It's a brave driver that takes on the Nürburgring in their own car, but when that car is a unique Ferrari racer, we really take our hats off. The hat-tipping is for Jim Glickenhaus, a wealthy American Ferrari collector, who has commissioned a one-off modern-day replica of the Ferrari P4/5 Competizione.
Glickenhaus' updated idea of the classic 1960's Ferrari racer is based on a 430 Scuderia and its body and chassis are constructed from carbon fibre. The V8 engine remains, but for the P4/5 it has been tuned and comes with a full race exhaust that you can hear in action in the video below.
For the Nürburgring run, Glickenhaus deputised driving duties to retired Formula One driver Mika Salo. During his time in the car, Salo posted lap times around the full Nürburgring of around 8 minutes 30 seconds, which the team says is very conservative, as this was simply a shakedown test to make sure the car worked properly.
Previous tests by touring car ace Fabrizio Giovanardi had been carried out on a small test track to make sure the engine, gearbox and brakes performed as they should. Glickenhaus now plans to enter his Pininfarina-built Ferrari racer in the Nürburgring 24 Hours event in June. The driver line-up will include Glickenhaus himself, Salo, Giovanardi, Nicola Larini and Luca Capellari.
When the Ferrari P4/5 Competizione has completed its Nürburgring adventure, Glickenhaus says it will be retired from racing to join the rest of his Ferrari collection.