By Lorenzo Baer
For a regular spectator, the name Ferrari is always linked to the noun ‘victory’ in the motor racing scenario. The Italian manufacturer’s countless laurels in the most diverse disciplines of motorsport, throughout its more than 75 years of activity, seem to be a unanimous tone in the history of Ferrari.
But the most passionate tifosi knows that the Scuderia, from time to time, goes through its harsh times. It seems that every two decades or so, the Italian team has its moments of recession, in which the well-fitting machine called ‘Ferrari’ goes off its axis. Many of these phases leave significant scars in the team’s history, as they were moments in which the Scuderia had to make difficult decisions to protect its future, to the detriment of the present.
Certainly, one of the most turbulent moments in Ferrari’s history was the period between the end of the 60´s and beginning of the 70´s, where all the factors that destabilized a team converged at one time, in one place: there was a terrible drought of victories, while an internal crisis generated by economic factors undermined the team´s morale not only in its Formula 1 department, but also in the Prototype and Touring ones.
With the exception of a few victories in the 1967 World Sports Car Championship and Jacky Ickx’s surprising success in the 1968 French Grand Prix, what was left of the automaker’s racing division’s honor was saved by the Scuderia’s neglected Formula 2 department. This sub-division, between the years 1968 and 1969, would be practically the only one to give joy to the Italians, as they carried alone on their backs the brunt of battle – the one of the Ferrari´s efforts of winning races.
Thanks to the sleek Dino-Ferrari 166, whether in its original F2 format or in the Tasman Specs, is that the team managed to find a way to the victories, even in the most adverse conditions. And much probably, this car was the best that came out of Ferrari’s garages in these turbulent years.
1968 was the year in which these nimble, fast, but currently unknown cars, shined on the European scene, taking the duo of Ernesto Brambilla and Derek Bell to a level of success that was unthinkable to Ferrari’s other motorsport departments during those hard years. One last success was needed to crown the season of these underdogs. And the setting couldn’t be better: in the heart of the tarantella land.
Ernesto Tino Brambilla. The nº 1 driver of the Ferrari F2 team. Credits_ LAT Photographics
THE LAST STOP OF 1968: VALLELUNGA
Leaving aside the Ferrari Formula 1 team, the team’s F2 subdivision was also contaminated by the ‘chaos’ virus that reigned throughout the automaker in 1968. The results in the first part of the season for the Formula 2 department were a mirror of those of F1: just a continuous series of disappointing appearances, with some lapses of brilliance from its pilots. The only remarkable performance is this first leg was on the V Grote Prijs van Limbourg, in Belgium, were the Ferrari-Dinos 166 driven by Chris Amon and Jacky Ickx finished in the second and fourth places, respectively.
But, for the second half of the season, it seems that the Ferrari F2 team has changed its tone, rescuing from some forgotten place the professionalism that had existed at the Scuderia in pre-crisis times. The Ferrari-Dino 166 F2 slowly became a car that could compete for race victories, a vehicle that would once again place the Cavallino Rampante on the highest place on the podium. It’s true that these F2 races were not as attractive events as the Formula 1 GPs or the mythical 24 hours of Le Mans – but any victory, regardless of its size or origin, in the midst of a crisis, is always welcomed.
Even though the overall victory of the 1968 European F2 championship was already beyond Ferrari’s reach (the Matra Sports Team drivers had already mathematically secured that title a few races in advance), this did not prevent the Scuderia from at least performing well in the remaining races, saving some of the honor of the Ferrari name.
Thanks to an inspired final stretch of season from its drivers, especially Ernesto ‘Tino’ Brambilla, the team unleashed a series of good results in those final races: a 3rd place in the VII Gran Premio del Mediterraneo and the victory in the I ADAC-Preis von Baden-Württemberg came as a shock to the opponents, who did not count on Ferrari to be a strong opposition in the category.
Due to these good steak of results, Scuderia Ferrari, which until now was considered the ‘ugly duckling’ of the F2 grid, became one of the favorites to win the XX Gran Premio di Roma. Furthermore, other factors contributed to this favoritism; such as Vallelunga being the place where Ferrari extensively tested the 166 F2 model in its prototype phase, already having track conditions parameters close to those of a real race, in addition to knowing at some extent the car’s reaction to these conditions.
Another factor neglected by the other teams was the experience of the Ferrari drivers on the circuit. In Brambilla’s case, the driver’s knowledge was even deeper than his both companions, as he had already competed in a dozen races on the circuit, especially during his Italian F3 days, in the years from 1964 to 1967.
