Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / The Last Ferrari to Win Le Mans: A Wild Ride with the 250 LM
Transcript
- 0:00As part of Ferrari Fridays, William Ross from the Exotic Car Marketplace
- 0:04will be discussing all things Ferrari and interviewing people that live
- 0:07and breathe the Ferrari brand.
- 0:09Topics range from road cars to racing, drivers to owners, as well
- 0:13as auctions, private sales, and trends in the collector market.
- 0:26And welcome back everybody to the Ferrari Marketplace.
- 0:29This is your host, William, and I appreciate everybody listening.
- 0:32And I didn't get an episode out last week.
- 0:35I've been working on some other things.
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- 0:52You know, I'm just kind of doing this on my desktop computer here
- 0:54with the microphone and whatnot.
- 0:56So I, hopefully it's getting there.
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- 0:59Like I said, any thoughts, any, you know, suggestions, topics, anything.
- 1:04Hey, just shoot me an email.
- 1:05William at the Ferrari marketplace.
- 1:07com.
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- 1:09Uh, like I said, anything I can do to help improve this.
- 1:13Um, anything to make this a better listening, you know, enjoyment.
- 1:16For you guys out there listening.
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- 1:19Hey, I just want to make this a really awesome podcast everything, you know,
- 1:22everything, anything about Ferraris, you know, not so much, you know, even
- 1:26the marketplace, it was for sale.
- 1:27Hey, what happened at auction at events, whatnot.
- 1:29So kind of run the gamut.
- 1:31Like I said, I noticed that in the first few episodes, you know, there
- 1:35was quite a few downloads right off the bat, but it's kind of slowed
- 1:37down just a tad, but I don't know if that's just because of the topic.
- 1:40Uh, my, My crappy podcast speeching talking I guess I don't know how
- 1:45you'd put that but I don't know But hey, I appreciate the people
- 1:48that are still listening and I keep downloading these newer episodes
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- 1:56Hey, just let me know Just shoot me that email.
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- 2:04Get it out there.
- 2:05Um, you know, tell your friends, tell your other Ferrari enthusiasts,
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- 2:11the episodes and take a listen.
- 2:13Like I said, can't hurt, right?
- 2:15There's not that much time out of your day.
- 2:17And what the heck?
- 2:18Pop it in while you're driving the car.
- 2:20Something to listen to.
- 2:21I don't think my voice is that bad, do you?
- 2:23But anyways, onward to today's episode.
- 2:27Today, we are going to talk about The last Ferrari to win Le Mans and we're
- 2:34gonna talk about the race itself too because the race is crazy crazy stuff
- 2:38I don't know how familiar you all might be with that 1965 race, but it was some
- 2:42crazy stuff But we're gonna talk about chassis number five eight nine three
- 2:46the last Ferrari to win Le Mans the 250 LM Now a little history behind that car
- 2:53Now Ferrari your game plan was is you know, they were racing that car, you
- 2:57know quite a bit around I think they built I believe it was 34 of those cars.
- 3:03Now they're trying to pull the fast one like they did the year before the GTO.
- 3:06And.
- 3:07You know, 65, you know, the, the FIA now wasn't having any of
- 3:11it in regards to, you know, oh, that's homologated and you do it.
- 3:15And they did, so they didn't, he couldn't do the DTO because it
- 3:18wasn't homologated for the GT class.
- 3:20And so he tried to get it.
- 3:21For the two 50 L.
- 3:23M.
- 3:23But they said, Nah, I don't think so.
- 3:25Um, they were not going to let that fly.
- 3:28So they had to run in the prototype class, which was going
- 3:32up against the four GT forties.
- 3:34Now, everyone's very familiar with that story.
- 3:36Ford versus Ferrari and, you know, bringing everything to,
- 3:39you know, to light and whatnot.
- 3:41And, you know, the first shot of this was in 64 and sorry about that.
- 3:47Had a phone call coming in.
- 3:49Apologize for that.
- 3:50Um, But anyways, everyone is very familiar with that whole story, but
- 3:56you know, the first race, the first time Ford Iverson entered was in 64.
- 4:00It is everything, what the hell, in a handbasket.
- 4:02And 65, you know, they brought quite a few.
- 4:05Then, um, they had two of the cars with the huge ass 7 liter engines in them.
- 4:12You know, they were just going all hell bent, you know, to
- 4:14beat Ferrari and what not.
- 4:16But anyways, that's what the story is about.
- 4:17This is the story about the 250 LM.
- 4:20So anyways.
- 4:22They had to run those cards in the prototype class against the Fords.
- 4:25So, so be it.
