Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer

Nathan Beehl

First impressions aren’t great – the cover design is decidedly strange – but it’s the content that matters and Beehl should be congratulated on the depth of his research. 

Tracing the history of these compelling flat-12 supercars, and the charismatic but not very good racing versions, there are plenty of enlightening first-hand accounts from former owners and drivers. There’s even a section on restoring one, should you be brave/mad enough to tackle such a project. And while the layout is a bit amateurish, there’s a wealth of never-before-seen images, most startling being those of Michael Salmon rolling Simon Phillips’ BB/LM after being tripped up by a Spridget in the ’81 750MC Birkett Six Hours. And we’d forgotten how cool the NART BB/LM looked – especially when be hustled through Turn 5 at Road Atlanta by Milt Minter – and how bizarre the Bellancauto car appeared with its elongated snout.

Race-by-race reports, chassis number logs – even scale models and period brochures – round off the story. The highlight for us, though, was of being reminded of the Zender, Lorenz & Rankl and Koenig Specials’ BBs. We’d forgotten just how comprehensively these Ferrari-butchers soiled such pretty cars with open-top surgery or plastic addenda in the 1980s. RH

Published by Fiorano Publishing, £49.99 ISBN 0-9555643-0-1