Ferrari 250 GTO engine blows its V12 in Goodwood race, small fireball ensues
If an engine works, it can blow. Right now, there are various owners and mechanics in various parts of the world sorting and identifying the mangled shards of what was recently a model of of internal combustion. This is definitely happening in England, Ferrari specialists called upon to figure out what happened to a 250 GTO that blew up during a race at the Goodwood Revival. The historic racer’s owner asked former Formula 1 driver and current member of Sky F1’s analyst crew, Karun Chandhok, to drive the car in Saturday’s Lavant Cup race. On lap 10, as Chandhok rounded the final corner onto the front straight, the 250’s tail began to swing around in a cloud of white smoke, then a fireball erupted under the car. He said, “coming out of Lavant onto the straight — I was in second and cruising — I heard a bang and the back wheels locked up. As I turned I saw flames, so I got right off the track safely, to minimize oil going down and get out of the way.”
According to one of the owner’s representatives, an as-yet-unknown internal failure in the 3.0-liter Colombo V12 put a hole in the side of the oil sump. The malfunction first caused the cloud of white smoke, shortly after which oil running onto the hot engine lit up a great ball of fire and then caused Chandhok to spin when the rear tires hit the slick. As he spun and got the vintage racer off the track without any other incident, more white puffs appeared when the GTO’s fire extinguisher system kicked on to put out the fire. Chandhok hasn’t raced a marquee series since driving at Le Mans in 2017. Watching the replay, it’s clear his reflexes haven’t left him.
Best of all, no one and nothing other than an engine got hurt. The owner sounds cool about it, as well, the rep saying, “We race knowing they break.” According to Chanhok, “The owners deserve so much credit. They send these cars that were designed 60 years ago out racing, that are worth so much, understanding that things can go wrong and that these things happen. He told me, he wants to get the car fixed and get it back on track at Goodwood soon.”
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