- 4:27So, basically, they all thought they had no shot.
- 4:31Um, you know, so there was quite a few of these cards that were entered.
- 4:36A majority of them Or actually entered by privateers The one that we're
- 4:43going to talk about was actually, you know entered by Luigi Chinetti's
- 4:46North American racing team NART and do it so That's where this came in.
- 4:52But now there's a said there's a few other Private entries that were put out
- 4:56there, but there's also a few factory entries that were put also out there.
- 4:59So, there was some nice, there was a nice effort behind it, but they
- 5:02just thought they didn't have a chance because they were going to
- 5:03be classified in the prototype, and they're going against the Ford GT40s.
- 5:07So anyways, they, you know, hey, set things up, let's get racing, right?
- 5:13Um, so, this car, they qualified in 11th place.
- 5:21I mean, yeah, it's down there a little bit, a little bit ways.
- 5:24You know, the thing was, is the Jeep Ford GT 40s were, you know, the top end speed
- 5:29on those things was absolutely ridiculous.
- 5:31You know, uh, the fastest it's ever been seen there at Lamar.
- 5:34I think at one point they were 219 miles an hour.
- 5:38I think it was on the Mulsanne.
- 5:39So obviously those things were trucking along.
- 5:43Long story short, we know what happened with the Ford GT 40s, but anyways.
- 5:47In this particular car, there was actually, you know, and like I said,
- 5:51not sure how many there are, but listed on the driving entry, there
- 5:55was actually, it says there's three.
- 5:57There was Mastin Gregory, Yocan Rint, but also American Ed Hugus.
- 6:03Now.
- 6:04This is kind of a, you know, as they say, a, um, bar stool story type deal, uh,
- 6:11in regards to Ed Hugus actually being one of the drivers or participating.
- 6:15Um, you know, it was really kept hush hush for a long time, but, you
- 6:19know, certain people said no, certain people said yes, Ed Hugus said yes.
- 6:24Um, Luigi Cianetti Jr., who was actually at the race in the pits, said no,
- 6:29he didn't get in the car and race.
- 6:30Cause the big thing was Is, you know, by the rules and everything like that,
- 6:34if he had gotten actually, if he had been in the car when, uh, Mastin came
- 6:40in and he got injured, so if there would have been a big to do about it
- 6:43and they would have got disqualified.
- 6:44So they really didn't, um, get into it too much about it.
- 6:49So it kind of kept us hush hush.
- 6:50But, I said, you know, in the, the lore of the 24 hours of Le Mans.
- 6:55Um, it's pretty much stated that, you know, he actually didn't drive,
- 7:00but you know what I said, it all depends on who you were talking with.
- 7:04So anyways, so they qualify in 11th place.
- 7:08So they get trucking along, you know, race starts, the GT 40s, you know,
- 7:12they take off just like bats out of hell, you know, gone, going in there.
- 7:16Well, In the 4th hour of the race, the car actually ran
- 7:21into some mechanical problems.
- 7:23Um, and they had to change a distributor on the car and lost about 30 minutes.
- 7:29So they actually were like about 10 laps down, 4 hours into the race.
- 7:34And they were down in 18th position.
- 7:36So, um, it's, you know, they had some catching up to and basically, you know,
- 7:44kind of, More to the story was Mastin and Yogan did not even want to be there
- 7:51because they knew they had in their minds.
- 7:53They had no shot of winning, you know, and they thought it was a big waste of time.
- 7:57So they kind of had an agreement between the two of them, whatnot.
- 8:00And again, we don't know if that was involved in this or
- 8:02not, but, um, had nothing.
- 8:04We're just going to drive flat out.
- 8:06We're just going to beat the piss out of this car and just go
- 8:08balls out and see what we can do.
- 8:11Um, now I obviously everyone knows back in those days.
- 8:15With the cars that was more, you know, it wasn't a sprint like it was today where
- 8:19you're almost doing qualifying laps, you know, lap in, lap out, you know,
- 8:22you had to, I want to say nurse the car, but you had to really take care of your
- 8:26machinery back then, which your cars, you know, not saying they were super
- 8:30delicate, but, you know, this equipment, you know, being manufactured back then,
- 8:35the brakes engine, you know, stuff like that tires yourself, you know, was it
- 8:39made to be Beat non lap in lap out lap in lap out, you know, so you have really
- 8:44had to And again, I want to say nurse the car, but you had to be very I say
- 8:48delicate But you you know You just had to know how to work the car and not push
- 8:53it to an extreme But also not go too slow because obviously you want to win.
