What Model Ferrari Is Used in the Movie the Art of Racing in the Rain

As told by Jack Wright

Photos by Steve Temple and courtesy of Jack Wright

I've been lucky plenty in life to experience my ain personal version of Ford v Ferrari. It's not been quite like the movie, featuring GT40s at Le Mans, but I've had personal experiences with both the Shelby 289 Cobra and Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. Interestingly plenty, the purchase of one actually led to the acquisition of the other, and afterward, my Testa Rossa was actually used in the major motion moving picture The Art of Racing in the Rain. More on that later, but first a niggling history

Similar most car-crazed youths in the 1960s, I loved fast cars, peculiarly high-horsepower sports cars, which led to my fascination with Shelby Cobras. Purely by gamble, I got a job in the summer of 1966 at the Los Angeles International Airport fueling and oiling all the strange airlines that flew out. The hangar that I worked in was located correct next to the one that Carroll Shelby was using to build the Cobras and Mustang GT350s.

Also, the company that I worked for had the contract to fuel and oil Carroll Shelby's DC-three, much to my delight. I would volunteer every time his airplane needed servicing, and I'd walk up and downwards the assembly lines after I finished. There was one for the Cobras and one for the GT350, and I'd even talk to the mechanics (who were very friendly).

I had a different job during the summer of 1967, but I did go over to Shelby's hanger at LAX (through the front end door this time) with my father when Shelby was shutting down his operations there. It was during this visit that Shelby was trying to unload his last Daytona Cobra (i of but six built) for approximately $5,200! I tried to talk my father into loaning me $1,200, coupled with the sale of my car and the liquidation of my savings account, so I could purchase information technology. He emphatically said, "No!" Who knew that motorcar would exist worth in the neighborhood of $10 million today?

The pontoon-fender Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa was another love affair that began in the mid-1960s. I only saw the auto 1 fourth dimension, but it was literally honey at first sight. The stunningly cur vaceous and gorgeous car made such an impression that I still call back exactly where I saw information technology on Sunset Boulevard over l years ago. By the fashion, in 2014 an original 1957 250 Testa Rossa I Testa Rossa Reproduction Readers' Rides The meticulous custom adroitness on the aluminum body is a sight to behold. allegedly sold for $39.8 million, so the chances of seeing i on the street today are slim to none.

Jumping ahead approximately 50 years, information technology was finally time to fish or cut bait. I came shut to ownership a 289 Cobra on two different occasions, but for i reason or some other I didn't (stupid me). Fortunately I take an understanding wife, who had a 1965 Pontiac Tri-Ability GTO back in the day and completely understands my Cobra addiction.

In 2016 I fix out over again (this fourth dimension in earnest due to my age) to rail down an original 289 Cobra with the assistance of a adept friend Larry Crossan, who has owned approximately 10 Shelby Cobras over the years. We found an original 1964 289 Cobra (CSX 2303) that was under consignment at Fantasy Junction, a broker of special interest and collector of classic cars in the San Francisco area.

While at Fantasy Junction to buy the Cobra, Larry and I were both instantly fatigued to the 1957/58 250 Testa Rossa Ferrari reproduction that was in the forepart of the showroom. This detail automobile was one of one hand-built by Rod Tempero Motor Body Builder, located on the S Isle of New Zealand. Information technology has a handcrafted aluminum body fabricated from a blackboard drawing and formed with wooden bucks, an English wheel and plenty of console beating. Power comes from a 4.0-liter, 12-cylinder Ferrari 330 GT engine, backed by a modernistic five-speed transmission with a Ferrari gated shifter.

Rod says the car was built during his male parent Errol'south fourth dimension in 1999 for a customer of Ash Marshall, who supplied the engine. They built the chassis around the engine and modified information technology with a custom manifold for the six Weber carburetors and red valve covers (the namesake for the Testa Rossa). Dyno testing conf irmed an output of 298 horsepower at 6,500 rpm, and 274 lb-ft of torque.