For the race in Rome, in addition to the regular duo formed by the Italian ‘Tino’ Brambilla (who would be the team’s number 1 driver in the race) and the British Derek Bell, a third car was entered, this one for Andrea De Adamich. In an ideal situation, De Adamich would have taken turns with Bell in second car in the Ferrari F2 team throughout 1968, but a serious accident in March in the non-championship F1 Race of Champions, at Brands Hatch, prevented the driver from exercising his contract with Ferrari.
To this end, Ickx, Amon and Bell shared the second Dino 166 over some stages of the F2 championship, depending (mainly on the first two) on availability in their schedules. It was only in the last F2 race of the year that De Adamich resumed his place in the driver rotation.
And with that, the scene was set for the last stage of the 1968 European Formula 2 season: a clash between the surprising, but chaotic Ferrari, and the stagnant, but linear Matra. Furthermore, the XX Gran Premio di Roma was expected to attract a good number of other entries, which would populate the grid with other drivers who regularly competed in F2 during the year.
THE RACE IN ROME
After the arduous practice sessions of Friday and Saturday, the grid positions were finally set for the Sunday race: ‘Tino’ Brambilla and Andrea de Adamich had held off the pressure from their main opponents (the Brabham of Peter Gethin and the Matras of J.P. Beltoise and Henri Pescarolo), thus guaranteeing the first and second positions on the grid. On the other hand, Derek Bell, in the third Ferrari, didn’t do so well, only having the seventh best mark. Some of Bell’s below-average performance was due to the fact that the Brit, admittedly, didn’t really appreciate the layout of the roman circuit.
The race’s dispute system would rely on the ‘average’ factor to define its result. Explaining this better, the Rome GP would be held in two heats, each one consisting of 40 laps, with the driver who had the lowest combined time of the two heats being declared the winner of the GP. Since the lap times under racing conditions at the Vallelunga circuit were close to 1min20s, it was expected that each heat would last something near the 50 minute-mark.
Start of the first heat, and it didn’t take long for the Ferraris of Brambilla and De Adamich to consolidate their positions at the front of the field. Right behind was a fast and surprising Gethin, with his Brabham/Cosworth BT23C. Regazzoni, who had started 4th in a Tecno, quickly began to lose ground, due to a series of electrical problems that affected the car’s ignition system.
Brambilla and De Adamich share the front row of the Gran Premio de Roma starting grid. Credits_ Automoto.it
Soon after the first laps, a big gap began to form between the top three (both Ferraris and the lone Brabham of Gethin), and the group that was right behind; this was made up of Siffert’s BMW, the Matras of Beltoise and Pescarolo, as well as Bell’s Ferrari. Even though it had symbolic value, the fight for fourth place was close between the drivers, with the Matras incessantly attacking Jo Siffert. 15 laps into the race, the Swiss driver began to falter under pressure from the French squad; and, 4 laps later, the driver gave up the battle once and for all, after the Apfelbeck engine suffered yet another of its traditional failures.
Returning to the skirmish for first position, Brambilla continued in the lead, with De Adamich protecting his teammate’s rear. Peter Gethin was just close by, waiting for a mistake from any of the Scuderia cars. But, as the laps went by, the Brit soon realized that the Italian pair were having a steady day and only a stronger pressure would yield something greater for Frank Lythgoe Racing’s Brabham.
In the final ten laps, Gethin changed his tactics and started to make some pressure on De Adamich. But skill is useless when you lack luck, and that’s what was left for the Italian. De Adamich managed to put some back-markers between himself and Gethin – and this began to delay the British pilot’s life. In particular one of them, Hubert Hahne, who played a very tough game with the Brabham and allowed De Adamich to open a small, but enough, advantage to secure second position for the rest of the race.
But, De Adamich’s greatest contribution was not to himself, but to his teammate, Ernesto Brambilla. The battle between the Ferrari’s second car and the Brabham had allowed Brambilla to have some moments of peace, which were essential for the Italian to have his victory in the first heat of the Rome GP on track. ‘Tino’ finished the race in 51min31s0, with an advantage of just two seconds over De Adamich, in a well-deserved second place.
Despite his efforts, Gethin had to settle for third place – an excellent result, but one that could have been better. The French duo Beltoise-Pescarolo had secured 4th and 5th places for Matra, whilst an apathetic Derek Bell was far behind his Italian teammates, with a modest 6th place in the third Ferrari.
