3 racing cars you never knew existed

The race car, but not as you know it

We all love a classic motorcar. The beautifully crafted coachwork, the rumble of its unapologetically inefficient engine and the majesty of the bygone era they represent. But there are sadly too few opportunities to see these beasts as they should be seen: running full chat around an iconic racing circuit.

Thankfully, there’s the annual Silverstone Classic, a full-on, three-day celebration of all things motorsport held at Silverstone – the home of the British Grand Prix. Among the established automotive elite – the likes of the Jaguar E-Type and Aston Martin DB4 GT – are a few less celebrated motoring icons. Here are three classic racing cars you’ve probably never heard of before.

The legendary Ferrari 250 GTO needs no introduction as one of the most expensive cars in the world – one recently sold for a cool £23million at auction in 2014. But this one, as you may have noticed, is a little different. Nicknamed the Breadvan for it’s ‘practical’ proportions the car actually started life as a short-wheel base (SWB) Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta in 1961. Despite its handsome looks it’s owner, Conti Volpi di Misurati decided it wasn’t fast enough and handed it over to engineer Giotto Bizzarrini who made a few tweeks. After some time in the garage, the car’s new aerodynamic profile gave way to the nickname ‘the Breadvan’ and the car was entered into the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans where it retired with transmission problems.

Built in the early 1990s, XJR 15 is the lesser-known naturally aspirated sibling to Jaguar’s turbocharged XJ220 supercar. Underneath its carbonfibre and Kevlar bodywork is, essentially, an XJR-8 Le Mans car. With a 6.0-litre V12 producing 450bhp, the XJR 15 could reach 60mph in 3.9seconds and go on to touch 191mph. For the few brave enough to buy a road-going version, Jaguar slapped on a few indicators, fitted a bumper and – fatally – raised the ride height to comply with road regulations. The mix of unforgiving racecar roughly translated for the road meant the XJR 15 didn’t quite perform as well as it looked.

The Maserati Barchetta was created under Alejandro de Tomaso’s reign in the early 1990s to compete in its own race series called the Grantrofeo Barchetta – a series designed for gentlemen racers to run as support races at larger events. Packing a mid-mounted twin-turbo 2.0-litre V6 producing 315 horsepower – taken from the Ghibli – the Barchetta could do 0-60mph in 4.5seconds and 190mph. With only ten believed to have been built, this track day warrior is a rare piece of Italian motorsport history.

For more information visit Silverstone Classic here.

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