The Le Mans winning 499P is often regarded as Ferrari’s first top-level sports racing car in 50 years. In fact, 30 years ago, there was another lesser-known model – the F333 SP
Before Ferrari’s victorious return to Le Mans in 2023, the last factory entry with a good chance of outright victory was back in 1973. That was with the 312 PB, which would finish second. On the face of it, there appears to be a 50-year gap between Ferrari’s last competitive sports prototype racer and the newest 499P, victor in 2023 and 2024.
See the mighty Ferrari F333 SP in action on track…
In fact, 30 years ago Ferrari built, and numerous private teams raced, a highly successful sports racing car. This is the story of the F333 SP, the forgotten Ferrari.
As befits an orphan Ferrari, its background is unusual. It was the brainchild of Gianpiero Moretti, founder of Momo steering wheels. A successful racing driver in America, he convinced Ferrari management to build a sports prototype for the new American IMSA World Sports Car series. Ferrari in North America backed the idea, and Ferrari’s first sports racing prototype in 20 years was born.
It was aimed at private teams and would prove popular with them. Ferrari sold an all-inclusive package that included factory technical support and spares. Power came from a high-revving and powerful F1-based V12, soon to be found in the upcoming F50 hypercar. With a precise unit displacement of 333.09 cm3 (giving the F333 SP its name), the engine produced 650cv at a howling 9000 rpm. The chassis was a carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb monocoque to the latest design, and featured F1-style pushrod-operated wishbone suspension, while the wind tunnel honed two-seat Spider bodywork had a hint of the old 312 PB.
Above: the F333 SP boasted an F1-based V12 engine, a carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb monocoque chassis and F1-style pushrod-operated wishbone suspension
The F333 SP made its public debut at the 1994 Geneva Show, although it was previewed just over a month earlier, to coincide with the Daytona 24-hour race. It made its racing debut in round three of the IMSA series in Road Atlanta. Four cars started, entered by three different teams (including Gianpiero Moretti’s Momo Corse). The debut could hardly have gone better: F333 SPs finished 1-2. In the next round, the cars scored a 1-2-3 and went on to win three more races that year.
In 1995, the F333 SP scored its biggest win to date at the 12 Hours of Sebring. It was Ferrari’s first victory in the classic American sports car race since Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx won there for Ferrari in 1972. The winning lead driver, Wall Street banker Andy Evans, drove for his own Scandia Motorsport team and would go on to win at Sebring again in 1997.
Above: the F333 SP was a seasoned campaigner in the American IMSA World Sports Car series, taking regular wins from 1994 to 2001 at circuits including (from left) Phoenix, Sebring, Laguna Seca and Lime Rock
Ferrari won the IMSA WSC championship in 1995 and, the very same year, the F333 SP also saw a Ferrari return to Le Mans. But, unfortunately, it was not to repeat the Le Mans success of former Ferrari legends, or indeed of the subsequent 499P, with its best Le Mans result being a sixth place in 1997.
Yet conspicuous success duly followed. In America, the F333 SP won the blue riband Daytona 24-hour race in 1998 with Gianpiero Moretti, then aged 58, being one of the drivers. The car was also victorious at Sebring, Watkins Glen and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta that same year. In Europe, private entrants in F333 SPs won the new International Sports Racing Series in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The series was rebranded as the FIA Sportscar Championship in 2001, and the F333 SP won that too.
The F333 SP was remarkable not just for the success it enjoyed, but for the longevity of that success. It was a regular race winner from 1994 to 2001 – a very long career for an elite sports racing car. In the end, a number of cars were built for numerous private racing teams in America and Europe. It took 47 wins and 12 major championships.
Above: in its seven years of campaigning, the F333 SP was a regular race winner and took a total of 47 wins and 12 major championships
So why is it a largely forgotten Ferrari? It’s true that it never enjoyed success at Le Mans – the world’s most prestigious sports car race – and much of its glory took place in America, far away from European eyes. Nor was it campaigned by Ferrari, although private teams enjoyed plenty of success. The main reason, though, is that sports car racing did not enjoy the support – from either fans or car makers – that it did in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Or that it does now.
Sports car racing is now hugely popular once again. With the car industry’s move to electrification, the new hybrid racers are technically relevant, too. Which is precisely why the Ferrari factory, and so many other elite manufacturers, have returned to top-level sports car racing. Long may it last.
Cover image: the F333 SP on the way to taking victory in the IMSA World Sports Car race at Watkins Glen in 1994