Piero Ferrari’s Daytona SP3 is a Tribute to John Surtees

Piero Ferrari, the only surviving son of Enzo Ferrari, looked to his earliest days at the firm as inspiration for his newest company car.

When Piero joined in 1965 as a translator for his father, it was initially an unofficial role, but he would go on to work for the F1 team, and supervised production of iconic road cars including the F40, F50 and LaFerrari.

When Enzo passed away in 1988, Piero was his only heir and inherited ten percent of the company. As you’d expect that comes with certain perks, such as being able to choose a unique specification for his new Daytona SP3.

“When I decided to configure a Daytona SP3 for myself, I took a journey back in time to when I began working at Ferrari,” he explains. “It was November 1965. The year before we’d won the Formula 1 World Championship with John Surtees and the car was white, with a blue livery, the colors of NART, North American Racing Team of Luigi Chinetti, our importer.”

Piero’s SP3 is pure white, with a blue center stripe, while the interior is finished in rich red leather, just like a one-off Pininfarina-designed version of the 250 LM that followed Surtees’ success. “From an old photo I reconstructed the story and configured the car,” he adds.

After taking delivery Piero immediately headed to the Fiorano test track to get a feel for the Daytona before tucking it away in the garage. “I’ll save it for special occasions,” he says, but has a daily reminder of his car, as he commissioned an artist to paint it and has the result hanging on his office wall as a daily reminder.