5.0 FERRARI 512S

SEBRING 12 HOURS 1970 - The winning works 5.0 Ferrari 512S (#21, chassis 1026) in close company with the NART 512S Spyder (chassis 1006) shared by Ronnie Bucknum and Sam Posey. At the wheel of the #21 we find the young Ignazio Giunti. He and Nino Vaccarella were joined at the end of the race by Mario Andretti, who was leading the race during 11 of the 12 hours, 14 laps ahead over the first Porsche, when a broken gearbox ended his dreams on victory lane. Giunti died one year later at the Buenos Aires Temporada when Jean Pierre Beltoise, in one of his most stupid and crazy moments, was pushing his Matra over the track. Giunti could not prevent a deadly collision. The orange car above was the brand new 1.8 Chevron-FVC B16 which retired during the fourth hour with a broken camshaft. PICTURE: Automobile Year 1970-1971, #18, Lausane: Edita, 1970, p. 183.

PREHISTORY OF THE 512S

Mid-1967, in a moment of total madness - inspired by senility? - the grey nobles of the FIA decided that the over 3-litre prototypes should be banned from the race tracks. This decision was sold to the public as a measure to increase the safety of the tracks. However, never before so many racers were killed as in the years after the brainless decision. Not the fast cars should have been forbidden, but the track owners should have been obliged to improve the scandalous safety of their circuits. At Le Mans the nobles of the organising ACO preferred that Total paid them to put publicity on the trees along the track instead of installing vang guards!
A direct consequence of the 1967 FIA Diktat was that the famous Ferrari-Ford combat was abruptly ended. Such wonderful cars as the Ferrari 330 P4, Ford MkIV, Chapar-ral 2E, etc. were at once damned to the musea.
The over 3-litre prototypes were replaced by so-called Sports Cars, manufactured at 25 copies at least, with a maximum engine capacity of 5-litres. At Zuffenhausen the FIA Diktat was accepted with euphoria. At least now Porsche could win Le Mans. However, both in 1968 and 1969 Porsche was beaten at La Sarthe by the old Fords GT40 entered by JWA Gulf. That made Huschke von Hanstein & Co decide in 1969 to built a 4.5 Porsche 917 at 25 copies. At Le Mans those cars realised 1-2 on the grid, but were to be retired, one of them leading the race after 22 of the 24 hours!  Towards the end of the 1969 season Porsche's new weapon won the Austrian Grand Prix at Zeltweg.

In 1969 Enzo Ferrari, who had quit endurance racing, came back with a 3-litre prototype, the 3.0 Ferrari 312P Barquetta and 3.0 Ferrari 312P Berlinetta. They were hardly more than a 3-litre F1 Ferrari with a prototype body. At the Sebring 12h the spyder finished 2nd to a JWA Gulf Ford GT40. At the BOAC the same spyder was 4th behind 3 Porsches 908-01. At Monza Chris Amon took the pole with the 312P spyder, ahead of Jo Siffert's 908-01, but had to retire. At the Spa 1,000-kms a 312P was second behind the Siffert-Redman 908-01LH. At Le Mans 2 312P Berlinettas were entered. They were 5 and 6 on the grid, but didn't finish. So at the end of the season the 312Ps were sold to N.A.R.T., the American Ferrari importer of Luigi Chinetti.
Around the same period - with the financial help of Fiat - Ferrari decided to do what Porsche did 6 months earlier, i.e. building 25 5-litre cars, called 512S. Motor was a total new V12 with 560 HP output. Compacter than Porsche's flat-12 monster, it had the disadvantage not being air-cooled. So it needed the maze of cooling pipes and a heavy radiator. Since the chassis was of sturded steel, reinforced with aluminium sheet, weight was 100 kgs more than that of the alloy-framed 917. Notwithstanding the weight difference the 512S and 917K were fairly even matched. At the beginning of the year the 512s were hampered by predictable child's diseases, including week suspension and transmission bothers. But the fact that Porsche had already a 6-months-experience with its 917 should be decisive for the rest of the season.

