Monday, March 10, 2008

Ferrari 312P

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.