The Ferrari 333SP was the opening shot in the war to 'Spyderise' cars in the 'World Sports Car' era. This was in respose to rule changes that IMSA put in place after the Group C/GTP meltdown in 1992. Developed with the legendary Gianpiero Moretti and the MOMO team, it was the workhorse of the IMSA series for much of the 90's. The Ferrari name gave a crucial link to racing history after Jaguar left.
Although it never scored an overall Le Mans victory, it was still very successful. However, when Ferrari signed Schumacher in 1995, all racing resources went to the F1 team. Factory support and revisions lagged and the car became somewhat of an afterthought to Ferrari. Even so, the car is still competitive to this day. However, with the new cars coming out from Lola, Reynard, and Cadillac(!), a privateer team would do better than buy this expensive Italian creation.
Minichamps has put out a total of thirteen versions of the 333SP. A fourteenth version depicting the "APEX" sponsored Scandia team from IMSA 1994 was planned, but never released. They came in two releases, with the first series dating from 1994, with Model numbers 430 XX74YY where XX is the year and YY is the car number. These cars are as "rare as hen's teeth", but are noticibly poorer in quality to the second batch. The second edition carries a similar model # of 430 XX76YY. These are available now, but due to the Mattel buyout of the license to all Ferrari models they won't be around for long. The paint, casting, and wheels are excellent. However, some decals on certain models seem a bit fuzzy.
Also, the cars from the 1998 Le Mans race are actually from a different mould, as the large side air scoop is not present on these units.
The one real flaw with this series is the cockpit, namely the seat. It is a fake-looking beige, with blue seatbelts paited on. It just looks plain wrong, and on an open car like this it is a serious distraction. Compared to the incredible job that was done on the Audi R8R, this looks rather silly.
Minichamps did an especially good job on the blue "Pilot" model. Any respectable Le Mans collector will own this car and at least one of the "MOMO" cars.
| Minichamps 333SP - Le Mans 1997 | |
| Category | Rating (out of five) |
| Detail |  |
| Paint and Decals | |
| Wheels | |
| Historical Relevance | |
Minichamps Ferrari 333SP | |||||
Place |
Car |
Car # Class |
Model |
Ref. # |
Image |
| 0 | Ferrari 333SP | 0 | Presentation | 430 947400 |  |
| 3 | Ferrari 333SP Andy Evans  Fermin Velez  | 03 | IMSA 1994 (Cancelled) | 430 947403 | |
| 5 | Ferrari 333SP Mauro Baldi  | 5 | IMSA 1994 | 430 947405 |  |
| 30 | Ferrari 333SP Gianpiero Moretti Eliseo Salazar | 30 | IMSA 1994 | 430 947430 |  |
| 50 | Ferrari 333SP 'Snap-on' Jay Cochran | 50 | IMSA 1994 | 430 947450 |  |
| 2 | Ferrari 333SP 'MOMO' Max Papis Didier Theys  Bob Wollek  Bill Auberlen | 30 WSC | Daytona 1996 | 430 967430 |  |
| 0 | Ferrari 333SP Fredy Lienhard  Didier Theys | 27 WSC | Sebring 1997 | 430 967627 |  |
| 1 | Ferrari 333SP 'Scandia' Andy Evans Fermin Velez Yannick Dalmas | 3 WSC | Sebring 1997 | 430 977603 |  |
| 6 | Ferrari 333SP 'MOMO' Didier Theys Gianpiero Moretti Max Papis | 3 | Le Mans 1997 | 430 977693 |  |
| 48 | Ferrari 333SP 'Scandia' Andy Evans Fermin Velez Rob Morgan | 43 WSC | Sebring 1997 | 430 977643 |  |
| DNF | Ferrari 333SP 'Pilot' Michel Ferté Adrian Campos Charles Nearburg | 4 | Le Mans 1997 | 430 977604 |  |
| 14 | Ferrari 333SP 'MOMO' Gianpiero Moretti Mauro Baldi Didier Theys | 3 LMP | Le Mans 1998 | 430 987603 |  |
| DNF | Ferrari 333SP 'Giesse' Vincenzo Sospiri Jean-Christophe Boullion Jérome Policand | 5 LMP | Le Mans 1998 | 430 987605 |  |
| 8 | Ferrari 333SP 'Toshiba' Wayne Taylor  Eric van de Poele  Fermin Velez | 12 LMP | Le Mans 1998 | 430 987612 |  |