One of the stars of the SVRA’s U.S. Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International is indisputably the 1955 Lancia-Ferrari D50A of owner-driver Peter Giddings. Don’t even ask Giddings how valuable the car is, but when he tells you there are only five in existence you have a good clue that the machine is priceless. Three of the other owners are Bernie Eccelstone, Miles Collier and billionaire Sir Anthony Bamford, knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1990.

There is only one fully original Lancia D50A that still exists. The other four are like Giddings’ machine in that they have been faithfully constructed around engines, transaxles, gears and other original parts. According to Giddings, Enzo Ferrari had a penchant for dismantling and destroying his racecars once he deemed them to have outlived their sole purpose: to win races. Thankfully, for whatever his reasons, Ferrari elected to preserve key D50A parts, especially much of the powertrain.

Giddings’ car, based on chassis number 0007, was originally built for Tom Wheatcroft of the Donington Museum and, he asserts, is now the first Lancia-Ferrari to ever appear at Watkins Glen. The brilliant crimson machine with the prominent prancing horse logo is somewhat misleading. Representing the car from its original 1955 configuration as campaigned by Ferrari, Giddings points out that none of its components are Ferrari – only the iconic Scuderia emblem. It is 100 percent Lancia.

The D50A started life in the collective imagination of a Lancia company design team led by legendary Italian engineer Vittorio Jano, who had gained fame as the architect of victorious Alfa Romeo grand prix racers of the 1930s. Giddings shares that many design features were especially innovative for the era. In particular the engine and transaxles were stressed members of the chassis. Placed at an eight-degree angle to rest of the car, the engine was a V8 in an era of straight-eight and six-cylinder configurations. This allowed for the driveshaft to run to the left of the driver and provide a lower center of gravity.

Another trademark design feature is the pontoon-style gas tanks. This made for better weight distribution opposed to traditional fuel tanks at the tail of the car. This was especially evident to the driver as the tank lightened its load, because while the car became lighter, the distribution remained consistent. The large, center-positioned panniers that contain fuel and oil also improved airflow over the body. The car weighs just 1,350 pounds and has an engine displacement of just-under 2.5 liters, producing 260 horsepower.

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The Lancia D50A made its first appearance in the 1954 Spanish Grand Prix where two-time Formula 1 World Champion Alberto Ascari put it on pole ahead of the Mercedes of Juan Fangio. Both Ascari and teammate Luigi Villoresi retired early with mechanical issues. In 1955 Ascari won races at Turin and Naples and then at Monaco famously overshot a chicane and launched into the harbor. He escaped serious injury only to lose his life testing a Ferrari sportscar four days later.

Meanwhile, the fortunes of the Lancia Company were bleak and the firm teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. This is where Ferrari entered the picture. The prancing horse had been struggling to be competitive and was reportedly in only slightly better financial position. In a show of national patriotism Fiat and other Italian automotive interests intervened to structure a deal for Ferrari to acquire the promising Lancia D50 racers and keep them in the home country.

The cars continued through 1955 with no modification except the Ferrari signage on the car’s side – just as the Giddings car showcases today. For 1956 there was apparently some Ferrari development but Giddings disputes any claims that these were anything more than superficial. The results, though, were impressive. With Fangio at the wheel he scored a world championship for both himself and his employer. That year Fangio and the Lancia-Ferrari D50 won the grand prix races of Argentina, Belgium, Britain and Germany.

This weekend Peter Giddings is driving his Lancia-Ferrari D50A along with the pre-war entries and small bore Group 1 racers. While he will carry speed his runs are purely exhibition, incurring not even the tempered risk of gentlemanly “nine-tenths” vintage racing.

Giddings, an Englishman with a primary residence in Danville, Calif., knows all about the respect his ultra-valuable, historic racecar demands. In addition to the Lancia-Ferrari D50A, he owns three Alfas-Romeo racers from the 1930s: a 1930 six-cylinder 1750 6c with coach work by Zagato, a 1932 Monza 8c and another of Vittorio Jano’s creations – the Tipo C 8c35. A regular entrant at SVRA and other significant historic events, Giddings’ gift to those trackside is not only to provide an incredible subject for photography but also a look at such amazing cars performing at speed – just as their designers intended.