Ferrari 312

Naming

Designed under the leadership of Mauro Forghieri, there were two distinct variations using this designation, the 1966 version and the completely different 1967-69 version. The '66 cars carried on the chassis numbering sequence from the previous year's 1.5 litre cars, while the '67 cars began a new sequence at "0001". To avoid confusion, the cars are commonly referred to as 312 F1-66, 312 F1-67 etc.

1966

For the 1966 Formula One season, there was a change in the technical regulations, now allowing 3 litre engines. The F1 teams, even though asking for "the return to power", were more or less surprised and not well prepared.

Ferrari's first 1966 car consisted of a 3.3-litre V12 engine that was taken from the Ferrari 275P2 sportscar prototypes, thus made to last endurance race up to 24 hours. Reduced to 3000cc, it was mounted in the back of an F1 chassis. The designation 312, which would be used for a number of later cars, indicated a 3-litre, 12-cylinder engine. The engine was rather heavy, and due to the reduced capacity, even lower on power and especially torque as in the sportscar. John Surtees drove this contraption unsuccessfully in Monaco while Lorenzo Bandini drove a Ferrari Dino 2.4-litre V6. Surtees won the second race, the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix, a track that favoured power with its long straights, but the 1964 champion departed after a row with manager Eugenio Dragoni a week later at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The issue was about priorities in racing, as Ferrari was under pressure from Ford GT40 in sports car racing, and the F1 effort was somewhat neglected. Mike Parkes replaced Surtees, who went to Cooper which used Maserati engines, to finish second in the driver championship with a further win. For Ferrari, Ludovico Scarfiotti also won another fast race, the 1966 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, which helped Ferrari finish second in the Constructors' Championship.^[1]

1967

In 1967, the team fired Dragoni and replaced him with Franco Lini. Chris Amon partnered Bandini to drive a somewhat improved version of the 1966 V12 car. At the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix, Bandini crashed and suffered heavy injuries when he was trapped under his burning car; several days later he succumbed to his injuries. Ferrari re-hired Mike Parkes, but Parkes suffered career-ending injuries weeks later at the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix. Several accidents, a fatality, no race win, and only 5th in the Constructors' Championship marked a bad year for Ferrari. In addition, the new Ford Cosworth DFV engine that had its debut in the Lotus 49 would dominate F1 in the 15 years to come.^[2]

1968

Ferrari 312/68 at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2010

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The 1968 season continued Ferrari's poor performance. New driver Jacky Ickx won the wet 1968 French Grand Prix, but had few other successes. Things became more complicated during the season due to the introduction of aerodynamic devices into F1, and their quick development. At the end of the season, Scuderia Ferrari finished 4th in the Constructors' Championship. Manager Franco Lini quit, and so did Ickx, moving to Brabham. To provide for the future, during the summer of 1968, Enzo Ferrari worked out a deal to sell his road car business to Fiat for $11 million; the transaction took place in early 1969, leaving 50% of the business still under control of Ferrari himself.^[3]

1969

During 1969 Enzo Ferrari set about wisely spending his new-found wealth to revive his struggling team; though Ferrari did compete in Formula One in 1969, it was something of a throwaway season while the team was restructured. Ferrari rejoined sportscar racing with the Ferrari 312P, but in March and April 1969, Porsche unexpectedly had presented 25 Porsche 917 for homologation as 5-litre sportscars, which would dominate on fast tracks over the few 3-litre prototypes that were entered by Alfa, Matra, Ford, Alpine and Porsche itself, using the Porsche 908 on twisty circuits. Thus, in addition to the Ferrari 312P, the Scuderia in 1969 also invested a lot of "FIAT money" to build 25 Ferrari 512S sportscars up front to be competitive in the 1970 World Sportscar Championship, without being able to sell all of them to customers.

With Ickx gone, Amon continued as a one-driver-team, in an older model, for the first five races, suffering four DNF and taking 3rd at the 1969 Dutch Grand Prix. Pedro Rodríguez joined for the 1969 British Grand Prix, but with two cars failing to finish, the Scuderia decided to skip the 1969 German Grand Prix, and Amon left Europe to race the Ferrari 612P in the 1969 Can-Am season. Rodríguez took 6th place at Monza for the Scuderia, then finished the season as NART entry in three overseas GP.

At the end of the year the team once again had no race wins and was only ranked 5th in the Constructors' Championship.^[4]

The 312 V12 was succeeded by the flat-engine 312B "Boxer" which was introduced for the 1970 Formula One season.