When it comes to the most exclusive cars ever to wear the prancing horse, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the 250 GTO — with its headline dominating sales figures — must logically be the rarest of them all. However, this scarlet racer now available with Copley Motorcars is nearly ten times rarer. While 36 250 GTOs left Maranello, a mere four 330 LM Berlinettas were built for the 1963 season, of which this car, chassis number 4725 SA, is the sole right hand drive example.
While all of Ferrari’s creations are mechanical marvels, certain cars have a little extra je ne sais quoi. The 330 LMB is one of those cars, combining the 400bhp 4.0-litre dry-sump V12 with the chassis of the 400 Superamerica, all draped in utterly gorgeous and highly aerodynamic Pininfarina-designed and Scaglietti built bodywork. Some cars are rapid straight off of the assembly line, and chassis number 4725 SA was one of them. On an ordinary Sunday morning in 1963, British Ferrari factory racing and development driver Mike Parkes fired up this 330 LMB for a pre-delivery shakedown, and promptly accelerated up to an eye-watering one hundred and seventy-six miles per hour. In traffic.
Chassis number 4725 SA’s first home was Colonel Ronnie Hoare’s illustrious British Ferrari privateer outfit Maranello Concessionaires, and its first true test was to be the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans. Upon taking delivery in Maranello, Ronnie Hoare did what all great privateers did in the 1960s and hopped in his new Prancing Horse with Circuit de la Sarthe as his destination. There, it would be joined by two of its sister cars racing under Luigi Chinetti’s N.A.R.T. and the works Ferrari team. Piloted by ‘Gentleman Jack’ Sears and Mike Salmon, chassis number 4725 SA was the only 330 LMB still running come sunrise on Sunday, and in the end it would cross the finish line first in class and fifth overall. Not a bad first outing, to say the least.
The next time chassis number 4725 SA would do battle was at the 1963 Guards Trophy at Brands Hatch with works Ferrari driver Lorenzo Bandini steering this 330 LMB to another class victory. However, that would be the last dance for this 330 LMB, cementing its 100 percent win record and its position as the most successful example of its breed. Today, chassis number 4725 SA retains its matching-numbers Colombo V12 and is eligible for the world’s most prestigious historic motoring events, from Pebble Beach and Villa d’Este to the Goodwood Revival and Le Mans Classic. If you want one of Maranello’s finest thoroughbreds, this Ferrari 330 LMB awaits.
