Off-Market Ferrari 330 LMB (1 of 4)

This offer is an exceedingly rare, special, or off-market vehicle. For discretion and to protect the privacy of our sellers and the exclusiveness of the vehicle the presentation contains only a few original or placeholder pictures and information. Should you require more information and original picture material, please contact us with your full contact details and a proof of your identity. The original: In order to trace the history of the 330 LMB ("Le Mans Berlinetta"), which was used in Le Mans in 1963 among other places, one has to go back to 1961. 1961: In the last year under the regime of the World Sports Car Championship, the 3-liter engine capacity limit introduced for sports cars in 1958 applied. For the World Championship races, Ferrari used a mainly aerodynamically motivated further development of the 250 Testa Rossa with its proven 3-liter V12 engine installed in the front, which could still be traced back to the original design of the unit constructed by Gioacchino Colombo in 1947. The famous twelve-cylinder engine from Maranello started out with a modest 1.5 liters of displacement; in its most successful form it had a displacement of 2953 cc with cylinder dimensions of 73 x 58.8 mm (bore x stroke), but by 1960/61 it had reached over 300 hp and was a prime example of torque and stability. Three of the five world championship rounds were won in 1961 by the 250 TRI, the Testa Rossa in its latest form, another success went to the 246 SP used in parallel, which already represented the more modern mid-engine concept. In addition, the 250 GT "SWB" (Short Wheelbase), also equipped with the 3-liter Colombo V12, dominated the Gran Turismo class - making Ferrari the dominant brand on the Endurance scene after the withdrawal of the Maserati (1958) and Aston Martin (1959) factory teams. The Maserati T61 (Birdcage) of 1960 was fast but fragile, and the Porsche RS (RS60 or RS61) lacked power on courses such as Le Mans, which demanded engine performance, with its 2-liter displacement simply lacking power. In 1962, the rules of the Endurance scene changed fundamentally, but Maranello's dominance remained largely untouched - no new challenger was in sight. The brand world championship was now advertised for "Gran Turismo" vehicles, the basis of which had to be vehicles from series production, of which at least 100 were built per year. In addition to the GT vehicles, however, the old sports car class continued to exist, and in addition, as a new category, the "sports prototypes" were added, without a minimum number of units and in 1962 with an increased engine capacity limit from 3 to 4 liters. They were registered in the four classic endurance races (Sebring, Targa Florio, Nürburgring and Le Mans), where they competed for the overall victory. The competitors in the large GT class continued to be front-engined cars (Ferrari 250 GTO, Jaguar E, Aston Martin DB4GT), with the new Ferrari GTO continuing the dominant role of the 250 GT-SWB from the previous two years and superiorly winning the first world championship for GT cars in the large category, again with the proven 3 liter Colombo V12 as power source. The prototypes were now allowed a 4-liter capacity, and Ferrari wanted to push this limit with a view to Le Mans. One could have reached for the shelf and reactivated the large V12 engines of the sports cars of 1957/58 (315 S, 335 S and 412 MI), which were based on the basic design by Ing. Aurelia Lampredi and further developed by Vittorio Jano (equipment with two overhead camshafts per cylinder bank). Instead, a new line of 4-liter racing engines was opened, based on the engine of the 400 SA ("Superamerica"), which in turn was derived from the 3-liter Colombo V12. The 400 SA was introduced in 1959, and from 1960 to 1964 a small, exclusive series of elegant street sports cars was produced. The successor model of the 400 SA was the 500 Superfast with an engine enlarged to 5 liters. The cylinder dimensions 77×71 mm were the fixed point of all subsequent 4-liter V12 racing engines from 1962 onwards, which fired the Ferrari prototypes until 1967. Until 1964, the engines were modelled on the Colombo design, with one overhead camshaft per cylinder bank, two valves per cylinder and carburettor instead of injection. The step towards the four-camshaft engine was taken in 1965 with the 330 P2, and injection was not introduced until 1966 with the 330 P3.