- 8:57But anyways So these two were you know had things like screw it We're
- 9:03just gonna go as balls out as fast as we can and then especially when
- 9:06the fact this came by the fourth hour Uh, they had mechanical problems.
- 9:09They were stuck in the pits for about a half hour and went 10 laps down.
- 9:13So that kind of like putting things out, well, what's going on.
- 9:16So anyways, so cruising along, um, and you know, kind of going to the
- 9:23get back to the race and you don't know, is really even paying attention
- 9:27to this car and, you know, cause it's way down, it's 10 laps down.
- 9:31And there's really no way they'd have a shot in their, in their mind.
- 9:36Anyways, even getting on the podium.
- 9:38Was, you know, kind of out there.
- 9:41So they said, keep things interesting, you know, we're just
- 9:46going to go, go balls out, screw it.
- 9:49So anyways.
- 9:51Uh, the Ford, the seven liter cars were some of the first that were
- 9:54getting, uh, knocked out of the race.
- 9:56First, you know, they had massive, you know, just gas mileage
- 9:58issues were just horrendous.
- 9:59They keep having to make so many stops because these engines
- 10:02were just gulping down gasoline.
- 10:04Uh, and then the big thing that happened was because of the monster's
- 10:07torque out of those seven liters, their transmission just all blew up.
- 10:10So those two were out.
- 10:12First ones out were those big seven liters.
- 10:14It's just, you know, one thing was, you know, just the motors itself
- 10:16sucking up gas, but the transmission just couldn't handle the torque.
- 10:19But then the small engine Fords hit trouble and so after six hours, they, all
- 10:24the Ford GT Fords were out of the race.
- 10:26So, all Ferraris held the top five places and there it was, it was theirs to lose.
- 10:33So, but anyways, and I could say, and lose they did because the factory entries
- 10:39ended up, you know, falling apart.
- 10:40But anyways, the um, in the middle of the night, the uh, cars from the
- 10:46British Maranello Concessionaires cars, they went out during the night.
- 10:49Um, then the factory cars are factory sponsored, you know,
- 10:52started to fall by the wayside.
- 10:54Now, the one thing was in regards to, you know, they're saying that the disc
- 10:59brakes, you know, that got manufactured when the cars were not the greatest.
- 11:02Um, so what happened was is they were telling their drivers, Hey,
- 11:08you know, instead of using your brakes so much thing, use the
- 11:11engine to slow the car down.
- 11:13So, and as you know, that puts an immense amount of strain
- 11:16on a motor and transmission.
- 11:18Trying to do that.
- 11:19You know, if you're going, you know, 110 miles an hour in the corner and you drop
- 11:24it down into third or second, you know, that should only be topping out at 80
- 11:27miles an hour or something like that.
- 11:28You know, that's really going to just blow things up.
- 11:31Well, sure enough, bam, all the factory entries from Ferrari
- 11:35started going by the wayside.
- 11:38So all of these were pretty much, you know, you know, come morning,
- 11:44you know, all those, the factory engines, everything were, uh, All done.
- 11:49Everything like that.
- 11:49But now, see in the middle of the night, this is where that, you know,
- 11:53the legend, the story comes in about this supposed third driver, Ed Hugus.
- 11:59Now, what came about was, obviously, you know, with the rules and regulations
- 12:04going on, and those two, you know, Gregory and Rint not even giving two shits about
- 12:09the race, you know, and just going on.
- 12:11And, When Gregory was in the car in the headstand, Johan,
- 12:16Jochen Ritt just, he disappeared.
- 12:18And it's kind of debatable, people really aren't exactly sure if he
- 12:22was over there sleeping, or if he went and he was having some beers
- 12:26and having some fun or what not.
- 12:27Some even said he actually even left the track entirely, because he figured there's
- 12:31no way this car was going to make it.
- 12:34So, What happened was is when Mastin came in to change drivers
- 12:38because he was just absolutely beat.
- 12:39He had been doing a long stint.
- 12:41I think he did it like a two or three, you know, uh, stints,
- 12:44uh, straight stints in the car.
- 12:46Um, he came in and obviously rent was nowhere to be found.
- 12:50So they don't know what to do.
- 12:52So this is where the story comes in, where Ed Hugus jumped in the
- 12:55car and under the cover of Darkus and took off and started driving.
- 13:01Um, how many hours?
- 13:03I'm not exactly sure, but again, because it really was never
- 13:06enlisted as him being a driver.
- 13:07So it wasn't really kind of wrote announcing, Oh, I did this many hours.
- 13:10This did this stint, blah, blah, blah.
