The 10 most beautiful Ferrari racing cars

10. Ferrari 250 GTO

It was going to be somewhere, wasn’t it? The world is quite obsessed with GTOs, and rightly so, but we don’t think that its beauty quite surpasses some of the other cars that Ferrari has produced over the years. 

In fact, the original prototype was nicknamed both “Il Mostro” (the monster) and “The Anteater” due to its awkward looks and proportions. But, once it was actually finished, the ugly duckling became a swan, and the GTO has been adored ever since. It’s those spellbinding looks that have pushed prices up to frankly ludicrous levels. £70million is the most expensive that we know of, but privately who knows how much they’ve changed hands for.

9. Ferrari 333SP

Built by Dallara, commissioned by the man behind Momo and never raced by Ferrari themselves. The 333SP’s life was an interesting one. It won championships all over the place at a time when prototype sportscar racing was in a bit of a doldrum, but look at some entry lists and you won’t really find it racing against another recognizable OEM.

But, none of that matters, because it had a screaming 4.0-litre V12 and it was fast. When it’s bedecked in a proper Momo livery there are few prototypes of its era that get close to looking as good. It might be quite a squared off, chunky kind of thing, with a slightly awkward roll hoop, but those simple boxy looks have aged nicely as racing cars have got more and more complex.

8. Ferrari 550 GTS

These days the cars that go racing in GT classes very rarely conform to a proper definition of “GT”. They tend to be supercars (Ferrari 296) or even just fast coupes (BMW M4) rather than a car you’d saddle up to cross a continent with your luggage. But in the 1990s GT cars were still the larger fast machines from exotic manufacturers.

This, like the 333SP, is another one that wasn’t developed by Ferrari. In fact it was WRC stalwarts Prodrive that made the 550 in order to go racing. And that wasn’t even the first version of the 550 made for motorsport. Various privateer teams had developed racing 550s, including the 550 GT from Red Racing that saw first action in 1999. But it was Prodrive’s machine that stole the headlines.

The 550 GTS was raced by the factory Prodrive team and various other outfits over the next few years. It won races in the American Le Mans Series and the FIA GT Championship, before completing the big one in 2003 – taking a class win at Le Mans. 

Inspired, Ferrari followed it up themselves with the 575 GTC, but it wasn’t anywhere near as successful as the 550, and with more development, just doesn’t look as pretty as its predecessor.

7. Ferrari 499P

This car was the inspiration for this entire list. Despite the existence of the 333 SP, Ferrari has not raced at the top level of sportscar racing for 50 years, since the 312 PB bowed out in 1973. But it is now back, and with an absolutely stunning piece of kit.

This is a Le Mans Hypercar, built entirely from scratch by Ferrari and its partners, with more than a touch of LMP1 to the design, finished off with a smattering of Ferrari road car details and even a few touches from the past. We’ve yet to see it race, but with that striking nose and the single beam rear light under a massively raked rear wing, it has already made an impression. Also, the yellow on the livery is perfect. 

6. Ferrari 312P

A racing car so low that it’s barely believable that anyone could ever actually sit in it. There is an open-topped version of the 312P, which also looks very nice, but the coupe is so low-slung, and so perfectly proportioned that it’s hard to beat. 

You can see one in action at the Festival of Speed in this [link] video, being absolutely spanked up the Hill by David Franklin and it looks and sounds utterly incredible. It also had a driving list of top-notch talent in its heyday – the 312P debuted at the 1969 Sebring 12 Hours with Mario Andretti and Chris Amon – but sadly it wasn’t a success. The Group 6 car was never a real match for its rivals and was very quickly rendered obsolete when the 917 arrived, signaling that Group 5 was the way forward. 

5. Ferrari 250 TR

There are many different bodies for the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, and the joy of the 250 TR is that every single one looks just incredible. This was a pure prototype sportscar built to race in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it had a 3.0-litre Colombo V12 in front of the driver and a tiny glass windscreen. 

It won Le Mans in 1958, 1960 and 1961, Sebring in ’58, ’59 and ’61 and was the class of the field during its lifetime. It is the later Fantuzzi-bodied cars that perhaps look the best, with an F1-style sharknose mouth, but even the pontoon-fendered car by Scaglietti looks good. It’s the long nose and slim windscreen that just give it almost perfect proportions.

4. Ferrari 166MM

Possibly the most significant car in Ferrari’s history. It’s not the very first Ferrari-built racing car, but it is the first to achieve proper results. Based on the 166 S, the upgraded 166MM was powered by one of Colombo’s earliest V12 engines and would go on to clinch the Mille Miglia and Le Mans 24 Hours in a single season.

Very awkward in both coupe and open-wheeled form, the 166MM is an achingly simple, beautiful racing machine. With a pair of functional round headlights either side of a large grille, it is perhaps the ultimate in the early era of sportscar design. A time where what was underneath the body was far more important, so the outside could get on with just cutting through the air simply and looking good.

3. Ferrari 250 SWB

The most beautiful Ferrari GT car of all time, at least as far as I’m concerned. The GT Short Wheelbase is far prettier than the GTO and that is why it sits seven places higher on the list than its similarly-engined cousin. 

That makes this also the best-looking front-engined Ferrari racing car of all time. Like with the 166MM it has a simple pair of round headlights, slung out in front of its V12 engine and either side of what is now a more delicately shaped air intake. It takes a few looks before you realise that the arches slope slightly down toward those lights, giving it a subtly shapely nose. The rear tapers into some wonderful quad exhausts and the overall look has proportions that rival the 250 TR for perfection. 

And it was fast, Stirling Moss won the RAC TT at Goodwood twice in two years – 1960 and 1961 – with Rob Walker Racing. In 1960 the task of winning the race was so simple for Stirl’ that he turned on the radio to listen to the commentary as he raced around.

2. Ferrari 641

Yes, there’s only one F1 car in this list. You’ll just have to live with the fact that fenders are quite simply prettier than open wheels. It’s my list, I make the rules.

But, what an F1 car to include! The 641 F1 is arguably not just the prettiest Ferrari F1 car, but the prettiest F1 car ever made. From an early era of non-ground effect aerodynamic design, the 641 manages to balance its pair of big wings with a sleek body to perfection. 

It’s a proper toss up whether the 640 or 641 makes it into this list. And it’s the 641 that has made it in part just because the simple numbers 1 and 2 look better on the nose. The high airbox also suits the 641 slightly better than the 640, the latter having switched from low to high mid-season.

1. Ferrari 330P3/4

The most beautiful racing car of all time? Quite possibly. Few, if any, more svelte, more curvaceous, more tantilising racing cars have ever taken to a circuit. Every time we manage to see any of the P cars at Goodwood it’s a treat, and while the 275P and LM are lovely, and the 330P2s are stunning, it is the 1966 P3 and its follow-up the P4 that grab the headlines.

Sadly the existence of both 330P3 and P4 coincided with Ford getting its act together with the GT40, so neither would claim victory at Le Mans, but the both cars won the Monza 1,000km and the P4 dominated the Daytona 24 in 1967.

The 330P4 is meatier than the 312P that followed it. But it is those curves over the front and rear wheels, as well as the bubble-like cockpit, which blends flawlessly into the engine cover, that make it near perfect. The double headlight units are also stunning. In fact, it’s harder to find fault with the 330P3 and 4 than discover elements that make it beautiful.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images