Denis Jenkinson read the situation perfectly. In early 1962, as the dust settled following the ‘Palace Revolt’ in which a number of senior figures had left Maranello, Jenks wrote in Motor Sport that the upheaval was “not likely to have any effect, for after all, Enzo Ferrari has been running a racing team for many years”. In that time, he added, “there has been a long list of engineers coming and going… and yet Ferrari has gone on undisturbed, and it is my guess that he will continue in the same way”.
He did – for the most part. The Scuderia’s Formula 1 fortunes briefly slumped, but otherwise it was business as usual – which meant fighting on a number of fronts. When the 1962 250 GT Berlinetta – soon to become known to one and all as the GTO – was presented at Maranello that February, it stood alongside not only the latest grand prix car, but also the mid-engined 196 SP, 248 SP and 286 SP sports-racers. Whatever the discipline, Ferrari had all bases covered.
And therein lies one of the stories of the season. Sports car racing was having one of its occasional identity crises and the 1962 world championship would be fought out solely by GT cars – not a prospect that thrilled the organisers of the blue-riband races. They argued that no one wanted to see GT-only grids, and announced that they would therefore allow ‘experimental prototypes’ into their events.
