Description:

The Italian race car manufacturer Picchio produces racing cars and supplies research and technical assistance to racing teams and manufacturers worldwide. Picchio has raced in the Sports Racing World Cup, later known as the FIA Sports Car Championship, as well as in the U.S. Grand American Series, most recenty in the Daytona Prototype class. This Picchio, MB1, was constructed in 1999 and was sponsored by and wore the world famous Martini livery reminiscent of the great Sports Racing and Formula One cars of the 1960's until the 1980's. Gianni Giudice and Raffaele Raimondi first raced the Martini Picchio in the FIA Sports Car Championship at the 500km of Monza. The Picchio finished 4th in class and 9th overall, behind four Ferrari 333SP's. At Spa the Picchio was unable to finish but at the RAC Tourist Trophy at Donington, the Picchio came 4th in class and 15th overall in front of 18,000 spectators. The Martini Picchio was running a close second at the Sports Racing World Cup at Brno when a wheel nut problem sidelined the car. In 2000 the Picchio was entered by GPM Racing with works support and driven by Mauro Prospero and Angelo Amadori. At the Aprimatic Trophy Race at Monza the car was able to achieve its first podium with a strong 3rd place finish. Other races entered that year include Catalunya, Spa, Donnington as well as Brno where it finished 7th. The car was then brought to the United States with its sister car to compete in the 2002 Grand American Road Racing Series with the very successful G & W Motorsports Team. The team was managed by the 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Price Cobb. Research to date indicates that this chassis, MB1, was used as the test and promotional car to help introduce the Picchio brand into the United States. The sister car, painted a bright yellow, achieved multiple podiums with drivers Darren Law and Andy Lally including 2nd place finishes at the Nextel 250 at Miami Homestead, the Yamaha Indy 400 at California Speedway and the United Auto 200 at Pheonix. The Picchio also finshed 6th in class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Picchio later became the first foreign manufacturer to be approved to construct cars for the Grand American Series new Daytona Prototype class. Because of its use as a test/ promotional car in the U.S. This Picchio has relatively little race time on its chassis/ engine/ gearbox. It was last exercised at the Italian Cars at Daytona event in November where it was easily the quickest car there running 1:57's with a middle aged amateur driver on Hoosier grooved tires. The Martini Picchio is constructed of tubular steel with riveted and glued aluminum monocoques and the bodywork is fiberglass. The engine is a BMW M series 3 litre six cylinder built by Amaroli Racing Engine in Italy and produces about 420 horsepower and has very good compression and leakdown numbers. The gearbox is a five speed Hewland FT200 that was very recently completely refreshed including a new clutch assembly. The car comes with no spares but all parts are available in the U.S. at Shawn Bayliff Racing in North Carolina. The car retains its striking and original European Martini Racing livery. This Martini Picchio has demonstrated speed and success and was among the quickest of all the cars in its class in both Europe and the Untied States. The BMW powerplant ensures that running costs will be low and reliability will be high. The Picchio is a very special and fantastic looking and driving historic racing car that can be acquired for a fraction of the cost of similar historic endurance racing cars. It also happens to be among the few, if not THE last of the Martini sponsored cars. By having FIA international racing history, this would allow the car to be eligible for most historic racing series wordwide. This is an investment level car that will provide great ownership and driving pleasure at a very low entry price in addition to low running costs. $79,900 US DOLLARS car is located in Vero Beach, Florida. USA. International & Domestic shipping gladly arranged. Showroom Hours: M-F 8:30 am to 5:00pm

History

Gianni Giudice and Raffaele Raimondi first raced the Martini Picchio in the FIA Sports Car Championship at the 500km of Monza. The Picchio finished 4th in class and 9th overall, behind four Ferrari 333SP's. At Spa the Picchio was unable to finish but at the RAC Tourist Trophy at Donington, the Picchio came 4th in class and 15th overall in front of 18,000 spectators. The Martini Picchio was running a close second at the Sports Racing World Cup at Brno when a wheel nut problem sidelined the car. In 2000 the Picchio was entered by GPM Racing with works support and driven by Mauro Prospero and Angelo Amadori. At the Aprimatic Trophy Race at Monza the car was able to achieve its first podium with a strong 3rd place finish. Other races entered that year include Catalunya, Spa, Donnington as well as Brno where it finished 7th.Performance Data

• FIA SRP 2
  

Engine

• Amadori Racing
  
• BMW
  
• 6 cylinder
  
• 3,000cc
  
• 420
  

Fuel System

• 
  

Transmission

• Hewland
  
• FT 200
  

Body

• Fiberglass
  

Chassis

• Alloy skinned tube frame
  
• Picchio
  
• inboard shocks
  
• inboard shocks
  
• AP Racing
  
• Speedline Corse
  

Spares

• none