagline of ‘the world’s biggest classic motor racing festival’ – and the enormity of the organisers’ task is clear. But with advance ticket sales up 31% over the same period last year, it appears they may just have outdone their previous efforts.
In the late sixties, Henry Ford II was still bitter about his company’s failure to acquire Ferrari. The legendary GT40 wins at Le Mans offered him some sense of retribution, but he still yearned to sell an Italian sports car under the Blue Oval. A partnership developed with De Tomaso, which also hailed from Modena and, while not enjoying the same prestige as the Prancing Horse, had the added benefit of owning Italian coachbuilders Ghia and Vignale – assets which Ford soon happily acquired, with Alejandro de Tomaso anticipating them making little future profit for his company.
Audi had already won the 1984 World Rally Championship by the time the 205 T16 (standing for Turbo, 16-valve) arrived on the scene. Using the famous Quattro, the Germans once again took the title back to Ingolstadt, with Lancia having marginally snatched it the season before with the 037.
So, given the short time frame, let’s get straight on with the driving impressions – aided by the short video above. The car is the headlining lot in this year’s auction at Aston Martin Works, one of only four Sanction II DB4GT Zagatos ever made, and an honourable addition to the original 19.
Aside from the increase in engine size suggested by the name (from 5.5 to 5.7 litres), improvements for the 575M model (M is for ‘modificato’) included more power, bigger brakes, improvements in suspension and minor cosmetic changes. In 2006, the 575M Maranello was superceded by the 599 GTB, but the car it replaced remains a hugely desirable machine: a modern supercar, with flowing (but never brash) lines, in the front-engined configuration of a real driver’s Ferrari – a layout that harks back to the glorious ‘Daytona’.
And as you will see in the photographs, that also includes sports cars from 1953, the year when the Grand Prix was for two-seaters.
The format of the weekend is a simple one. On Friday, after setting up in the harbour-side paddock and a drivers' briefing at the Credit Suisse Drivers Club, competitors are allowed free practice all afternoon. The circuit closure, together with the weekend exodus and non-native commuters, has the effect of paralysing traffic for miles around.
The new set of prototypes display what will be close to the final design for the bodywork, albeit clothed in camouflage which serves as a monochromatic tribute to Attwood and Herrmann’s legendary red-and-white 917K. Previous 918 test mules have had much cruder bodywork solutions.