1968 Ferrari 312F news, pictures, and information

View more photos
Chassis Num: 009

Winner of the French Grand Prix in 1968, chassis number 009 was driven by factory driver Jacky Ickx, who also drove the car to third place in the British Grand Prix and fourth in the Dutch Grand Prix that year. Derek Bell drove number 009 in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on September 8th of 1968, from which the car retired with mechanical problems. The car was driven by Chris Amon in four grands prix and by Pedro Rodriguez in one.

Formula One in the '70s

As spectators, fans and constructors contemplate the steady NASCAR-ization of Formula One - spec tires, spec electronic engine-control units, long-life engines and transmissions, restricted in-season aerodynamic development, engine rev limits, contrived wing specifications and other regulations, including 'cost-reduction' limitation on design and testing - there was unbridled creativity and diversity in Formula One in the '70s. The brilliant - and sometimes erratic - talents who created and drove these cars further recalls a dynamic era that seems to have been lost forever.

The F1 cars from this period had six wheels, shrouded tires, sliding skirts, proliferating wings, and even vacuum fans. Engines had six, eight and twelve cylinders. Most were naturally aspirated, but the sorcerer, