Ferrari 312 PB
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The Ferrari 312 PB was a Group 6 prototype sports car introduced in 1971 by Italian carmaker
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...
. It was officially designated the 312 P, but often known as the 312 PB to avoid confusion with a previous car of the same name. It was part of the
Ferrari P The Ferrari P was a series of Italian sports prototype racing cars produced by Ferrari during the 1960s and early 1970s. Although Enzo Ferrari resisted the move even with Cooper dominating F1, Ferrari began producing mid-engined racing cars in t ...
series of Prototype-Sports Cars but was redesignated as a Group 5 Sports Car for 1972.


Development

In 1970, a change in the regulations for sportscar racing for 1972 was announced. The loophole for sports cars like
Porsche 917 The Porsche 917 is a sports prototype race car developed by German manufacturer Porsche to exploit the regulations regarding the construction of 5-litre sports cars. Powered by a Type 912 flat-12 engine which was progressively enlarged from 4. ...
,
Ferrari 512 Ferrari 512 S was a sports prototype car produced by Italian manufacturer Ferrari from 1969 to 1970. As it name suggests, the car had a 5.0L V12 engine. A total 25 units were built. The car entered in the 1970 International Championship for ...
,
Ford GT40 The Ford GT40 is a high-performance mid-engined racing car originally designed and built for and by the Ford Motor Company to compete in 1960s European endurance racing. Its specific impetus was to beat Scuderia Ferrari, which had won the pr ...
and
Lola T70 The Lola T70 is a sports prototype developed by British manufacturer Lola Cars in 1965, the successor to its Mk6. Lola built the aluminium monocoque chassis, which were typically powered by large American V8s. The T70 was quite popular in the ...
, which could have engines up to 5 litre if a least 25 were made, was closed. The minimum weight of the 3-litre prototypes was raised to . Porsche considered this too heavy as their
Porsche 908 The Porsche 908 was a racing car from Porsche, introduced in 1968 to continue the Porsche 906- Porsche 910- Porsche 907 series of models designed by Helmuth Bott (chassis) and Hans Mezger (engine) under the leadership of racing chief Ferdinand P ...
/03 were lighter, and this advantage would have been lost. On the other hand, their air-cooled two-valve engine was low on power with , and the development of a new normally aspirated race engine would have been necessary. In the following years, Porsche focussed on the nearly 10 year old 911, Can-Am and turbocharging. The factory did not enter world championship sports car races from 1972 to 1975 and sold the 908s to customers who would have to add weight to them.
Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a major French industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Its business activities covered a wide range of industries, notably aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, defence industry, def ...
and
Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...
were willing and able to compete, but only in selected seasons or events. Also, Ford's successful Formula 1
Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for auto racing, automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream Automotiv ...
-V8 engine was available for independent chassis builders, but vibrations made it unreliable for endurance racing as the 1968
Ford P68 The Ford P68, also commonly known as the Ford 3L GT or F3L, is a sports prototype racing car model introduced in March 1968. It was designed by Len Bailey, a Ford research engineer, funded by Ford Europe and built by Alan Mann Racing at Weybri ...
had shown. After the 512S had mostly been beaten by the Porsche 917 during 1970, Ferrari had modified the S to the 917K-like 512M late in the season, but then abandoned further development of the M, leaving all 512 to customer teams like
Penske Racing Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Da ...
, NART and privateers. Instead, using 1971 as a test season, Ferrari focused on a new 3.0L prototype based on the ''Tipo'' 001 flat-12 "Boxer" engine from the 312B F1 car. Officially this design was known as 312P, the motorsports press appending the B to avoid confusion with the earlier 312P standard V12 cars. This design was similar to the flat-12 Porsche 917 engine layout with its low center of gravity, but Ferrari used water-cooling and 4-valve heads. The car was promising, but did not win, while the similar Alfa Romeo 33/3 V8 scored three world championship wins against Porsche's 917 and 908 dominance. The 312PB's engine has many similarities in design to the F1 engine, but nearly every part is different and non-interchangeable with the F1 flat 12. This has led to problems for users of these cars in historic racing, as spare parts for these quite fragile engines, are, in comparison to the F1 flat 12 engine, very difficult to obtain.


Racing history

The car first appeared at the 1971 1000 km of Buenos Aires in Argentina at the hands of Italians Ignazio Giunti and Arturo Merzario. Its history started off tragically when Giunti was killed in this race after he hit Jean-Pierre Beltoise's Matra head-on while the Frenchman was pushing the stricken car back to the pits. The car did not win a race that season. In 1972, with only Alfa answering the challenge, the 312 PB was very successful and won all
World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing series run for sports car racing, sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), from 1953 World Sportscar Championship, 1953 t ...
races in which it was entered. Ferrari skipped
Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...
, though, as the F1-based engine had not lasted 24 hours in testing and would surely spoil their otherwise perfect record. In 1973, Matra which had previously focused on Le Mans also challenged for the championship while Alfa was absent. As Matra won several races, Ferrari needed to enter in the
1973 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1973 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 41st Grand Prix of Endurance and took place on 9 and 10 June 1973. It was the eighth round of the 1973 World Championship of Makes. The race promised to be close, with Ferrari, Matra and Porsche all having ...
, with an improved yet still doubtful engine. One car was used as a "hare" which supposed to lure the Matras into driving faster laps than they intended, to test their reliability. Ironically it was only the "hare" Ferrari which survived the 24 hours, finishing a respectable second behind a
Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a major French industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Its business activities covered a wide range of industries, notably aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, defence industry, def ...
. The championship saw the same order, with only two Italian wins compared to five French. In addition, despite the absence of the Matras, the 312 PB could not defend the 1972 win of the
Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo, Sicily, Palermo. Founded in 1906 Targa Florio, 1906, it was the oldest sports car ra ...
as the proper sports prototypes of Ferrari and Alfa failed and a modified
Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 model series (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in ) is a family of German two-door, high performance Rear-engine design, rear-engine sports cars, introduced in September 1964 by Porsche, Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. Now in it ...
Carrera RSR collected another not-so-surprise win after qualifying 5th. The 10 year old roadgoing Porsche model already had won the 1973 24 Hours of Daytona. At the end of the 1973 season, Ferrari abandoned sports car racing to focus on F1 again, as the F1 team had even skipped some GP races in 1973 due to lack of competitiveness.


References

*Cruickshank, G. 2006. ''Profile: Ferrari 312PB''. Motor Sport, LXXXII/11, p. 43 * *


External links

{{Scuderia Ferrari 312 PB Sports prototypes sv:Ferrari 312P