Thursday 14th June 2012

Time for Tea? Ferrari 333 SP

Put yourself in the driving seat of Ferrari's 90s sports prototype and enjoy that glorious V12

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Ferrari might have been absent from sports prototype racing as an official constructor for the best part five decades, satisfying itself instead with GT racing. But the Prancing Horse has still found its way onto the nose of a pukka sports racer or two: remember the Ferrari 333 SP?

This was an open-cockpit sports car designed primarily to compete Stateside in IMSA events and was commissioned originally by Giampiero Moretti the man behind Italian parts and accessories business Momo - remember that distinctive yellow-and-red livery?

Introduced in 1993 with a Dallara-developed chassis and a 4.0-litre 600hp V12 based on the company's F1 engine from 1992, the 333 SP competed in sports car racing right up until 2003, although it never really shone at Le Mans, the crown jewels of sports car racing.

This video was taken at a recent Ferrari Racing Days event at Laguna Seca, and looks like rather good fun to us. We particularly enjoyed the helmet-cam footage, which you can see from 10m 15s. And if you want to know what it sounds like from the outside, then check out this video of the glorious V12 in action. They really don't make 'em like this anymore...

 

[JVaughan]

Orgasmic !!..

remember seeing this at le Mans, 03:00 in the morning on the pit straight, chasing down the Orca Vipers and the Macca F1's

[Galsia]

Probably my favourite Ferrari. Bonkers.

[truck71]

Seen this at Le Mans a couple of times I think, was it running white livery at some point? Sound was incredible.

[AV12]

Mental.

[zeduffman]

Damn that F1 car is fast.

[The Leaper]

I remember this car very well from my first LM trip in 1996, along with a Honda NSX too. Great sound, but too fragile for LM me-thinks.

R.

[Chunkychucky]

The induction noise on the helmet cam was superb... Still rather have a 1998/99 V12 LMR though

[will261058]

Cool! Just shows the difference between a fast car and a very fast car too.

[GroundEffect]

Compare to Marc Gene driving the F2003-GA and setting an unofficial track record.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1CYUgMgwO8

[andy97]

Saw a whole bunch of them racing at Donington Park many years ago. Fantastic.

[fathomfive]

GroundEffect said:

Compare to Marc Gene driving the F2003-GA and setting an unofficial track record.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1CYUgMgwO8

The noise! That lovely, screaming, wailing noise!!!

[jetpilot]

Would love to have seen how that F1 car or similar got on with the corkscrew!

If there was any track in the world that i could have me and my car transported to right now, it would be Laguna Seca!

[fatboy69]

V & 12. They go together just perfectly don't they? Love the noise that those beasts make. Thank you for posting this magnificent piece of film.

Makes me wish, even more, that we had them in F1 these days.

[fatboy69]

V & 12. They go together just perfectly don't they? Love the noise that those beasts make. Thank you for posting this magnificent piece of film.

Makes me wish, even more, that we had them in F1 these days.

[Graham]

Just about my all time favourite lmp car. One day I will own one

[Dan Friel]

One of the best, stunning car. Saw a yellow one run at Le Mans in '95.. recall that it lasted a handful of laps. Gutted. (Then the Lister Storm broke.. Gutted again. Then it rained. A lot.)

[tommy vercetti]

what a noise, absolutely glorious noise.

[NGK210]

Dur! Should've cut the F1 car's overtake, because thereafter the 333 SP's pace seems very ho-hum and 7/10ths in comparison. Which is a shame.

[Fartgalen]

NGK210 said:

Dur! Should've cut the F1 car's overtake, because thereafter the 333 SP's pace seems very ho-hum and 7/10ths in comparison. Which is a shame.

Heh heh - the F1 just F's off into the distance !

[boxerTen]

Would be brilliant if Ferrari would produce something like this for the road. It would need some significant changes of course. Nevertheless a no frills no compromise sports car, (as opposed to a heavy luxury supercar) packing an Italian V12 would be an astonishing breath of fresh air, and would occupy a market segment almost entirely unpopulated at the moment.