Luigi Chinetti Jr
‘I raced a NART Daytona at Le Mans’
Although my fAther Luigi had won Le Mans for the third time by 1949, the first Ferrari victory there, and went on to set up the North American Racing Team in 1958, my personal ambition was always to be a good second driver because I didn’t really race that much. My first proper race was in our old 275 P prototype in 1966. It caught fire! My next race was in 1970 at the Daytona 24 Hours in our old 250 LM, simply because it was the only thing we had in the shop! This time we finished seventh; not too bad.
So, after the prototypes, the NART Daytona I raced with Bob Grossman at Le Mans in 1971 felt a bit like a taxi. Any rate, we finished fifth and took the Index of Thermal Efficiency Award. I mean, I’d be sitting there smiling as a Porsche 910 came screaming past and wishing I was in that car – I had the best seat in the house from where to watch the really fast cars in action!
No, the Daytona is actually a very good long-distance racer because it has a great engine, it’s strong and reliable – but it’s very heavy. Even the engine is heavy. Ours had an aluminium body to try to get the weight down to around 2300lb, a hotter engine with different pistons, cams, carbs, the usual stuff. Think we got it up to around 450bhp.
The thing with the big Daytona is it can’t do what it can’t do. In endurance racing there’s no point in overdriving the car and, with all that heft, you can’t go in too hard and you have to be careful of the brakes. As my dad used to say, ‘You gotta be there at the end – no-one remembers the first lap.’
Ferrari builds some wonderful cars but they should have stretched the Daytona’s engine. As the stock car boys say: ‘If you want more horsepower, dig a bigger hole.’ Ferrari didn’t really develop the Daytona, which is a shame because it had great potential and could have become really awesome – I mean, look at what Porsche did with the 911. The RS is a delight to drive.
Having done thousands of miles in Daytonas I must admit one of the best drives I ever experienced was on the road from Modena to Paris. The only instrument I used was the tach; the speedo was irrelevant. That’s where a Daytona comes alive. I think it is a better car than the later 365 BB – I mean, who wants an engine over the gearbox? And the 288 GTO is no better because it’d fry its brakes after one run down the mountain. No, Ferrari’s next great car was the F40.
People say the Daytona is tricky but I think it’s enormous fun. Just bear in mind, it can’t do what it can’t do, so don’t go in too hard over your head.