Ferrari on the Salt Flats

Luigi Chinetti Jr, the son of the Ferrari importer for the USA, had the preposterous idea to bring the red cars of the Prancing Horse to the salt lake of Bonneville in Utah, with the intention to establish speed records in 1974. At the wheel of a 512M (picture above), he beat the 10 km record at 174,759 miles/hour (a little shy from 300 km/h), partnered by a certain… Paul Newman!

The Californian actor had shared the wheel with Chinetti Jr, while Graham Hill, a double F1 world champion, was also present with the aim of covering 1000 km with the two drivers mentioned above, at the wheel of a Ferrari 365 GTB4, at 166,455 miles/hour.

Newman had discovered motor racing while filming the movie “Winning” at Indianapolis, before embracing a racing career in GT category with Nissan, and conquering the SCCA title. Second at the 1979 Le Mans 24 Hours with Dick Barbour and Rolf Stommelen in a Porsche 935, the actor then joined Carl Haas to create Newman/Haas Racing, a team that will find glory in IndyCar with Mario and Michael Andretti, as well as in ChampCar with Sébastien Bourdais.