VINTAGE: Ferrari's Competition Daytonas - Cars On SPEED

For more than a decade, from the early 1950s to well into the 1960s, Ferrari dominated GT racing.

During those years, the focus of the Italian manufacturer gradually shifted toward building road cars, which became a core business rather than a means to go racing. This process was complete when Ferrari replaced the 275 GTB with the 365 GTB/4 Daytona in 1968 and did not develop a competition version.

It did not take long, however, for the customers to recognize the Daytona's potential and by 1969, the first racing version had been developed independently.

This Series 1 car, number 14429, is the only competition Daytona that was not raced in period, instead used on the street by Enzo Ferrari's close friend Dottore Paolo Mariani. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) Encouraged by that car's performance, Ferrari's North American importer Luigi Chinetti approached his friend Enzo Ferrari once again. The ?'Old Man? was partly convinced and ordered not his competition wing but his customer-service department to build a competition Daytona. Fifteen eventually were built in three series of five.

Having scored class wins at Le Mans Daytona and taking an outright win at the Tour Auto, these Daytona Competiziones certainly proved worthy successors to the many great GT racers produced in Maranello.

We take a close look at all five of the Series 1 Daytona Competiziones, which are pictured in a
36-shot gallery at major events on both sides of the Atlantic. Among the examples featured is the one driven by legendary actor Paul Newman to fifth in the 1977 Daytona 24 Hours as well as the 1974 Le Mans class-winning chassis.

There were various reasons for Ferrari suspending its customer racing program, such as the spirallng costs of the sports-car and F1 efforts, and the switch in focus to prototype racing by the potential clients.

Number 14407, the first of five Daytona Competiziones built in 1971, was delivered new to Charles Pozzi and won a class victory at Le Mans in 1974. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) The Ferrari 365 GBT/4 was nevertheless bestowed with the same racing DNA as its predecessors, so it was only a matter of time before one was independently prepared for racing. Not surprisingly, among the first to field a Daytona was Chinetti, Ferrari's American importer and longtime private entrant under the North American Racing Team (NART) banner.

Readied in 1969, the alloy-bodied NART Daytona was raced at Daytona and Sebring with a twelfth at the latter as the best result.

Buoyed by the performance of his Daytona, Chinetti approached Enzo Ferrari in an attempt to re-consider his decision not to make a competition version. Ferrari met his old friend halfway and offered the help of the Assistenza Clienti or customer-assistance department to ready a batch of five new cars for the 1971 season.

Crucially, the Gestione Sportiva, the works racing department, was not involved in the program. With this arrangement, Ferrari could genuinely claim they had no association with the competition Daytona, while also keeping his loyal clients happy.

Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/vintage-ferraris-competition-daytonas/

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