1970 Results by all Ferraris 512S at the Manufacturer's Worlds & 3 other races

1970 Positions on the grid of all Ferraris 512S at the Manufacturer's Worlds

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - The Ferrari 512S Spyder with chassis 1002 was the first built. The car was sold to the Escuderia Montjuich. The car was raced the first time at Le Mans 1970, where it was retired from 10th position after 11 hours. At the Imola 500-kms the car was again retired, but at the Montlhéry 1000-kms the 1002 finished 2nd to the Jack Brabham/François Cévert 3.0 Matra MS660. Drivers were Jose Juncadella and Juan Fernandez.

DAYTONA 24 HOURS 1970 - Having started from 5th position the Jacky Ickx/Peter Schetty Ferrari 512S - chassis 1004 - will be retired after an accident at lap 115.

MONZA 1,000-KMS 1970 - The Matra-Simca MS650 of Jean Pierre Beltoise passes the Ferrari boxes at the end of the qualifications. The #3 Ferrari 512S with chassis 004 is the Giunti/Vaccarella machinery, qualified as 4th. PICTURE: Curami Andrea, Galbiati Daniele and Ronchi Luca (eds), 1000 km di Monza, Trofeo Filippo Caracciolo, Monza: Editzioni dei Soncino, 1998, p. 53.

MONZA 1,000-KMS 1970 - Due to poor organised the Ferrari 512S with chassis 004 finished only second. PICTURE: Prunet Antoine, Ferrari Sport- und Rennwage, Prototypen, Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1983 (1978), 2°, p. 243.

54th TARGA FLORIO 1970 - Sicilian schoolteacher, the island's racing halfgod, Nino Vaccarella tries the impossible. Enzo Ferrari, who hated the Targa, gave him a work's 512S (chassis 1004), well knowing that the car was much too heavy to beat the nimble Porsches 908-03 on the totuous roads in the Sicilian mountains. Nevertheless Vaccarella and team mate Ignazio Giunti brought the 1004 Spyder home as 3rd, 3 minutes behind the winning Porsche 908-03. Here we see the 560 HP 512S thundering through the main street of Cerda at 200 mph! Look at the unprotected spectators on the footpaths. Should God exist, he should certainly be Sicilian. It may be a miracle that no spectators were killed during more than a half century that the road race existed. The 1004 Spyder was entered 3 times by the SpA SEFAC. It finished 2nd at the Monza 1,000-kms (Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella) and with the same duo 3rd at the Targa Florio. Earlier the car was retired after an accident at the Daytona 24 hours. It qualified as 5th. Peter Schetty and Jacky Ickx were the drivers. PICTURE: Automobile Year 1970-1971, #18, Lausane: Edita, 1970, p. 199.  

ANALYSIS OF A DEFEAT

By the end of the season the 512S, in its revisited and lightened form, was definitively faster than the 917K. Watkins Glen and Zeltweg were lost by the 512S in a pure winner's position. At the Kyalami 9 hours the 512S with chassis 1010, transformed into the lighter 512M, driven by Jacky Ickx and Ignazio Giunti was 1 full second faster at the qualifications, and won the race one lap ahead over the Martini factory Porsche 917K of Jo Siffert and Kurt Ahrens. Everybody believed by the end of 1970 that the 512M should take revenge the next season. However, Il Commendatore refused to enter the 1971 season with factory cars. All efforts went to the 3.0 Ferrari 312PB prototype, which, after a difficult season in 1971, should win all rounds but one of the 1972 Manufacturer's Worlds.
The reason for this withdrawal was purely economical. Indeed, already in January 1970 the FIA decided that both the 5-litre Porsches 917 as the 5-litre Ferraris 512S were - following the spirit of the rules - no sports cars at all, but simply 5-litre prototypes, exactly the ones the CSI wished to ban from the tracks.
So all manufacturers were informed that up from 1972 the 5-litre sports cars should be banned. The limit of the engine capacity of ALL cars went down to 3,000cc. Whilst Porsche - pushed by the ambitious Ferdinand Piech - continued to develop its 917s in 1971, Ferrari preferred to prepare already the 1972 season, by testing in 1971 its 312PB prototype, so that it was ready for the big fights of 1972.
Eventually the 512S won only four races in 1970: the Sebring 12 hours with Giunti/Vaccarella/Andretti (chassis 1026) , the Kyalami 9 hours with Giunti/Ickx (chassis 1010), the Fujimi Grand Prix with Giancarlo Moretti/Corrado Manfredini (chassis 1032) and the Zol-der 500-kms with Georg Loos/Helmut Kelleners (chassis 1018).

