Ferrari 250 GTO - Ricardo's last win (1000 km Monthléry 1962)

[1959scudetto]

The 1000 km Paris at the dangerous racetrack of Monthléry, one of the most important GT races of the season, took place at the end of October.

In 1961, Mexican brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez won, driving a Ferrari GT 250 SWB. The following year, 8 Ferrari GTO's participated in the race,  Luigi Chinetti's NART entered  # 3987 GT for the Rodriguez brothers, who took again the laurels in record time, lapping every other car

This was the last win for Ricardo, who died  11 days later in an accident with a Lotus on a Mexican racetrack.

Here is a 45 sec. video of that race and a picture of the winning car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8teb0zuHEwE 

 

I built it using the old Italeri 250 GTO :

Edited January 29, 2023 by 1959scudetto

[Smilesperhour]

Great looking build, nice work

[Jim B]

Great looking Ferrari. Well done.

[Bruce Scully]

Nice looking build , well done .

[Rich Chernosky]

Helmut....attention to detail everywhere....its a winner alright. Great job.

[Pierre Rivard]

A wonderful build Helmut. It's great that you post a picture of the real car as it highlights the fidelity of the scale replica you have built. Color, detailing and finishes are all beautiful. I am not familiar with the Italeri kit but it looks the part. Even the (cast?) wheels look really good.

Have you added any aftermarket detailing items or are all these nice details part of the kit?

[1959scudetto]

13 minutes ago, Pierre Rivard said:

A wonderful build Helmut. It's great that you post a picture of the real car as it highlights the fidelity of the scale replica you have built. Color, detailing and finishes are all beautiful. I am not familiar with the Italeri kit but it looks the part. Even the (cast?) wheels look really good.

Have you added any aftermarket detailing items or are all these nice details part of the kit?

Thank you Pierre - you must watch the short youtube video (Link above): the upper edge of the banked curve has no guardrail, no means of protection to prevent drivers from falling down more than 70 ft. when leaving the track.

That GTO was a heavily rework of my own ca. 1987 built kit.

The cast kit wheels are chromed and were simply oversprayed with Duplicolor rim silver from the can - I always do it that way when dechroming wheels is necessary and it works quite well. No aftermarket parts were used: decals from my spares - not exactly the needed size, but pretty close, the license plate was printed on ordinary paper with my laser printer (after a long search for similar fonts like the original). The leather straps on the hood were fabricated from thin steel wire and self-sticking tape.

[jaymcminn]

Very nice build. It shows what a skilled builder can still do with those old Italeri Ferraris!

[Phildaupho]

I really enjoyed watching the video before checking out your well done replica. I have all the GTO plastic kits and after market parts in my stash so I have build one someday.

[Dave B]

Looks great Helmut, just as we expect from you.

Dave B

Edited January 30, 2023 by Dave B

[Gramps46]

Yup, that's an early GTO alright.  Very well done and realistic too.  I like the darker red you used, what brand and shade is it.  The new Tamiya Italian read seems too bright to me but then I am not a good color judge.

[1959scudetto]

On 1/30/2023 at 2:19 AM, Gramps46 said:

Yup, that's an early GTO alright.  Very well done and realistic too.  I like the darker red you used, what brand and shade is it.  The new Tamiya Italian read seems too bright to me but then I am not a good color judge.

Thanks Gary - it is always difficult to tell which tone of red would be the best for a specific race car: I have seen different pictures on the internet of the very same car showing several shades of red - from burgundy to almost orange - the same with cars in my books (so I painted my Filipinetti 412 P in a totally wrong color - dark red - as shown in the only reference material I had back then.

I used most of the time auto laquer from the spray can, mainly Auto-K or Duplicolor (both German companies, as their cans were easily available in Austria). As this paint was bought ca. 1985 and has been used up long ago, I can't remember what its exact name was: I used it for several models; IIRC, I bought it for Italeri's 288 GTO, then used it for the 250 GTO, the F40 and the California Spider. I also sprayed the 2 Fisher 312 P Spyders which look definitely too dark with it and some more cars that I don't have any longer - these cans had a volume of 400 ml (4 times as much as a standard Tamiya can).

Here is a photo of my models spray-painted with that specific red lacquer (shot with flashlight an hour ago) - the primers could have been different (light grey or tan):

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by 1959scudetto

[1959scudetto]

On 1/30/2023 at 2:19 AM, Gramps46 said:

Yup, that's an early GTO alright.  Very well done and realistic too.  I like the darker red you used, what brand and shade is it.  The new Tamiya Italian read seems too bright to me but then I am not a good color judge.

Gary, look what I found yesterday (!) on pinterest: exactly this car in a really bright red - as you can see, my red is much too dark: 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by 1959scudetto

[Gramps46]

Great rear end shot.  Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Pierre Rivard]

Helmut, I like the red hue you chose for your GTO. It does have that rosso da corsa look seen on racing Ferraris in the sixties. A shade that can shift between bright red and blood red depending on lighting conditions.