VIN: the works Iso Grifo A3/C Corsa chassis B-0214
History of chassis B-0214
Chassis B-0214 was one of two brand new Iso A3/C Corsas built by Giotto Bizzarrini to contest the 1964 racing season.
Along with its sister car (chassis B-0210), B-0214 was dispatched to the USA almost immediately after completion in order to attend the 1965 World Sportscar Championship opener: the Sebring 12 Hours on March 27th.
Chassis B-0214 was allocated to Charlie Rainville and Mike Gammino with chassis B-0210 for Silvio Moser, Mario Casoni and Dave Greenblatt.
To assist with the logistics of running two cars on the other side of the world, Rino Argento was enlisted to help manage the operation at Sebring; Giotto Bizzarrini would look after B-0210 while Argento would manage the American-crewed B-0214.
An early difference of opinion between the two men occurred when Argento suggested Bizzarrini should use Castrol brake fluid (which had a much higher boiling point than the Dunlop product), but Bizzarrini chose to ignore this advice.
Despite having been told not to push too hard in practice, Moser / Casoni / Greenblatt qualified 24th with B-0210 on the 66 car grid. Rainville / Gammino lined up 25th in B-0214.
The race got underway at 10am in blisteringly hot conditions. However, things started badly when Rainville went off at the first corner on the opening lap in an attempt to avoid a pair of cars that had made contact ahead of him. B-0214 span onto the grass and into the catch-fence. Although damage was slight (a crumpled right-hand rear fender), a couple of spectators were injured during the accident.
In the sister car, Silvio Moser suffered brake failure during the second as he approached the hairpin. B-0210 flew over a sandbank and into the spectator’s area where it slammed head-first at high speed into a stationary Volkswagen Beetle. With its front end pummelled-in, the brand new car was wrecked and three spectators were slightly injured.
By the halfway mark at 4pm, steady progress had seen Rainville and Gammino move B-0214 into the top ten.
Shortly before 5:30pm, torrential rain arrived and in next to no time the track was awash. Lightning and thunder followed but the race continued.
Blinded by the deluge, Gammino (who was on the third lap of his second stint) lost control of B-0214 which aquaplaned and smashed sideways into the Mercedes-Benz bridge. The extraordinary impact saw B-0214 ripped in two behind the doors. Miraculously, Gammino (who had not fastened his safety belts) walked away without injury.
Neither B-0210 or B-0214 returned to Italy. The wrecked remains were sold off and eventually grafted together by a subsequent owner to make one complete car.
Notable History
Iso Rivolta
27/03/1965 WSC Sebring 12 Hours (C. Rainville / M. Gammino) DNF (#9)
Sliced horizontally in half during Mike Gammino’s crash at Sebring
Remains sold off while still in the USA
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Paul Rainville & The Henry Ford Archive - https://www.thehenryford.org/