The two last races went without Porsches 917K.  Apart from 8 rounds of the 1970 Manufacturer's Worlds, the 512S and 917K stood 11 times eye to eye on the track (CANAM races not included). The 9-2 score in favour of the 917K is no good reflection of the power balance; 7-4 should have been a more honnest score. In total the 512S was 49 present at important 1970 endu-rance races: 25 times the car could be brought back. But even 7-4 remains a sharp defeat. I see 3 main reasons for this defeat:
(1) Forghieri's competition organisation was hopeless outperformed by a super professional JW Automotive (John Wyer) of Porsche. But even the two other Porsche work teams (KG Salzburg and Martini Racing) were much more professional than Ferrari.
(2) The JWA Gulf drivers - Pedro Rodriguez, Jo Siffert and Brian Redman - were considerably superior to most of the Ferrari work's drivers. One should remember that SEFAC lost its best racers after deadly accidents: Giancarlo Baghetti, Lorenzo Bandini (Monaco GP) and Günther Klass (Mugello) in 1967; Lodovico Scarfiotti (Rossfeld hillclimb) in 1968. It's obvious that nor the young Ignazio Giunti, neither the older Nino Vaccarella or Arturo Merzario had the tremendous racing abilities of the trio Rodriguez/Sif-fert/Redman. Only Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx - when they were free from F1 obligations - were able to fight on equal foot with the JWA trio, where Leo Kinunen was an excellent newcomer.
(3) Whilst JWA Gulf, KG Salzburg and Martini Racing enjoyed all profits from an intramural competition - already apllied with success by Ford Motor Company in 1966-67 - the Ferrari work's team had no serious back-up from the semi-privateers. Among them only NART and Scuderia Filipinetti were of concrete value. At Porsche even private teams as AAW Shell  and David Piper received more help from Porsche than all privateers from Ferrari.

SEBRING 12 HOURS 1970 - In 1970 N.A.R.T. (North-American Racing Team), the American importer of Ferrari, bought two copies of the 512S. Here the spyder (chassis 1006) at the Sebring 12 hours, the lonely race the car entered. The car, shared by Sam Posey and Ronnie Bucknum qualified as 6th, but had to retire after 92 of 248 laps with a broken fuel pump. PICTURE: Automobile Year 1970-1971, #18, Lausane: Edita, 1970, p. 183.  

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - Another client of Ferrari, the Swiss count Georges Filipinetti bought also two 512S cars from Ferrari. Here the car with chassis 1008. At the ADAC 1,000-Kilometer Rennen on the Nürburgring Herbert Müller and Michael Parkes finished 4th with this car. At the Le Mans 24-hours the car, in Coda Lunga version, was driven by Reine Wisell and Joachim Bonnier in Coda Lunga version, but had to retire when it was hit by the 512S of Clay Regazzoni. At the end of the season Filipinetti sold the car to Herbert Müller, who let it transform following the 512M specifications. On July 11, 1971, Mexican Pedro Rodriguez - in 1970 the hero of John Wyer and Porsche - drove it at the Interserie on the Norisring where he had his fatal accident. The car was destroyed.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - Again the Filipinetti entry of the 512S with chassis 1008. PICTURE: Bollée Michel, Le Mans 1970-1980, Archives d'un passioné, Nimes: Éditions du Palmier, 2004 (2001), 2°, p. 10.

