Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Ferrari 512M


That's a Ferrrari 512M above. It is one of my favorite Ferrari racing cars. The 512 series of sports cars was built to the FIA's Group 5 specification in the early 1970s. Its principal adversary was the Porsche 917.

Beginning in 1970 a series of 25 512S models were built in both spyder and coupe configurations. In 1970 a 512S driven by Ignazio Giunti and Mario Andretti won the Sebring race. For the majority of 1970 the Porsche 917 dominated the 512s. Late in the year Ferrari retaliated with an upgrade called 512M (for modificata) which won a non-championship event at Kyalami. In 1971, with a significant rule change pending for 1972, Ferrari had lost interest in Group 5 and the remaining 512S and new 512M would be campaigned by privateer teams.

This 512M was purchased by Chris Cord and Steve Earle, prepared by Roger Penske with sponsorship of Sunoco and Kirk F. White. It was entered in the 1971 endurance races at Daytona, Sebring, LeMans and Watkins Glen. At the Daytona and Sebring races, where it captured pole position with the fastest qualification times, it was driven by Mark Donohue and David Hobbs.

The FIA's new rules for 1972 made the 917s and 512s obsolete as sport racing cars. Porsche didn't have a car suited to the new rules and Ferrari devoted its resources to the 312P(B) prototypes which would win a World Championship for them. Porsche's 917 engine would get turbochargers and went to the CanAm series, which it would eventually dominate.

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