88 | GOODWOOD REVIVAL SALE
The sloping wedge-shaped nose form was most distinctive, and it
was made even moreso by the adoption of twin headlights on each
side forming the soon-famous ‘Quattro Fari’ or four-headlight keynote
by which the Abarth SE010 model would become known worldwide.
Its fame was spread not only by its long string of appearances and
successes around the race track and hill-climb venues of the world
but perhaps to an even greater extent by the design’s popularity
as a scale model subject. Quickly the SE010 Quattro Fari become
one of the most recognisable of all racing sports-prototype cars
of the 1960s, short perhaps only of Ferrari’s finest P-series cars.
Although no official record appears to survive of the total number
of each design that were produced by the Abarth factory, it is
widely acknowledged that perhaps as many as 50 of these SE010
sports-prototypes were completed as the design enjoyed a long and
distinguished motor racing career.
The first 25 examples of the 2000 Sport Spider were produced for
FIA homologation into the contemporary Group 4 category, into
which the design was accepted on April 1, 1969. Both four-valve
per cylinder and two-valve per cylinder heads were used in the
overall production run, with the 8-valve units tending to be preferred
for hill-climb use, and the 16-valve alternative for circuit racing, it
would appear.
This particular example of the Abarth Sport Spider ‘Quattro Fari’ –
chassis number ‘040’ – was displayed within the Maranello Rosso
Collection museum at Falciano as a 2-litre ‘2000’ model - but as far
as we have been able to measure the engine it appears to have the
circa 55mm stroke of a 1300 variant. The car’s engine is equipped
with an 8-valve head, 8-plug ignition cylinder head (whereas the
2-litre 16-valve heads accommodated only single spark plugs per
cylinder). On April 21, 1968, two weeks after his debut victory at
Ampus, Peter Schetty contested the Stallavena-Boscochiesanuova
hill-climb in the ‘Quattro Fari’ and won again. His works team-mate
Johannes Ortner then won the City of Volterra Cup in one of the
car and throughout the balance of that memorable scene the Swiss
and Austrian stars absolutely shone in European events with the
2-litre model.On the classical Bologna-Raticosa ’climb Ortner won at record-
shattering pace with Schetty second in a sister car, while on another
old-established classic course at Bolzano-Mendola it was Schetty’s
turn to win at record pace with Ortner playing second fiddle. Arturo
Merzario was another driver who had begun to shine in the 2-litre
cars, and Peter Schetty’s successful career in the Abarths that
season led to his selection to handle the one-off 2-litre flat-12 Ferrari
212E Montagna to dominate the following year’s European Mountain
Championship series. He would go on to become Ferrari’s racing
team Direttore Sportivo into the early 1970s.