ADAC 1,000-KM RENNEN 1970 - The Filipinetti Ferrari 512S with chassis 1008 which finished 4th at the ADAC 1,000-Kilometer Rennen at the Nürburg-ring. It was probably the best Ferrari owned by a private team. PICTURE: Automobile Year 1970-1971, #18, Lausane: Edita, 1970, p. 199.

SEBRING 12 HOURS 1970 - The 512S spyder with chassis 1010 was perhaps the fastest of the 5-litre Ferraris. It was raced by the factory team SpA SEFAC. Here the car, shared by Mario Andretti and Arturo Merzario at the Sebring 12 hours, where America's Mario Andretti realised the pole and was leading after 11 of the 12 hours with a 14 laps advance over the second. A broken gearbox forced Andretti to retire at the final stages of the race. At the BOAC 1,000-kms Jacky Ickx/Jackie Oliver finished 8th with the spyder, after having it qualified in 2nd position. At the Nürburgring the spyder, now in hands of Ignazio Giunti and Arturo Merzario was retired after 2 laps with a broken fuel injection. At Watkins Glen Jackie Ickx and Peter Schetty finished 5th with the 1010. At Zeltweg, at the Austrian Grand Prix, the car was aligned in 512M specification. Much lighter than the 512S the car was 2nd on the grid, but Jacky Ickx and Ignazio Giunti had to retire with electrical problems. At the end of the season, much improved, the 1010 spyder was sent to the Kyalami 9 hours in South-Africa, again with Jacky Ickx and Ignazio Giunti as drivers. Now the car dominated easily the factory Porsche 917K. It took the pole and finished one lap ahead over its rival. In 1971 the car received the 712 engine and won 3 times in 512M specification. Later it was transformed in the famous Ferrari 712P for the CANAM races. PICTURE: Sport Auto (French edition) #100, p. 47.

SEBRING 12 HOURS 1970 -Other view of the 512S Spyder with chassis 1010. At Sebring Mario Andretti realised the pole at the wheel of this car, being 0.1 second faster than the fastest Porsche, the JWA Gulf of Jo Siffert/Brian Redman.

BOAC 1,000-KMS 1970 - On a wet soaked track Jacky Ickx in the #1 512S spyder (chassis 1010) purchases his factory team mate Chris Amon in the #2 512S Spyder. Here he holds the #10 KG Salzburg Porsche 917K and the #9 JWA Gulf Porsche behind. The Chevron B8 is already lapped.

ZELTWEG 1,000-KMS 1970 - In a complete reshaped 1010, now in 512M specification, Jacky Ickx dominates the Austrian Grand Prix until the moment that the car is victim of electrical bothers. One month later he'll win the Kyalami 9 hours at the wheel of the same car.

ADAC 1,000 KIMOMETER RENNEN 1970 - The 512S spyder with chassis 1012 was raced by the factory team at two occasions. At the BOAC 1,000-kms Chris Amon and Arturo Merzario qualified as 4th and finished as 5th. At the Nürburgring 1,000-kms the car was one of the three work's Ferraris entered by SpA SEFAC. Unfortunately the 1012 spyder - to be driven by John Surtees and Peter Schetty - had an accident during practice, so that it couldn't start. After Schetty's accident the car was destroyed. PICTURE: Jörg-Thomas Födisch & Michael Behrndt, ADAC 1000-Km Rennen, Nürburgring Langstrecken-WM 1953-1991, Köningswinter: Heel Verlag, 2003, p. 120.

BOAC 1,000-KMS 1970 - The Ferrari 512S with chassis 1012 which finished at a poor 5th place as first of all entered Ferraris. PICTURE: Pritchard Anthony, Scarlet Passion, Ferrari's famed sports prototype and competition sports cars 1962-1973, Newsbury Park, CA: Haynes North America Inc., 2004, p. 196.

BOAC 1,000-KMS 1970 - Here the 512S with chassis 1012 again, now seen at a wet-soaked BOAC 1,000-kms where Chris Amon/Arturo Merzario finished 5th, after having started from pole position. PICTURE: Prunet Antoine, La Légende Ferrari Sport et Prototypes, Paris: E.P.A., 1983 (1978), 2nd, p. 40.

