As a result of regulation changes, the field at the 31st edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans only held 49 cars, and due to numerous retirements from breakdowns and incidents, only 12 competitors were ranked at the finish, including six Ferraris…in the top six spots! However, the 4381 SA chassis of the Ferrari 330 LMB (Le Mans Berlinetta) was not among them since Pierre Noblet and Jean Guichet, entered by Noblet's team, were forced to retire during the eighth hour, their engine having died.

The engine of the 330 LMB (400 hp) was the one the 330 GTO special, from which it came, had tested at Le Mans the year before. Though it was forced to retire during the seventh hour, the 330 LM TRI that won in 1962 - which returned the following year after having been purchased by the Rodriguez brothers - had an identical engine.

Of the four 330 LMs (three LMBs and one TR LM) with 4-liter engines at the start of the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, only one passed under the checkered flag, the one driven by Jack Sears and Mike Salmon, both recently deceased. By winning in the 3,001 to 4,000 cm3 class, fulfilled their contract since the Ferrari 250 GTO with an identical body to the 330 LMB and only a 3-liter engine, finished last. The Ferrari of the Brits, the chassis of which was essentially a 400 Superamerica, came from Maranello by road with British license plates! During the race, the Italian car managed with a lot of luck to slip between the René Bonnet's incident at the Dunlop bridge and the weirs that lined the track at the time.

All had begun well for the 4381 SA chassis at Le Mans given that during the preliminary tests in April, Mike Parkes, who would go on to claim the third step on the podium at the end of the race with Ferrari's official outfit, became the first man to exceed 300 km/h (302 km/h) in the Mulsanne Straight, with this chassis. On the other hand, at the 12 Hours of Sebring (the car's first appearance) the Brit, along with Lorenzo Bandini, had damaged the fuel tank, resulting in a retirement.

The 4381 SA chassis' career was shortened in autumn of 1963 when it was sold to an Italian film production company which decided to transform it into a spyder and paint it black and gold for Federico Fellini's short film "Extraordinary Stories" released in 1968. It wasn't until 1978 that its new Italian owner requested Medardo Fantuzzi's workshops restore its body to the original version. The Italian car then crossed the Channel and was kept for a while by Harry Leventis. The father of Nick Leventis, winner in the LM P2 class at the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, entered the Ferrari 330 LMB in the Le Mans Classic, the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Tour Auto before selling it.

The 4381 SA chassis, the estimated selling price of which has not been revealed, should once again change ownership this week under the gavel of Rick Cole Auctions.

Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

> Special content and exclusive videos: get more with myACO! Join here!
> More info about the online community myACO free to endurance racing fans here!

Photo (copyright: D.R. Archives ACO): The #9 Ferrari 330 was forced to retire during the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans.