{"id":16371,"date":"2023-12-12T07:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/?page_id=16371"},"modified":"2023-12-04T09:52:50","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T12:52:50","slug":"serenissima-gt-spyder-24-spark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/serenissima-gt-spyder-24-spark\/","title":{"rendered":"Serenissima GT Spyder #24 – Spark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Serenissima<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
1966 Serenissima GT Spyder #24<\/strong>\nPilots: J-C. Sauer, J. de Mortemart\nTeam: Scuderia San Marco<\/em>\nRace: DNF (P 5.0 class) at Le Mans in 1966<\/strong>\nSpark - S7560 (resin)<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Published 12\/12\/23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cPalace Revolt\u201d, of November 1961, was a momentous episode for Ferrari. When Enzo Ferrari fired most of the company\u2019s managers, that almost caused the collapse of the brand. Yet, Old Man Enzo managed to forge on. And his ex-employees didn\u2019t stand still either. Some, like Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, formed Automobili Turismo i Sport<\/em>. In practical terms, ATS would be a direct competitor to Ferrari, both on the streets and tracks. Backing-up ATS was Count Giovanni Volpi, owner of the Scuderia Serenissima<\/em> racing team. A very wealthy businessman, Volpi founded Serenissima in the 50s, and raced his Ferraris in high-level events all around Europe. However, after the Palace Revolt, when he heard that Volpi was aiding ATS, Il Commendatore<\/em> blacklisted Volpi. In retaliation, Volpi financed the development of the 250 GT \u201cBreadvan\u201d<\/a>, that raced at Le Mans in 1962. Yet, despite Volpi\u2019s backing, ATS folded in 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Serenissima
Initially, the GT Spyder was a road-going sports car.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Subsequently, and using ATS technology, Volpi decided to build his own prototype GT car.  In 1963 the count hired engineer Alberto Massimino to make him an engine. Based on an existing ATS engine, he designed a new 3472 cm\u00b3 V8. Quite sophisticated for its time in fact, with DOHC, twin-spark ignition and four twin-choke Weber 40 DCOE carburetors. Moreover, Massimino also designed the gearbox. The chassis was a steel-tubular frame design, covered by an aluminum body, with the engine placed in the middle. The first version of the car came from the pen of Francesco Salomone. A berlinetta, it had a striking resemblance to the 250 LM<\/a>. The car was further developed, and in 1966 came a barchetta version. For the barchetta, the body was produced at the Fantuzzi workshop, which made two cars. Called Serenissima GT Spyder<\/strong> (or barchetta), the car only weighed 685 kg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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When the car went to auction, it was almost exactly like it came back from La Sarthe after the race.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Initially the car showed up in road-going trim, with bumpers and wire wheels. However, Volpi prepared it to race and in June of 1966 he took it to La Sarthe. The Serenissima GT Spyder #24 was the only car of the Scuderia San Marco, in the 5-liter Prototype class. Piloted by the French duo Jean-Claude Sauer and Jean de Mortemart, it started in 42nd place. Unhappily though, on lap 40 the gearbox had a problem and car #24<\/a> was out. The 1966 Le Mans race was the only time that the Serenissima GT Spyder raced. After the race, Count Volpi took it home and literally mothballed the car. In fact, he kept the car almost untouched since the day it came back from the 1966 Le Mans race. In 2019 it went on auction, and sold for an eye-watering 4,218,800 \u20ac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Two beautiful cars that came to be because a woman was scorned… Only in Italy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Like the 250 Breadvan, the Serenissima GT Spyder was a direct consequence of the Palace Revolt of 1961. However, it\u2019s much less famous than the Breadvan, specially because it remained hidden in Count Volpi\u2019s garage since 1966. Nonetheless, despite having no racing prestige, the car is nothing short of beautiful. And in scale Spark did an outstanding job on the model. I honestly never heard about the car until Spark announced it would release the model in mid-2023. It looked gorgeous, and when I looked it up and discovered its connection to Ferrari, I immediately pre-ordered one. A model definitively not for everybody, yet for the Le Mans nut it\u2019s a great buy. Interestingly, more or less at the time I was about to receive my 250 Breadvan this one arrived. Now the W-143 Garage has two cars that only exist because Enzo\u2019s wife was making trouble at Ferrari \ud83d\ude02.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1966 Serenissima GT Spyder #24 Pilots: J-C. Sauer, J. de Mortemart Team: Scuderia San Marco Race: DNF (P 5.0 class) at Le Mans in 1966 Spark – S7560 (resin) Published 12\/12\/23 The \u201cPalace Revolt\u201d, of November 1961, was a momentous episode for Ferrari. When Enzo Ferrari fired most of the company\u2019s managers, that almost caused … Continue reading “Serenissima GT Spyder #24 – Spark”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16371","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16371"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16757,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16371\/revisions\/16757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}