During the 1974 Formula 1 season Ferrari came close with the 312B3, but again ended the season without winning the drivers or constructors championship. Chief Engineer, Mauro Forghieri, was comfortable with the power of the 3-liter flat12-cylinder boxer engine, but needed to improve the aerodynamics and handling of the cars. On September 27, 1974, before the season ending North American races, Ferrari introduced the 312T to the press at Fiorano.
The Prancing Horse, quarterly magazine of the Ferrari Club of America, has published a review of the Track Thoughts Ferrari 512M s/n 1040 Windows® CD-ROM. The review, in Issue #172 3rd quarter 2009, complemented an article on the Penske/Sunoco Ferrari by Bill Preston. Preston worked for Sunoco’s Automotive Laboratory as a chemical engineer responsible for research on automotive fuels and lubricants. When Sunoco sponsored the Penske team he was assigned as the liaison between the two companies.
Ferrari built three 330 P4 cars for the 1967 Manufactures Championship. All were Berlinettas (coupes). In preparation for the season ending BOAC 500 race all three were converted to Spiders. With the team’s 2nd, 5th and 6th place finish, Ferrari won the 1967 Manufactures Championship.
1967 Ferrari 330 P4 – s/n 0856
An updated version of the Anatomy of a Race Car Series: Volume 1 Ferrari 512M s/n 1040 Windows® OS CD-ROM is available through the Track Thoughts eBay Store
The Ferrari 312P & 312PB by Ed McDonough and Peter Collins has been released by Veloce Publishing .
In May of 1973 the teams contesting the Manufactures Championship gathered in Belgium at the Circuit National de Francorchamps for the fifth round of the series. The teams would complete 71 laps of the 14.1 km (8.76 miles) track made up of public roads closed for the 1000km race.
Ferrari 312 s/n 0003 was Chris Amon’s primary car for the start of the 1967 Formula 1 season. S/N 0003 was the second car built using Ferrari’s new Tipo 242 3-valve per cylinder (2 intake and 1 exhaust) engine. The 60° V12 had a 77 mm bore and 53.5 mm stroke for a total capacity of 2,989.56 cc with a compression ratio of 11:1. Lucas indirect fuel injection was used and there were two spark plugs per cylinder. The spark plugs were fired by four Marelli coils working through two distributors driven off the rear of the exhaust camshafts. Ferrari rated the engine at 390 bhp at 10,000 rpm. Power was delivered to the road through the Tipo 606 longitudinal gearbox with 5 speeds + reverse. The engine and transmission were housed in the Tipo 606 chassis which used a stressed-bearing body of aluminum panels riveted to a welded tube structure. The nose and cockpit surround were of composite materials.
At last August’s Monterey Historic Automobile Races my friend John was able to go for a lap around Laguna Seca with Pete Lovely in Ferrari TR59 s/n 0768.
All photographs copyright © 2008 John Burr.
A new series CD-ROM demo is now available. The series is similar to the earlier article on the Ferrari 512M s/n 1040, and provides history, reference material, and photographs. The CD-ROM publication provides more extensive information and bigger photographs than the web-based articles. The test project focuses on the Ferrari 512M. Packaging and pricing are being finalized. (more…)
Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo in 1939 and formed Auto Avio Costruzioni in Modena. Ferrari’s separation agreement prohibited him from naming a car Ferrari for four years. The company designed and built two 1.5-liter in-line eight cylinder sports cars. The cars known as the AAC 815 competed in the 1940 Mille Miglia. Soon after that race, racing stopped as World War II engulfed Europe. During the war, Ferrari’s factory produced machine tools, and as the war wound down he made the decision to build his own car. His staff already included engineers, machinists, and designers from the Alfa Romeo days. Ferrari hired Gioachino Colombo to design the car, and draftsmen turned Colombo’s drawings into working documents for construction.