DAYTONA 24 HOURS 1970 - In 1970 N.A.R.T. raced 4 Ferraris: twice a 512S and twice a 312P Berlinetta. Here the car with chassis 1014 seen at the Daytona 24 hours. Drivers were Dan Gurney and Chuck Parsons. They qualified as 6th but had to retire after 464 laps (out of 724) with a broken gearbox.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - At the Le Mans 24 hours the 1014 Ferrari 512S entered by N.A.R.T.  in Coda Lunga version for Sam Posey/Ronnie Bucknum, struggled during the whole race with serious road holding problems. Nevertheless the car finished 4th overall as first of the 11 entered Ferraris 512S.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - The Posey/Bucknum Ferrari 512S with chassis 1014 having been brought home as fourth and first of 11 entered Ferraris 512S. PICTURE: Prunet Antoine, Ferrari Sport- und Rennwage, Prototypen, Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 1983 (1978), 2°, p. 244.

TARGA FLORIO 1970 - At the 54th Targa Florio the Scuderia Filipinetti 512S (chassis 1016) finished 6th overall. Earlier the car was 13th at the BOAC 1,000-kms and 8th at the Monza 1,000-kms. At Le Mans Michael Parkes and Herbert Müller - Filipinetti's first drivers - were victim of an accident in their Coda Lunga at Maison Blanche, when Parkes could not avoid a crash with two colided works Ferraris. In this accident the Briton was seriously burnt. The same car was just before the crash 3rd overall. PICTURE: Ferrari Sportwagens/prototypen & productieauto's 1947-2004, Naarden: Mondial Media BV, 2004, p. 160.

BOAC 1,000-KMS 1970 - Again Filipinetti's 512S with chassis 1016, here on a trailer before the BOAC 1,000-kms.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - Filipinetti's 1016 in Coda Lunga version and driven by Mikael Parkes and Herbert Müller. The car following #15 was Picchio Rosso's which was officially entered by Scuderia Filipinetti.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - Again the Filipinetti #15 Ferrari 512S with chassis 1016. PICTURE: Bollée Michel, Le Mans 1970-1980, Archives d'un passioné, Nimes: Éditions du Palmier, 2004 (2001), 2°, p. 10.

MONTHLÉRY 1,000-KMS 1970 - The Gelo Racing Team Ferrari 512S witch chassis 1018 was the most beautiful of all 512S Ferraris, but unfortunately the worst driven of them all. Above the car as seen at the Montlhéry 1,000-kms where it was hardly 1/10th of a second faster than the 3 years old VDS Lola T70 Mk3B. After 20 laps owner Georg Loos was found in 5th position. Then team mate Franz Pesch, a much better driver, took over the wheel. Towards the end of the race Pesch was 4th when at once his transmission broke. At the BOAC 1,000-kms, under heavy rain, the car couldn't start since the rain tires didn't arrive in time. At the Monza 1,000-kms Loos/Pesch failed to qualify. Entered in it's original short tail version at the Le Mans 24 hours by N.A.R.T., which Hemut Kelleners and Georg Loos as drivers, the car qualified as low as 18th and was retired after 6 hours by handling problems. At Watkins Glen the car was again retired. At the Austrian GP Loos-Pesch finished 7th overall. Off-Championship Loos/Kelleners won on April 10 the Zolder 500-kms. PICTURES: Sport Auto (French edition), #101, p. 74.

LE MANS 24 HOURS - The Gelo Racing Team 512S (chassis 1018) shared by Helmut Kelleners and Georg Loos was retired after the 6th hour with handling problems.