- 13:12Um, but I said, you know, today's son, you know, he didn't definitively say
- 13:19no, but he didn't, did, did, did not definitively say yes, that he drove
- 13:23in a car, but his said it was though you thought it was highly unlikely.
- 13:27So anyways.
- 13:29So coming back and you know, so suppose it's Hugus is out in the car
- 13:36and he comes back in and there we go.
- 13:39And guess who gets back to the car?
- 13:40Gregory Massing gets back in the car and starts driving more.
- 13:44So by this time, Greg's by the car, they found rent and rent
- 13:46is like shocked as all get out.
- 13:48As you can imagine saying, well, wait, the car's not retired.
- 13:52So it's a, Kind of, you know, funny.
- 13:55It's like, Oh, okay.
- 13:56Well, maybe we do have a shot at this now because he's coming in.
- 14:00What happened was, is they were basically coming in the morning.
- 14:02They were in the cars all falling out.
- 14:04They were in second place.
- 14:06But here's kind of another loop in the story.
- 14:08Kind of just another, I would say not curve ball, but another,
- 14:11you know, one story for the ages.
- 14:14Um, they were actually behind in second place behind the Belgian team
- 14:19that was also in a 250 LM and running.
- 14:22Now.
- 14:23So, these all European cars were on Dunlop's, but the Nart car with
- 14:30Gregory and Rint were on Goodyear's.
- 14:33Now, Bastian Gregory and Johan Rint were exceptionally faster than
- 14:38the drivers of the Belgian team.
- 14:40And so, in the morning hours, a certain representative from the Dunlop Tire
- 14:47Company comes down to their pit, to the Nart pit, and I want to say kindly
- 14:53asked, but basically states, uh, and under the guise that this was coming
- 14:59from the big man himself, Enzo, please slow, have your drivers slow down.
- 15:03Let the Belgian team win because they're on Dunlop's and you guys are
- 15:06on Goodyear's and we can't have that because for ours at that time, we're
- 15:09all sold supplied with Dunlop's.
- 15:11So Chinetti being Chinetti, and being probably the only one that could really
- 15:16kind of, I guess, stand up to Enzo, I mean, historize what not and everything
- 15:19he's done for him, said piss off.
- 15:22Uh, that wasn't gonna happen.
- 15:23So, everything's moving forward, and funny enough, , what does happen to the
- 15:29Belgian team when their dunlops explodes and it just tears up the card to all
- 15:34the hell in the hand basket and shreds the body work the whole nine yards.
- 15:39So it, it just goes upon.
- 15:41So by the time they're able to get the car back to the pits and get things
- 15:46repaired, it's over and done with Rent and Garry are ba in the front.
- 15:52So anyways, they cruise to victory and they win by five laps.
- 15:57I mean, isn't that awesome or what?
- 15:59I mean, from the start of the race where two guys basically said,
- 16:02we have no chance of winning this race, to winning by five laps.
- 16:07I mean, they were ten laps down after four hours in.
- 16:09Usually that thing, forget it, you're done.
- 16:11And then Rint disappearing in the middle of the night.
- 16:13Um, then, you know, supposedly Ed Hugus get in the car in the middle
- 16:17of the night because he disappeared, you know, so there's all these little
- 16:20stories within the story about stuff in regards to this car or this race in
- 16:24the car and the drivers and everything.
- 16:26So will it ever be?
- 16:29No, Ed Hughes passed away, unfortunately, in 2006.
- 16:33So, but, you know, Ed was a super nice gentleman, very honest man,
- 16:37and he had made the comment and said that, yeah, he did drive in the car.
- 16:41But again, some people say no, and I don't know if there's paranoia that they
- 16:44think, you know, That they're gonna go back 50 some odd years and basically say,
- 16:49oh, sorry, , if we're gonna take that win away from you, I doubt it highly.
- 16:54Um, what's done is done.
- 16:55So, but it's kind of just a very, very interesting story.
- 16:59But that card, the, the last Ferrari two win, Lamar, the two 50 Lmm
- 17:05chassis 5 8 9 3, now resides in the Indianapolis Motor Museum Motor Museum
- 17:11in Indianapolis at the Speedway.
- 17:14Um.
- 17:15I always thought it was kind of odd in regards to the certain cars and
- 17:19I don't know if you've ever been to that museum But it's awesome.
- 17:20It's got some cool stuff and you would think going there Oh, they probably
- 17:24just got old Indy cars and you know, the front engine stuff and the Offenhausers
- 17:27and that stuff You know from back in the day, but actually they have quite a
- 17:31collection now I know recently they've been starting to sell off a bunch of stuff
- 17:34that really either a I don't say need to work What not really didn't fit into
- 17:37their parameters I think they're kind of restructuring things but they got some
- 17:41really cool stuff I mean, they got the last Friday with my, um, I can't imagine
- 17:47what that thing would be worth that thing went out to market or even to auction.
