Ferrari 250 GT SWB

Ferrari 250 GT SWB at a glance

The SWB belongs to the large Ferrari 250 family, built from 1952 to 1964 around the 3.0-litre V12 designed by Gioacchino Colombo. Its direct predecessor is the Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France, and its racing cousin of the same years is the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. All Ferrari models are listed in the Ferrari catalogue.

History and development

At the end of the 1950s Ferrari's GT racing car was the long-wheelbase 250 GT Berlinetta, known as the "Tour de France" after its victories in that long road-and-track event in 1956, 1957 and 1958. In 1959 Ferrari built seven "interim" berlinettas: they still had the 2,600 mm chassis, but already carried an aluminium body in the new Pininfarina style. One of them won the 1959 Tour de France.

The new car shortened the wheelbase to 2,400 mm. The aim was a lighter, more agile car with a more aerodynamic shape. Its development is credited to three engineers who would become famous in their own right: Giotto Bizzarrini, Carlo Chiti and Mauro Forghieri. The car was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October 1959. On 17 June 1960 the FIA homologated it as a GT car under homologation number 22, in time for the Le Mans 24 Hours on 25 June 1960.

The design followed Ferrari's practice of offering one model for both road and track. A customer could order a car biased towards road use, or a car in "Competizione" trim, with an aluminium body, a lighter interior and a more highly tuned engine. Production continued, with many small changes, until 1962 - the year in which Ferrari introduced the 250 GTO for GT racing and the 250 GT Lusso as its road-going berlinetta.

Design and body

The shape is the work of Pininfarina, and the bodies were built by Scaglietti in Modena. Compared with the Tour de France, the SWB is shorter and more aerodynamic, with a lighter chassis underneath. The front track is 1,354 mm and the rear 1,349 mm.

Ferrari distinguishes two main versions:

• Lusso (road car): a steel body with aluminium opening panels - bonnet, doors and boot lid. From 1961 it was available with left- or right-hand drive.
• Competizione (racing car): an all-aluminium body, light interior trim and a more powerful engine. Early cars of both types had full aluminium bodies; later, aluminium was reserved for the racing versions.

During the production run the details changed: the shape of the wings, the exhaust slots, the position of the fuel filler and the door windows. Ferrari notes that the arrival of the Jaguar E-Type in 1961 was one of the reasons for lighter bodies and more tuned engines on the competition cars.

Engine and gearbox

The engine is a front-mounted, longitudinal 60° V12 developed from Gioacchino Colombo's original design. It has a displacement of 2,953 cc (bore 73 mm, stroke 58.8 mm), about 246 cc per cylinder - the origin of the "250" name. Each bank has a single overhead camshaft and two valves per cylinder; the compression ratio is 9.2:1, and there is one spark plug per cylinder with two coils and a distributor at the rear. Lubrication is wet sump.

Fuel is supplied by three Weber 40 DCL/6 carburettors. Other carburettors were homologated, among them Weber 38 DCN, Solex C40 PAAI and, for the 1961 competition engines, Weber 46 DCF/3. RM Sotheby's notes that the Competizione cars used a "B" version of the Tipo 168 engine with more aggressive camshaft profiles.

Power goes through a single-plate clutch and a four-speed, all-synchromesh gearbox to a rigid rear axle. Racing cars had ribbed alloy gearbox casings, road cars plain cast-iron ones.

Chassis and brakes

The chassis is a tubular steel frame with two large oval-section longitudinal members, cross bracing and a rectangular front cross member. The front suspension uses unequal-length wishbones and coil springs; at the rear there is a live axle located by radius arms and semi-elliptic leaf springs. Steering is by worm and roller. The tyres were 6.00 × 16 or 175 × 400, and the fuel tank holds 120 litres.

The most important technical step was the brakes. The SWB was the first Ferrari GT car to have disc brakes as standard, a clear advantage in long races against cars that still used drums. Ferrari lists a dry weight of 960 kg and a top speed of 268 km/h.

Racing record

The SWB made its name in GT racing. At Le Mans in 1960, SWBs took the first four places in the 3.0-litre GT class, and the model won the GT class again in 1961. It won the Tour de France Automobile in 1960, 1961 and 1962 Ferrari also lists the Nürburgring 1000 km of 1961 and 1962 among its successes. In 1961 it helped Ferrari win the GT class of the Constructors' Championship.

The most famous results came at Goodwood. In 1960 Stirling Moss won the Tourist Trophy in an SWB entered by the private Rob Walker team - according to RM Sotheby's, so comfortably that he listened to the circuit commentary on the car's radio. The SWB won the Tourist Trophy again in 1961. Moss raced SWBs eight times and won seven of those races.

Variants and special bodies

The same short chassis was used for several other cars:

• 250 GT California Spyder SWB: shown at the 1960 Geneva Motor Show, with disc brakes and a 206 kW (280 PS) version of the V12; about 55 were built. It can be told apart from the earlier long-wheelbase California by its lower bonnet scoop and different bumper vents.
• One-off and special bodies: Pininfarina built coupés and a cabriolet in the style of the 400 Superamerica; Bertone bodied chassis 1739GT in 1960 and chassis 3269GT in 1961 with the "Chiti" shark nose; Zagato built a Spider Speciale.
• "Breadvan": an SWB modified by Giotto Bizzarrini and Piero Drogo for Giovanni Volpi.

A lightweight chassis with a 400 Superamerica-style body, 2643GT, was raced at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring by drivers including Stirling Moss and Giancarlo Baghetti.

Legacy and collectors

The 250 GT SWB is remembered as a dual-purpose car: the same model, ordered in Lusso or Competizione form, could serve as a fast road car or win major GT races. It introduced disc brakes to Ferrari's GT cars, and its short 2,400 mm chassis was followed in 1962 by the 250 GTO. The engineers credited with its development - Bizzarrini, Chiti and Forghieri - all went on to play major roles in Italian motor sport.

In 2004 Sports Car International placed the SWB seventh among the sports cars of the 1960s, and Motor Trend Classic ranked it fifth in its list of the greatest Ferraris. Because so few were built and many have a racing history, cars with known competition records are among the most valuable Ferraris of the period. Buyers look closely at chassis history, the body type (steel Lusso or aluminium Competizione) and originality. More on the company's history is in our history of Ferrari.

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