Not only a beautiful car but also a real champion. Produced in 1952 as a „one off“ the car named originally 225 S. As usual at this time the typology named the displacement of one cylinder, in this case 225 cc. But when Aurelio Lampredi started his work for the Scuderia Ferrari, one the first things he did was to change the bore to 73 mm, so #0156ET was from now on a 250 – the first 250 in history of the Scuderia. The bodywork by Vignale wasn’t changed.
Ferrari 250 S Vignale Coupé #0156ET – The First Ferrari 250
#0156ET is called slighty different in some books, magazines, entry list and so on, sometimes it is named 250 S Berlinetta Vignale, 250 Sport or as I do 250 S Vignale Coupé. But it is always the same car because there is only one ever build.
Produced only to race for the Scuderia at the famous places and races of this time the racing history is not that long but very successful. Only eleven races are recorded. The car should have it’s debut at the Giro di Sicilia in 1952, but the 250 S was not finished yet so it couldn’t start.
So the first start for the 250 S was the Mille Miglia, the race from Brescia to Rome and back. One thousand miles raced on public roads through the Italian landscape. It was planned that Luigi Villoresi drive the car but he was injured, so Giovanni Bracco came in to drive the race. Bracco was 44 years old and passionate about drinking, smoking and women. He was a perfect example of a gentleman driver but very fast and a bit of a daredevil. The legend say that he had a bottle of Cognac in the car and smoked four pack’s of Chesterfields during the the race. After a heavy accident at a race meeting in Modena in 1947 where he lost control over his race car and crashed into a group of spectators, he quit motor racing for a few years. In 1950 he started again and in 1951 at Mille Miglia he got the attention of Enzo Ferrari after a spectacular race to second place with a Lancia Aurelia.
Never mind, he won the 1952 Mille Miglia with his co-pilot Alfonso Rolfo in 12:09:45,000 by beating Karl Kling in the very strong Mercedes 300SL workscar. Not bad for the debut of this beautiful 250 S Vignale Coupé #0156ET.
For the 1952 issue of the 24 hours of Le Mans the Scuderia entered #0156ET with Luigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari behind the wheel. Alberto Ascari set the lap record with 173,149 km/h , which is very remarkable, I think, because the maximum speed of the 250 S was „only“ 250 km/h. But after three hours they had to stop due to a clutch failure.
After a third place in a sports car race at Senigalla with Luigi Villoresi, Giovanni Bracco won the 12 Hours of Pescara with Paolo Marzotto. For the Carrera Panamerica in 1952 G. Bracco was again the driver. He was leading the race through the second stage but couldn’t finish due to technical problems. Mercedes, the new rival for the next years, won that race with Karl Kling.
After two race entrants in 1953 at the Giro di Sicilia and the 1000 KM race at Monza with no success the racing career of the 250 S was ending. The car was sold to Roberto Bonomi and getting the attitude of a collectors car very early not only because his successful racing history but of course about his outstanding part in the history of Ferrari as the first 250. Many more should follow, the next one was the famous 250 MM, the list of Ferrari 250’s is long and was highlighted by the 250 GTO from 1962. Find out more about our photographer Ralph Lüker.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
MODEL 250 S
TYPE Coupé / Berlinetta
YEAR OF PRODUCTION 1952
TOTAL NUMBER OF BUILD CARS 1
DESIGNER OF THE BODYWORK Giovanni Michelotti at Vignale
ENGINE front mounted Colombo V12 – SOHC 2 Valves /Cylinder
CUBIC CAPACITY 2953 cc
BORE AND STROKE 73 mm x 58,8 mm
CUBIB PER CYLINDER 246,084 cc
CARBURATORS 3 double Weber Carburator 36DCF
TRANSMISSION 5-speed manual
HORSEPOWER 230 bhp at 7500 rpm
V-MAX 250 km/h
CHASSIS Tubed frame Tipo „Tuboscocca“
WHEELBASE 2250 mm
TRACK FRONT / BACK 1278 mm / 1250 mm
LENGHT x WIDTH x HEIGHT 3800 mm x 1570 mm x 1400 mm
BRAKES Drumbrakes all around
WEIGHT WITHOUT FUEL 850 kg
FUELTANK 150 L