- 17:51I know in 2014, uh, a two 50 lm or reasons like for went for almost like just
- 17:57under 20 million, something like that.
- 17:59And that was the one that one Lamar, the last part of when Lamar.
- 18:01So you gotta figure this thing is probably 30 40 million be my guess.
- 18:05Um, it'd be interesting to find out someone how to try.
- 18:08I mean, I don't think you could price it.
- 18:10I mean, I think if it went to auction, you have to put a
- 18:11reserve at least 40 million on it.
- 18:13That's me.
- 18:15Um, I don't know about you guys.
- 18:16Let me know your thoughts.
- 18:17You know, shoot me an email.
- 18:18Let me know what you guys think.
- 18:19Um, but I'd love to hear that thing run.
- 18:22I think, now there's some videos online if you go to YouTube and whatnot.
- 18:26There's some of the, um, you know, histories like back in 2014, uh, Celebes.
- 18:31Uh, Celebes.
- 18:32Um, you know, has a video of it driving around.
- 18:34It's, you know, early morning, like three would happen.
- 18:36It's not, but you hear that thing run.
- 18:37Uh, I know DK engineering's got one DK does this other stuff with
- 18:40the Ferraris and stuff like that.
- 18:41So, but those things sound just absolutely phenomenal.
- 18:45Um, but anyways, that's pretty much what I wanted to talk about today
- 18:49was the last Ferrari to win Le Mans.
- 18:52Ferrari 250LM chassis 5893.
- 18:55It's a great story, I mean, that in itself could be a movie it sounds like.
- 18:59I mean, I don't know, you could try and squeeze two hours out of that.
- 19:02But, um, it's pretty funny.
- 19:04I mean, it's just, everything about it from Gregory and Rint.
- 19:07Just, you know, saying screw this.
- 19:09We have no shot.
- 19:10Let's just beat the hell of the car and just go balls out, um, right off
- 19:13the bat and then being 10 laps down.
- 19:15You can just disappearing and whatnot.
- 19:17And you know, and then a little side.
- 19:19I was always interesting.
- 19:20You know, whenever you say mass again, Gregory, the guy's from
- 19:22Kansas, but you say his name, you think he's German or Austrian.
- 19:26He's from Europe or something like that.
- 19:27Mastin Gregory.
- 19:28It sounds like a European name, not an American name.
- 19:31You know, and you can rent being the only F one driver that puts
- 19:34posthumously win the F one title.
- 19:37Um, you know, died tragically, uh, that year.
- 19:40Uh, but he still ended up winning the title with, I think it was like two or
- 19:43three races to go, something like that.
- 19:44But, you know, um, tried story, but phenomenal driver.
- 19:48I mean, he probably would have went on to win a few more F one titles
- 19:51in his time and probably some more.
- 19:53You know, 25 a mile, whatnot.
- 19:55I mean, just a phenomenal guy.
- 19:57Um, so anyways, but that's all I have to talk about today for
- 20:01this podcast, this episode.
- 20:03Uh, I hope you enjoy it.
- 20:04Like I said, spread the word, get it out there, pass it around, shoot
- 20:08emails to people, post it wherever.
- 20:11I'd really appreciate all your help kind of make this grow.
- 20:14Uh, and any suggestions and thoughts, you know, for this episode or next,
- 20:17the other episodes, I mean, please.
- 20:19Let me know.
- 20:20Um, I'm saying I'm gonna try and mix it up.
- 20:22I'm trying to see what you guys more like to listen to.
- 20:24Like I said, it seems like you like more about the cars itself than
- 20:27maybe like events like the Amelia going to Cavalino, stuff like that.
- 20:30I don't know, but I'll try and do is get more specific about the cars.
- 20:34I know when the first episodes I did, I did on 250 GTOs to all of them.
- 20:38I'm going to get into more specific ones.
- 20:40And I think not next episode, maybe the episode after that.
- 20:44We're going to get into the one that was parked on a trailer out in the field.
- 20:49Uh, and sat there for years and got sold to a shop class in Texas,
- 20:53and which now resides in Texas.
- 20:56Mr.
- 20:57Uh, Ralph Lauren's collection and is worth God's amount of money.
- 21:01Um, but anyways, that's coming up.
- 21:03So I appreciate it.
- 21:05Everyone take care and see you on the flip side.
- 21:07Thanks.
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