Driving School
The first day of the event was a special driving school at Moroso Motorsports
Park for a limited number of participants, with tuition by Derek Bell, Justin Bell,
Brian Redman, and Bill Adams. After this event registration commenced at the
magnificent Breakers Hotel on the Atlantic Ocean in West Palm Beach. The
Moroso Motorsports Park was the main venue for the next two days, with free
laps for the entrants, interspersed with practise periods and races for the first
Ferrari Maserati Historic Challenge series gathering of the new century. It
attracted the largest entry for the USA series too date, although there were a
few non starters, mainly in the drum brake cars race. In this 11 lap race, there
was an initial battle for the lead between Peter Sachs in his Ferrari 335S and the
pre-war single seater Maserati 8CM of Peter Giddings. These two swopped
places frequently in the opening laps until the 335S was into its stride,
whereafter Peter Sachs pulled away to a comfortable victory, with Ed Davies in
his 375 MM spider taking the third place on the podium, ahead of John Devine in
his 500 Testa Rossa, and Leslie Davies in her 250 GT LWB TdF berlinetta.
Further down the field, Stephen Dudley put in a sterling drive in his beautifully
scruffy 166/195 Inter Vignale coupe to lead home more modern and larger
engined machinery.
Historic Challenge
The 14 lap disc brake race brought out a large field that included five 512
BB/LMs and a 365 GT/4 BB NART variant, to do battle with Brian Redman in the
712 CanAm, and Mike Colucci in Leslie and Ed Davies 512M. Add in a 308
GTB/M, a 365 GTB/4C, a trio of 250 GT SWB Comp. berlinettas, a pair of 250
Testa Rossas, a 250 LM, and a 250 GTO, and you had a very broad and
interesting span of nearly twenty five years of Ferrari sports racing and GT
heritage. Throughout the race it was the duo of Brian Redman and Mike Colucci,
in 712 CanAm and 512M respectively, that headed the field, swopping the lead
continuously throughout the race to provide a great spectacle for the crowds,
with the 712 CanAm eventually taking the chequered flag 0.265 seconds ahead
of the 512M. These were chased home by a quartet of Le Mans Boxers, with the
512 example of Ed Davies taking third ahead of Tod Morici's similar car, followed
by Bob Coates in his 365 GT/4 BB NART model, and Dominick Dobson's 512.
Having seen these awesome, noisy and colourful Le Mans contenders of
yesteryear in action, it occurs that unfortunately at present there is no suitable
category for them to race in Europe. They provide such a great spectacle, that
we can only hope that they may eventually be allowed to participate in the
European Historic Challenge series, as their performance appears in keeping
with the sports prototypes that currently participate. For those who wanted a
respite from circuit activity, there was a tour of Palm Beach road rally on Friday
morning, that proved very popular, and also contributed to the concours judging
points. The rally ended with lunch at the circuit, so participants were there in
time to catch the two Historic Challenge races, and get more track driving in, if
the morning run hadn't provided enough. A bonus at the circuit was the chance
to see Derek Bell putting in some quick demonstration laps in Todd Morici's
1968 312 F1, a car that he had originally driven for the factory thirty two years
earlier.
Concours on the Croquet Lawn
After the circuit activity and noise, calm and quiet returned to the meeting on
Saturday, for the concours on the croquet lawn and part of the Breakers golf
course. With around one hundred and fifty cars in the concours and on display,
it was a full day in the beautiful sunshine to take everything in, and that was
without taking the general parking areas into account, where even more Ferraris
abounded. As a guest judge, my time was even more limited, due to the pre
concours judges meeting, and the morning spent as part of the judging team for
the 275 - 330 class. However, it was an extremely interesting and worthwhile
experience, as you look at a car in a completely different and much more
intense way than as a casual observer. At the end of the day, with the general
presentation to a very high standard, I am convinced that we made the right
decision in giving a platinum award to the 275 GTB/4 of James Page.
Refreshingly this was not painted red, but finished in its original hue of pale
metallic blue. A gala awards dinner was held in the evening in the Ponce de
Leon ballroom at The Breakers, with the Cavallino Cup for the overall Best of
Show going to Jon and Mary Shirley's 166 MM barchetta, resplendent in its
1948 Spa 24 Hours winning livery. This car had also seen plenty of track activity
in the preceding two days. Another award winner worthy of mention was the 250
GT SWB berlinetta of Charles Betz and Fred Peters, that picked up a Coppa
SWB award after being driven all the way from California, and that was taking
the same way home, a real endurance run in the true spirit of Ferrari.
Funds for Charity
The final day of the meeting took place at the exclusive Mar-a-Lago club a little
way down the coast in West Palm Beach. This exotically decorated and
architecturally extravagant building is owned by Donald Trump, who attended the
champagne lunch held in a marquee in the grounds adjacent to the main house.
After lunch an art auction was held to raise funds for charity, with a varied
selection of original works from renowned motoring artists. One of the most
bizarre items was a pair of "Ferrari" clogs, donated by Dutch brothers Edvar and
Arvid van Daalen, that raised a surprising and welcome 550 dollars.
So the event drew to a close as the final participants drove off the manicured
lawns of Mar-a-Lago, to wend their way home in the warmth of the beautiful
January Florida sunshine. For those of us who had travelled from Europe, and
those from the northern part of the USA, it had been a welcome respite from the
winter months, with the Ferrari appetite satiated by an eclectic array of fine
examples of the marque, to keep us going until our summer arrives.
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