Ferrari 312P
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- This article is about the sportcar raced in 1969. For the later 1971 car of the same name see Ferrari 312PB.
The Ferrari 312P was a Ferrari sportcar prototype racing car launched in 1969. It was part of the Ferrari P series of sports prototypes.
After boycotting sports car racing in 1968 to protest the rule change that also banned their 4 litre Ferrari Prototypes, Ferrari built another 3000cc prototype in 1969, named the 312 P. The 3.0 V12 Ferrari 312P was hardly more than a 3-litre F1 Ferrari 312 with open Barchetta or closed top prototype Berlinetta body.
Ferrari usually entered only a single car in a few races which faced a fleet of factory and privateer Porsches plus old 5-litre cars like the Lola and the improved Ford GT40 of John Wyer. The 312P was fast, but the half-hearted attempt of Ferrari was not enough to score a win against more determined opposition.
At the 12 Hours of Sebring the spyder finished 2nd to a JWA Gulf Ford GT40. At the BOAC 500km in Brands Hatch the same spyder was 4th behind three Porsche 908-01. At 1000km Monza, Chris Amon took the pole with the 312P spyder, ahead of Jo Siffert's 908-01, but had to retire. The 312P was not entered at the second Italian race, the Targa Florio, and had to retire in the German 1000 km Nürburgring where the Porsche 908/02 dominated. At the 1000km Spa, a 312P was second behind the Siffert/Redman 908-01LH. Two 312P were entered at Le Mans, now as low-drag Berlinettas. They were 5 and 6 on the grid, but didn't finish.
During the 1969 season, the appearance of the Porsche 917 had made clear that only a similar 5-litre car would be able to challenge it once its teething problems were sorted. In mid-1969, Ferrari spent some of the millions earned in the Fiat deal for the production of the required series of 25 new 5-litre V12 sports cars. At the end of the season the 312Ps were sold to N.A.R.T., the American Ferrari importer of Luigi Chinetti, as the factory would rely on the big Ferrari 512S in 1970.
At that time, Porsche had already collected a lot of experience with the fast and heavy 917, and based on that decided to improve also their small Porsche 908 which would win on twisty tracks like the Targa and the Nürburging in 1970 and 1971. The Alfa Romeo 33 even managed to win races against the mighty 917 in 1971, while Ferrari had no nimble 3-litre in 1970 to support their fleet of 512s.
As it was announced in 1970 that the 5-litres would be banned after 1971, Ferrari abandoned the 512 after only one season, and tested a new design in a few 1971 races, the Ferrari 312PB based on the new flat F1 engine, in order to challenge for the championship in 1972. The once dominant Scuderia Ferrari had not won a sportscar race since 1967, and also missed new developments, like the emergence of private teams funded by sponsors. The Gulf and Martini teams raced Porsche models while the Zuffenhausen factory could concentrate on development without committing too much money and personnel to cover international racing events.
