Yahoo Autos First Bizzarrini 5300 GT Corsa Continuation reclaims the road
Consider the legendary cars gifted to the world because of people trying to get revenge on Enzo Ferrari. The Ford GT40? Revenge after a falling out with Enzo. The founding of Lamborghini? Ditto. The Monteverdi 375S? Ditto. The Bizzarrini 5300 GT Strada and 5300 GT Corsa? Ditto. That's four, which isn't all of them. Italian engineer Giotto Bizzarrini has the distinction of making this list twice. An in-house coup led to Enzo firing a number of key personnel, Bizzarrini included. Where did the engineer who'd worked on Ferrari icons like the 250 GTO and the Breadvan go? To Lamborghini to help develop the 3.5-liter V12 in Ferruccio's first car, the 350 GT. Then Bizzarrini set up his own shop, designing the 5300 GT Strada for the road and the 5300 GT Corsa to beat Ferrari at Le Mans.
The overall win proved elusive, but the 5300 GT won the Over 5.0-Liter class in its first-ever attempt at Le Mans, finishing ninth overall. If that sounds lackluster, remember that the entire might of the Ford Motor Company couldn't get the GT40 to the finish line in that car's first two years competing at Le Mans in 1964 and 1965, representing nine DNFs.
