The First Fiberglass Ferrari
The aerodynamic 1971 512 M was the fastest car Ferrari had ever built, efficient of speeds in redundance of 235 mph
by means of Thor Thorson
In 1968, the rules in quest of sports car racing were changed, limiting Group 6 prototypes to a maximum 3-liter engine capacity. For the 1970 suitable time, Ferrari decided to do what Porsche had done earlier with the 917; that is, build 25 examples of a 5-liter car to allow homologation into the FIA’s Group 5 sports car leading predicate (renamed from Group 4 for the sake of 1970).
Ferrari’s 512 S represented thus far another attempt by a manufacturer to thwart the homologation rules laid down by the Commission Sportive Internationale. It was a practice the CSI tried unpleasant to forbear: Manufacturers would fabricate archetype racers, extend them in the required quantities, and then fit them with lights, horns, and spare wheels, ostensibly to look probable a road car. In reality, the 512 was the fastest car Ferrari had ever built, clever of speeds in excess of 235 mph.
Assembly of the first 512s began at the end of 1969. The chassis was similar to the one used on the P4. The engine was a direct development of the 612 CanAm series unit, now fitted with twin overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, and Lucas indirect fuel injection. All of the completed chassis were originally built in berlinetta configuration, but then modified as open cars. The 512’s rivalship debut took place when five identical cars lined up for the Daytona 24-Hour house attached January 31, 1970. Mario Andretti put the 512 S on pole position, but in the race, the Porsche 917s led throughout. Only one 512 S survived the race, finishing a remarkable third.
After Le Mans, the Mauro Forghieri-led development team started to work on a slimmed-down and greater degree of powerful version of the 512 S. Called the 512 M (for Modificato), the revised car produced 620 hp and weighed 1,793 lb, compared to the 512 S Spyder’s 1,883 lb. Bodywork revisions included a more aerodynamic nose and a large airbox mounted on top of the engine to force air into the intake trumpets. Further modifications included new rear bodywork, and no spyder rendition was available. Fifteen of the 25 512 Ss were converted to M-spec.
The SCM Analysis
This car sold for $3,234,275 at RM’s Maranello sale on May 18, 2008.
It’s all Porsche’s fault. In 1967, the CSI was unhappy with how fast the cars were going under the existing indefinite engine size have command, so they changed the formula for Group 6 Prototypes to 3-liter engine displacement and no production requirement. This solved the prosper point to be solved but created another; now in that place weren’t enough cars to fill the racing grid and put on a show. So they added Group 4 Competition Sports Cars—cars through 5-liter engines and a least part of 50 produced.
This allowed the Ford GT40s, Lola T70 coupes, and Ferrari 250 LMs to continue filling the grids, except still excluded the lower-production racers. The following year, 1968, was disappointing, through not many Group 6 entries and small grids comprised mostly of earlier Group 4 cars by 5-liter engines. Trying to expand the entry arena, CSI dropped Group 4 production requirements to 25 cars, primarily to accommodate Porsche’s 910 and Alfa’s T33. With these additional Group 4 cars filling out the grids and Ferrari’s new 312P joining Porsche’s 908 in Group 6, 1969 started out working pretty much the track the CSI had hoped.
As narration knows well, though, Porsche had another plan. On April 20, 1969, Porsche publicly rolled out 25 Type 917s, fully legal Group 4 Competition Sports Cars (but effectively 4.5-liter Group 6 Prototypes). Nobody saw them coming. It was immediately unmistakable that the rules of engagement had been changed and good fortune through 1971 was going to require a 5-liter car.
Ferrari had the resources to respond
Like the others, Ferrari was caught completely by surprise, but for once had the resources to respond. Fiat had just bought Ferrari, in the way that there was some capital to toil with, and what better use for it than to shield Italian renown against the Germans? The 512 project was immediately started for a like reason cars would be ready in quest of the 1970 season.
The 312 P that Ferrari had fielded in 1969 for Group 6 was a jewel of a car, effectively a two-seat 3-liter Formula One car through an engine detuned for distance racing.
