Phil Hill and the Ferrari 156 Recreation
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| Phil Hill drives the Ferrari 156 Recreation of Chris Rea during the Ferrari 50th Anniversary celebration in Rome, 1998, Thousands lined the streets to cheer on their racing heroes in the pouring rain. |
The rumor began to circulate years ago, mostly as a product of wishful thinking. I once asked Phil Hill if he knew of anyone out there thinking of building a copy of the Ferrari 156 F1 Sharknose. He replied that various individuals had broached the subject with him over the years, and that he would love to drive the car again, but it might be folly to build one because of the stigma such a thing might engender as a copy. It seemed unlikely that the world would again see even a facsimile of the 1961 Tipo 156.
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The two did eventually get together at the following year's Festival of Speed in one of those rare moments historic racing fans all recognize, when it comes, as something special and symbolic. Phil later described the experience as having "reawakened something in my brain that I didn't realize was there."
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| Prominent tachometer, wood-rimmed aluminum wheel were central elements in dash layouts of the period. |
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| 60° V-6 displaces almost a full litre more than the 1.5 litres of the original. |
"I think it's marvelous what they've created with this car," he said. "It's hard to fault, and when I climbed in I certainly had the feeling that I was back in the real thing."
From 1956 to 1962, Ferrari retired his spent Formula 1 cars to the scrap heap, but he may have been more motivated than usual to do away with the 156 after the 1962 season. It had been a Bad Year, wrought by terminal labour and morale troubles at the factory and compounded by the British teams' meteoric technical advances. At Enzo's command, the cars were gone, every one, and their absence became ever more conspicuous as historic racing grew in popularity.
It's not a perfect reproduction: the engine is a 2.4 litre unit rather than the original 1.5, the flywheel is heavier, and the chassis is not set up quite the way it should be, but the car pleases visually, it goes like stink, and Phil has expressed real enjoyment in driving it.
That's good enough for those of us who never thought we would see this pair together again. -- Kane Rogers