Ferrari Testa Rossa V12

Enzo Ferrari, that mysterious 'Mr Big' in motor racing usually had something up his sleeve with which to pulverise the opposition each racing season - perhaps never more so than in 1958. That year was to be the start of a new International Sports Racing Formula, restricting cars to 3-litres, in theory to limit racing speeds and sponsors' suicides. At the outset, of course, Modena's chieftain was ready. On 22 November 1957, the Ferrari annual press conference saw the unveiling of the pontoon-bodied V-12 Testa Rossa or more precisely the 250 TR Testa Rossa meaning 'red head', the colour of the cam covers and 250 referring to the cubic centimetres of each cylinder's capacity. By the end of 1958, the World Championship was won with victories in Argentina, at Sebring and Le Mans. 1959 was less good with only a Sebring first place but 1960 saw the title regained. 1961 was yet another repeat in that last year of the World Championship. 1962 was again a champion year but this time in a substituted 'Organisers Cup'. That's five years of solid success — a masterful record in any book, made the Testa Rossa one of the longest running front line sports cars ever. Ferrari Testa Rossa V12 is an exacting, comprehensively detailed yet living tribute to all those exciting and beautiful cars. Not only are chassis by chassis specifications and race by race results given, but they are liberally enhanced with fascinating personal and political anecdotes too. Numerous photographs accompany this outstanding work, which also records individual Testa Rossa histories. If there had to be one Ferrari sports racing car to epitomise the glory of the marque, it would have to be the front-engined 3-litre V-12 cylinder, Scaglietti bodied Testa Rossa, painted in that universal Ferrari shade of Italian Racing Red.