Ferrari’s young F1 driver had a pretty awful time at his home Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago, his elation at scoring pole position soon replaced by disappointment when he crashed during the later part of qualifying, and was unable to start the race due to a mechanical failure.
Fortunately, this latest video from Ferrari shows him taking to the track in much happier circumstances, and getting behind the wheel of a classic Ferrari 275 GTB road car.
The track in question is Ferrari’s Fiorano test track, and the car was Ferrari’s flagship V12 sports car back in the mid-1960s, a direct descendant of the current 812 Superfast. In fact, the 275 was the first mainstream Ferrari road car with a transaxle layout, where the weight of the front-mounted engine is partially offset by moving the gearbox to the rear, improving the handling balance. It’s a layout front-engined Ferraris still use to this day.
Plenty has changed since the 1960s though, including power outputs. Ferrari quoted 280bhp for the 3.3-litre 275, but the current 812 is rated at 789bhp. Still, the old timer sounds nice, or at least so Leclerc tells us – it’s just a shame we can’t hear more of it ourselves for the awful music Ferrari has decided to add to the video.
“What an incredible car to drive,” says Leclerc of the machine built 30 years before he was even born.
“I cannot imagine what it is like to be racing with this car on a track,” he adds, diplomatically acknowledging that key components, like brakes, have come a long way since the 1960s.
The video ends on a happier note for both Leclerc and Ferrari than the driver’s recent Monaco outing, and there are no crashes or breakdowns. Which is just as well, because perfect 275s like the one in the video are now worth around £2m.
Keyword: Watch Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc hustle a classic 275 GTB around the team’s Fiorano test track