Once the first heat was over, it was time to give machines and pilots a little break. But that was short, as another 40 laps had to be completed before the end of the day. Quickly, the track was cleared and once again the cars went down at full throttle in the main straight of the circuit. The Ferraris quickly tried to defend their positions, and, to the delight of the huge audience that filled the venue’s stands, at the end of the first lap, Brambilla and De Adamich were still dictating the pace of the race, in first and second positions, respectively.
Even though the plot of the story seemed the same for the Maranello cars, right behind them a different story developed: this time it was not Peter Gethin who was coming after the Italian duo, but Jean-Pierre Beltoise! The Frenchman had managed to make a better start and surprised the British driver.
But Gethin wouldn’t let the Matra pilot confront him so easily. In just a few laps, the Brit made a payback at Beltoise, retaking the third position. Now, Gethin and his Brabham settled their iron-sights on De Adamich’s Ferrari.
With the loss of third position, there wasn’t much Beltoise could do. Since the Matra seemed far from the highest standards of performance, which had given it some good successes during the year, it was up to the French driver to resign himself to fourth position. Right behind was Henri Pescarolo, who tried to catch up to his teammate. The two Matras were now in formation, with the simple objective of finishing the race.
In sixth and seventh positions, an interesting fight was developing, between Graham Hill’s Lotus and Derek Bell’s Ferrari. The circuit’s fast curves did not allow for many overtaking opportunities, meaning that Hill, who was in pursuit of Bell, did not find any great places to pull a maneuver. Another factor that favored Ferrari’s defense was that the Italian machine was a car more adapted to the track than the British Lotus, suppressing to a certain extent the driver’s apathetic presentation.
Even though the Briton’s Ferrari continued to fight for intermediate positions, the same could not be said for his Italian teammates, who, until the final quarter of the race, were leading comfortably. But this lull wouldn’t last long, as Peter Gethin’s car seemed to get bigger and bigger in De Adamich’s mirror.
And the Englishman went on the attack mode in the final laps of the race. The outcome of it? With two laps to go before the checkered flag, the Briton executed a beautiful maneuver and finally managed to overtake De Adamich’s Ferrari. But that was the best that Gethin could achieve, as there was no more time to close the gap between him and Brambilla.
Thus, once again a red car crossed the finish line in Rome first, and for the second time that day, it was driven by Ernesto ‘Tino’ Brambilla. A difference of two seconds separated him from Gethin, with another two seconds separating the Briton from De Adamich, who had closed the top-3. In the lower positions, there was not much movement during the race, with almost all drivers maintaining their original starting positions.
After finishing both heats, what mattered now was the sum of the times, which would define the final podium of the race in Rome. Brambilla, with victories in both races, was the uncontested winner of the XX Gran Premio di Roma, with a total time of 1h43min02s7. However, the dispute for the second overall place was far more intense, due to the duel between Andrea De Adamich and Peter Gethin. But in the end, the one who did better was Andrea, who achieved a combined time two seconds lower than the British. The conclusion was that the time lost by Gethin in the first heat, while trying to overtake the stragglers, costed him the second place!
But those who had no reason to complain were the fans, who, shortly after the final result was announced, invaded the track. Due to the difficult times the Scuderia Ferrari was going through, any success was an explosion of joy for the most passionate tifosi. A victory, in Italy, with a Ferrari, with an Italian driver, in the midst of a crisis – perhaps this is the epitome of what Scuderia Ferrari is.
Andrea de Adamich performed well in his comeback to the Ferrari F2 Team, snatching a well deserved 2nd place on the podium. Credits_ LAT Photographics
De Adamich pushes his Ferrari into the pits, before the race in Rome. Credits_ Autogare Magazine (1968)
One of the biggest attractions of the Gran Premio di Roma was the return of Andrea De Adamich to a Ferrari cockpit. The driver’s contract with Ferrari had been suspended since March, when the driver suffered his near-fatal accident in England. Credits: Automoto
Since the 166 F2 has wings, why not fly_ Brambilla takes off in one of the bumps on the Vallelunga circuit. Credits_ Autogare Magazine (1968)
The Ferrari 166 F2 was a car with the traditional lines from the Maranello manufacturer. Unfortunately for it, in the years the car raced, the team was concerned with bigger issues, which prevented the full development of the machine. Credits: Automoto
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