Within 9 months Ferrari manufactured 25 512S cars, with even chassis numbers from 1002 to 1050. Of those cars 19 were raced in 1970, 5 of them being spiders. Of the cars manufactured for the 1970 season, but not raced that year, the 1020 was converted at the end of the season as a 512M and sold to N.A.R.T., which entered it in competition in 1971. The 1024 remained unsold in 1970, was transormed into a 512M and sold one year later to the Scuderia Brescia Corse. The 1036 was used as test car by the racing division of Ferrari. Later it was sold to Solar Productions for the film Kiss with the death, with Steve McQueen in the prime rôle. The 1040, sold to Chris Cord and Steve Earle (USA) was never raced in Europe but only at the CANAM races. Immediately after the homologation of the 25 cars the 1046 was disassem-bled for parts, having been used for the construction of the Pininfarina show car. The 1048 was sold as test car to Filipinetti but not raced in 1970. The 1050 was sold to Corrado Manfredini (but only as chassis plus body). It was later transformed in a 512M and raced in 1971.
Eventually the SpA SEFAC factory team used 9 cars for international endurance racing. The Scuderia Filipinetti and N.A.R.T. raced each two cars. The Écurie Francor-champs - Belgian importer of Ferrari - the Escuderia Montjuich, Gelo Racing Team and Picchio Rosso raced each one car. After the 1022 bought by the last team was destroyed at the Daytona 24 hours, they could use the 1032.

During the 1970 race season several other Ferraris 512S were destroyed. That was the case with the 1012 spyder after its crash at practice for the ADAC 1,000-Kilometer Rennen on the Nürburgring. The 1026, having been raced as factory car #7 by Derrek Bell and Ronnie Peterson at the 1970 Le Mans 24 hours, was destroyed during the Le Mans film by Derrek Bell. The 1032 was source of an unbelievable swindling - where even the famous Christies was guilty over the whole line - in the late 1980s. Indead on the reconversion of the 1032 into a 512M parts were used to rebuild it up the 1050 chassis. Up from November 1970 there was no longer a 1032. Nevertheless Christies let believe in 1989 that a replica, built by England's Michael Cane, was the rebuilt 1032. More over this scandal is to be found further.
Contrary to Porsche, Ferrari didn't organise an intramural competition. There were the factory cars, tuned by SpA SEFAC and there were the private cars of Scuderia Filipinetti, N.A.R.T., Écurie Francorchamps, Scuderia Picchio Rosso, Gelo Racing Team and Escuderia Montjuich. At no moment those private cars received the same support from the factory. They were considered as field fillers, never as candidate winners. At Porsche, however, JWA Gulf, KG Salzburg and Martini Racing, received all direct factory support. All those cars were real work's cars. And even the privateers as AAW Shell Racing and David Piper Racing received a much better support than Ferrari's clients.

DAYTONA 24 HOURS 1970 - One of the last images of the Picchio Rosso Ferrari 512S (chassis 1022), just before the car was destroyed after the suspension broke on lap 412 at the Daytona 24 hours. At the grid Gianpiero Moretti's 512S had to start from a poor 33rd place. PICTURE: Michel Hubin, Championnat du Monde 70, Sport-Prototype-GT, Verviers/Paris: Marabout, 1971, p. 14

SEBRING 12 HOURS 1970 - Normally Ferrari should have scored a 1-2 at the Sebring 12 hours. When less than one hour before the end the #19 was retired with a 14 lap lead over Steve McQueen's Porsche 908-02, Mario Andretti went from the #19 into the #21 (chassis 1026) where he helped Ignazio Giunti and Nino Vaccarella to win the race, 22 seconds ahead over the Porsche. Earlier the same car finished 3rd at Daytona in hands of Jacky Ickx/Arturo Merzario/Mario Andretti. At Monza and Spa the same factory car finished twice 4th res. with Chris Amon/Arturo Merzario and Ignazio Giunti/Nino Vaccarella as driver. The long tail version for Le Mans (#7) qualified as 7th but was eliminated after 3 hours in an accident costing Ferrari ...4 cars, among them 3 factory machines.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - Again the factory 512S with chassis 1026, now in Coda Lunga version at Le Mans. Driven by Ronnie Peterson and Derrek Bell the car was eliminated by accident after 3 hours. Later, during a run for the Le Mans film, Derrek Bell destryed the car.