While inspecting the engine, Larry — who has owned multiple 12-cylinder Ferraris — realized that it had recently been refurbished past Patrick Ottis. Since Ottis is 1 of the prominent Ferrari engine restorers in the world, Larry immediately gave his blessing.

Rod has a reputation for craftsmanship when it comes to building re-creations of Jaguar C- and D-Type race cars. This car is meant to closely emulate No. 0710TR, perhaps the most widely exercised Testa Rossa in the U.Due south. from that era, and the only example to have been fitted with a detachable front nosepiece. A look under the motorcar reveals the extensively triangulated chassis, which is both more rigid and responsive than an original. This setup features a contest-type coilover break, every bit well as four-wheel disc brakes.

I was simply mesmerized by the lines of the automobile, from the pontoon fenders up front to the trumpet exhausts in the rear. Additional details like the hood scoop, gas filler cap and knockoff Borrani wire wheels sealed the deal. I showed a moving-picture show of the 250 Testa Rossa to my wife, Gale, besides equally a 1957 Porsche Speedster S that I was considering and asked her which one I should buy. Without any hesitation, she pointed to the Testa Rossa, and I always practice what my married woman says (I promise she doesn't read this article!). I returned to Fantasy Junction almost a calendar week subsequently to purchase the Testa Rossa re-cosmos, which has turned out to exist one of the best car decisions I take ever made.

One year later, I received a telephone call from Spencer Trenery, co-possessor of Fantasy Junction, who wanted to know if I would be willing to speak with a friend and beau race driver named Jeff Zwart. He was interested in using the 250 Testa Rossa for a film called The Art of Racing in the Rain, based on a New York Times bestselling book written by Garth Stein. I soon learned that the film is primarily almost life's trials and tribulations through the eyes of man'due south best friend, with a backdrop of auto racing. The script called for an iconic Ferrari to play a function. A well- known flick producer/director specializing in car scenes, Jeff flew into Sacramento to wait at the auto, and he had a friend bring a dog to my house to come across if it would be a proficient fit.

Later Jeff inspected it thoroughly and took pictures of me and the domestic dog in the auto, Testa Rossa Reproduction Readers' Rides Wire mesh screens over the venturis keep debris out of the Webers when driving on the street, but they are uncovered for race duty. he determined that the 250 Testa Rossa perfectly fit his vision for the scene. We so discussed protecting the car with its somewhat fragile alloy body. Jeff, being a automobile collector himself, indicated that 20th Century Fox would fully insure the automobile, and it would be shipped in its own enclosed transporter. He would also arrange for a "motorcar handler," his friend Derek Boycks, to be with the car every fourth dimension it moved or was being filmed.

Derek is a master mechanic and looks after several large individual car collections in the Los Angeles area. He flew up and inspected the motorcar prior to finalizing the agreement and transporting the motorcar to Vancouver, British Columbia. I had fifty-fifty more than religion in the organization when I realized Derek and I had already met two months earlier at the 2018 Copperstate 1000 Route Rally in Arizona — an issue I ran in my 289 Cobra.

The movie production visitor had the Testa Rossa for the entire month of July 2018, and they took nifty care of the car. It was returned to me without a scratch and was even freshly detailed. The white roundels and #39 were placed on the car for the movie, and I chose to get out them to preserve the machine'southward picture show connection.

Getting dorsum to my Ford five Ferrari ownership, I find it interesting how people react quite differently to the two cars. Fifty-fifty though the '64 Cobra is an original, everyone thinks that information technology'southward a replica, so they pretty much get out me alone. On the other manus, the 250 Testa Rossa is a reproduction, and everyone thinks that it's an original! It'southward a existent circus to drive, with people hanging out of their cars with cellphone cameras and pulling upwardly side by side to me to ask nearly the automobile. Overall, my Cobra and Testa Rossa are like having 2 children — I absolutely love them both and could never cull a favorite.

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