Chris Rea’s Ferrari 250 TRI 61 Le Mans La Passione Replica

Chris was already a big fan of a red Ferrari BB512 ‘Boxer’ Don had styled when he was at Emblem, after seeing the actual car at Maranello, Egham. And he knew of the white Ferrari 308 GTS QV owned by Saudi Prince Naif, and other sports cars Don had re-imagined with the team at Emblem.

He wanted two cars built for the film. A single-seater Ferrari 156 F1 and a Ferrari 250 TRI 61 Le Mans, both with the distinctive sharknose front ends. Inspiration for the film was partially drawn from Wolfgang von Trips, the German racing driver – who was tragically killed in his F1 ‘sharknose’ car at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix in Monza. He drove both these cars during his career.
 
Chris initially asked Don to make a single aluminium sharknose panel for his Ferrari 330, to get an impression of a sharknose front end. This would give Chris full reassurance on the next steps, and that the project would be ‘a goer’ with the assembled team, given their credentials and lineage back to Emblem. 

The TRI 61 was the first in the pipeline…

Unless a new chassis was built from scratch, the 330 was the most suited for the project. Conveniently, Chris already owned one, and was prepared to use it as a donor vehicle.

Having a front-engine position of a similar size, and a wheelbase and chassis layout comparable to the original Le Mans racer, made it a suitable donor to build from.

The build was never going to be an exact replica of the Le Mans car. Chris knew that would, in many ways, be too big and ambitious a project, especially within the time constraints of the film. Moreover, and most importantly to Chris, his view was that the original was too beautiful to replicate! But it did have to bear a close and credible resemblance, and have the standout features that Don was tasked with creating. 

Don would produce the frame, tank and aluminium bodywork panelling, while trusted partners dealt with the mechanics, engine, running gear, overall project oversight, and communications with Chris when he was either on tour as a musician or busy with the preparations for the film. This was in the days before mobile phones, so was a job in itself! Nigel Mansell Sports Cars in Pimperne (as they were known then, having bought the business from John and Maria Woodfield at Emblem Sports Cars) were approached to handle all the paintwork requirements.

Chris’s 330 arrived, and after fully stripping it down, Don and team began constructing the frame, factoring in the fundamental differences to the original 1961 Le Mans model, but taking care and finding ways to replicate its aesthetic. 

The build incorporated adapting the existing roll cage in the 330, and fitting Recaro racing seats instead of the ‘period’ bucket seats of the TRI 61. Meanwhile, the exhaust would run underneath the car and not down the side, as it did on the original. Don was also asked to build the frame and bodywork around wider wheels and Yokohama tyres, which ultimately meant flatter looking sides.

It was an exciting project for everyone involved, as it hadn’t been done before – and hasn’t even been attempted since, as far as we know. Naturally, whispers began to circulate that this would be an exact replica, but this was never Chris’ intention… or Don’s. That would have been a very different deal, and Don soon put to bed any notion that this was anything more than a ‘passion-project’ of purely cosmetic equivalence!

Looking back, there were perhaps too many intermediaries to the project, making Don’s build tricky at times. Again, in the now hard to imagine pre-mobile and internet days, decisions and details trickled slowly along a chain of people, and important information could be miscommunicated and misinterpreted. For Don, at the end of that line of communication, it often meant unnecessary re-workings, which took additional time.

Ultimately, though, Don and trusted collaborators created what Chris asked for. Without Dave Crump and Steve Bodrog working closely with Don at the Tarrant Gunville workshop, it would have been almost impossible – they were both integral to the project.

Chris is a car enthusiast, and an outright Ferrari fanatic. Don recalls how Chris would try his best to explain what he wanted; for example, ‘imagine sculpting a block of butter’ while vividly depicting the sweeps and lines of the car’s bodywork in mid-air, could be hard to interpret! But somehow, it was understood. It is indeed ‘sculpting – it’s the right word – and it’s what DMark still does today. With metal, not butter…

Looking back, Don commends Chris’ trust in Don’s team to decipher his vision, and his determination to oversee this project while producing a film, honouring his music commitments and more. Chris was – and is – just a really nice person, and no doubt had great fun with the cars after the film was made.

The end result wasn’t a Ferrari TRI 61 Le Mans replica. It would probably make a purist squirm, but it’s still a fantastic car, and Chris was delighted with it. Don and team are pretty proud of it, too. Don got to apply his expertise and acquire new knowledge, and learned a lot – not just in terms of experience and honing unique skills, but also how to manage the supply chain, the process, and the intermediaries! 

Regretfully, Don had to turn down the single seater Ferrari 156 F1 sharknose project midway through the Ferrari 250 TRI 61 commission. Partly because the resources weren’t available to work on both projects concurrently and complete in time for the film. But more than that, Don’s son Mark had just begun chemotherapy treatment for Leukaemia. Mark’s treatment and recovery was obviously the outright priority at this time.

To find out more about this project, or to discuss yours, get in touch.