DAYTONA 24 HOURS 1970 - Here the 512S with chassis 1026 at the Daytona 24 hours where the car, shared by Andretti/Ickx/Merzario finished 3rd. At Daytona the car had still the rounded nose, at Sebring already the flat nose.

DAYTONA 24 HOURS 1970 -  The 512S with chassis 1026 during the qualification trials. Front fins were still red and several publicity decals were added only just before the race. PICTURE: 0'Malley J.J., Daytona 24 hours, The definitive history of America's Great Endurance Race, Phoenix, AZ: David Bull Publishing, 2003, p. 80.

DAYTONA 24 HOURS 1970 - Mario Andretti the the SEFAC 512S (chassis 1026) which was in pole position and finished 3rd, 48 laps behind the winning JWA Gulf 4.5 Porsche 917K driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Leo Kinunen. PICTURE: Prunet Antoine, op.cit., p. 241.

DAYTONA 24 HOURS 1970 - The 512S (chassis 1026) with Jacky Ickx in the pits.

FRANCORCHAMPS 1,000-KMS 1970 - Derrek Bell rocketing up the Raidillon Rise in the Écurie Francorchamps 512S (chassis 1030), which he shared with Belgium's Hughues de Fierlandt to finish 8th. At the Kyalami 9 hours the same car, with Derrek Bell/Hugues de Fierlandt at the wheel finished 6th. Of all 512S Ferraris raced in 1970 it was the lonely one to finish all the races it entered. PICTURE: Tanner Hans & Nye Doug, Ferrari, Summerset/Newbury Park: Haynes Publications, 1985 (1979), 6th, p. 425.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - The Écurie Francorchamps 512S (chassis 1030) in Coda Lunga version finished 5th overall with Hugues de Fierlandt and Alistair Walker as drivers.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - Again the Belgian 512S with chassis 1030, one of the two Ferraris 512S out of eleven having been brought home. PICTURE: Pritchard Anthony, Scarlet Passion, Ferrari's famed sports prototype and competition sports cars 1962-1973, Newsbury Park, CA: Haynes North America Inc., 2004, p. 196.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - Although owned by the Picchio Rosso Team, the rebuilt car on chassis 1032 (after destruction of 1022) was entered by the Swiss Scuderia Filipînetti. Corrado Manfredini and Gianpiero Moretti had to retire after less than 3 hours of racing. With the #9 of the Escuderia Montjuich and the #10 of Gelo Racing Team it was one of the 3 Ferraris 512S (on 11 entered) to be raced in short tail version.

LE MANS 24 HOURS 1970 - SpA SEFAC entered the 512S with chassis 1034 only for one race, Le Mans, where the car showed in Coda Lunga version. The car was raced by Arturo Merzario and Clay Regazoni and started as 4th on the grid. After 2h30 of racing, under heavy rain, the hot boiled Regazonni couldn't avoid a collision with the #14 Filipinetti 512S of Reine Wisell. Immediately after Mike Parkes found the 2 wrecked cars on his way and provoked a new collision. Derek Bell, in the #7 factory car - which was driven at slow speed due to a windscreen plenty of oil - tried to escape he heavy collisions behind his back, but on trying to accelerate as hard he could, he overreved his motor. So 4 Ferraris 512S were out in less than one minute. Thank you, Clay!

FRANCORCHAMPS 1,000 KMS 1970 - For this races SpA SEFAC prepared the 512S with chassis 1038 (never raced before) for the local hero Jacky Ickx, paired to good old John Surtees, Ferrari's 1964 F1 world champion. Ickx qualified as 3rd, however ...5 seconds slower than the JWA Gulf Porsche of Pedro Rodriguez. After the withdrawal of this Porsche with a broken gearbox, Ickx and Surtees finished second, in the same lap of the winning JWA Gulf 917K of Jo Siffert and Brian Redman.

FACTORY RACERS IN 1970

1970 Positions at the finish of all Ferraris 512S at the Manufacturer's Worlds