The Ferrari SP is the Ferrari that answered a simple question — how much car can this badge carry? — with 270 PS from Ferrari Dino engine. It was built from 1961 to 1962, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Carrozzeria Fantuzzi drew it.
How it came about
The Ferrari SP (also known as the Ferrari Dino SP) was a series of Italian sports prototype racing cars produced by Ferrari during the early 1960s. All featured a rear mid-engine layout, a first for a Ferrari sports car. Major racing accolades include the 1962 European Hill Climb Championship, two overall Targa Florio victories, in 1961 and 1962, and "1962 Coupe des Sports" title. At first the SP-series used Vittorio Jano-designed, V6 Dino engines in both SOHC 60° and DOHC 65° forms. Later, Ferrari introduced a new SOHC 90° V8 engine designed by Carlo Chiti. All used dry sump lubrication and were mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. In total only six chassis were produced with various engine configurations.
Many times they were modified and converted into a different specification. The tubular steel chassis, tipo 561, featured all-round independent suspension and disc brakes. All shared the same wheelbase and open body style with some variations. The rear mid-engine layout experience was soon carried over to the V12-powered Ferrari P-series of sports prototypes. They arrived in 1963. Later, by 1965, Ferrari introduced their first mid-engined Dino sports prototype, the 166 P, powered by a V6 engine. The Chiti V8 engine did not carry over to any successor.
The hardware
Power comes from Ferrari Dino engine; 270 PS is the published figure; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 590 kg. Work it out per tonne and you get about 458 horsepower — hypercar territory, where the limiting factor is the tyre, not the engine. It shifts through a 5-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2320 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Dino 246 S; its successor was the Ferrari P / Dino 166 P. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Aston Martin DB5, the Abarth Simca 2000, the McLaren M1 — show what else the money bought that year. Its Ferrari stablemates include the 250 GTE and the 328 GTS.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Ferrari SP — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.