One of a Kind and Very Fast: The Last Ferrari Testa Rossa

Filed in archive Ferrari on August 17, 2007

Though I never saw this particular Ferrari race I did have the good fortune to be track announcer at Mosport when one of the fabled 3-liter Ferrari Testa Rossas was driven there by Pedro Rodriguez: I can still imagine the glorious saxophone-like sound of that V-12 as it wound out on the long uphill straight. So, in a way, I can relate to this 1962 Ferrari 330 TRI/LM, chassis number 0808, the only 4-liter Testa Rossa built, the last Testa Rossa, the last front-engined sports racing car built by Ferrari, and the last front-engined car to capture the overall victory at Le Mans. The drivers were Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien, the latter a gentleman with whom I also have some personal history, having been assigned by Porsche to escort the great endurance driver when he arrived for his first Canadian race.

Although its sports-racers in that era were by then mid-engine and powered by V-6's and V-8's, Enzo Ferrari decided to build the ultimate Testa Rossa for the Experimental category; hence the 330 TRI/LM in 1962. In 1974 it came into the hands of Pierre Bardinon, whose Mas du Clos collection staff restored 0808 to its 1962 Le Mans configuration. It was sold in 2002 to another owner, who offered it at RM's Leggenda e Passione Auction in Maranello, Italy, on May 20, 2007. The car sold for $9,281,250, the highest price ever paid for a Ferrari at auction, narrowly missing the record for the most expensive car ever to be auctioned. The 330 TRI/LM then headed for a museum in Argentina. You can read a comprehensive history of the car in the Sports Car Market site.