Jim Glickenhaus is kind of revered around these parts. He thought the Ferrari Enzo wasn't all it could be, so he made the P4/5. Then he had a version made to go racing. Ferrari didn't like it, so he stood up to them. Now, he has an ultra lightweight ride on the way. It's name? P33.
We don't know too much about the project yet, but Glickenhaus has spilled some of the proverbial beans over on Ferrari Chat.
The car is set for a debut at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, so it's still a way off. The goals are ambitious, but if they're met this car will be incredible.
A goal of 1,600 pounds has been set for curb weight. The lightweight body is to be mated to a twin turbo V6 that produces somewhere around 500 horsepower. It already sounds pretty great.
He says the design is a simple and beautiful "three wing" design and the constructor will be SCG, or Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus.
So what significance does the name P33 have? Well, it's the name of an Alfa Romeo concept coupe from 1969 (pictured at the top and above). If this new car looks anything at all like the P33 Concept, the Glick has one hell of a winner on his hand.
We'll be following this very closely.
UPDATE: Glickenhaus just emailed us this glorious explanation:
Here's what's up.
For 42 years I've been driving exotic cars. I've always loved race
cars especially when race cars looked beautiful and without too much
work could be driven both at the track and on the street. I've also
Loved Supercars which have now become "Hypercars". My adventures with
designing and building/modifying cars really began with my ex
Donohue/Pensky Lola T 70 which won 7 major races and I bought as a
full on Can Am racer in 1971. I immediately made a few minor changes,
cooling fans etc. and put it on the road. After a while I converted
it to endurance racing coupe form and added more road equipment.
The process of turning a flat out race car into a road car was what I
came to enjoy. A few years later I realized that original history
was important so the modifications I made to my Ford MK-IV that
Donohue and McLaren drove to 4th OA at Le Mans very very mimimual as
were the modifications I made to my P 3/4 and my 412P. Just enough to
make them road legal and able to take a few minutes of traffic without
melting down.
When Pininfarina foud me they were looking to restart their "Special
Project" division and start building one off's again. I think they
also wanted to show that they could build beautiful cars and we're
tired of hearing that the latest Ferrari's showed they had "lost it".
They also needed a customer who in addition to being able to write a
check wouldn't be afraid of what Ferrari would do to them for daring
to work totally outside of the system. I thought about it and said:
"I want a modern Hommage to by P 3/4 on a new Enzo platform." The
entire exoerience was amazing I met Paolo Garella who was in charge of
Special Projects and he show be the entire process of how a car was
made, tested and produced. I learned about CAD, windtunnels and that
not all cool drawings can become cars that you can fit in, see out of
and drive.
After Ferrari P 4/5 by Pininfarina Paolo and I turned to a race
version that became P 4/5 Competizione. That too was an amazing
experience and I must say that real racing is a lot different than
bench racing or racing on internet forums. Eventually we fit KERS and
that too was an amazing experience. KERS works best in short bursts
to fill ing torque until the petrol engine can rev into it's torque
range. At the Ring we were able to make 50 seconds of 50HP by
recovering energy that otherwise would be turned into heat by braking
the rear wheels. Eventually we used GPS to trigger the system for a
four second burst on the next full throttle application after hard
braking and coming out of a turn. Year over Year we were 15 seconds a
lap faster. We Won the FIA Alternate Cup and I was happy that the
next group of Hypercars (P1/La Ferrari/918) would use KERS and be
eligible to race us.
Then I realized that none of them were going to. The cost and
complexity of KERS and their 1000HP had turned them into Monsters but
not Monsters like the 917-30 that were going to see real racing after
they set sub 7 minute Ring times. I began thinking about my cars.
My P 3/4 that weighs 1800 LB and has 430 HP. Dino Competizione that
weighs 1300lb and has 230 HP and how much fun they were to drive and
maybe how Hypercars were losing their way especially as they were
never going to race in anger.
What if I stepped back? Simpler. Lighter. Smaller? Could it be that
"Less is really more?" That's what our new road car is giong to be.
Lighter, smaller, simpler and very beautiful. Our goals are similar
HP/LB to my P 3/4 and something that is a new, forward design where
it's three wing are integrated into the form as a Porsche 959's rear
wing is. I'm calling it P 33 as it's our third one off and it will
have three integrated wings. It's also a tip of the hat to the Alfa
T33 Stradale but not a visual Hommage to it. It will be Dino
Competizione sized. Henry Ford said: "When ever I see an Alfa Romeo I
always tip my hat." and I do too. We're thinking CF tub, a TTV6 and a
very sexy shape. Paolo will be heading up the team again my Long time
friend and chief mechanic Sal Barone will be making sure it all works
and Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus and it's associates will be
designing, engineering and building P 33. P 33 will be badged as an
SCG as is P 4/5 Competizione. From the day I took the Ferrari Badge
off of P 4/5 Competizione (something viewed by millions of people on
our FB site) I haven't looked back.
When we have a sketch we're happy with we'll share them with you.
Best!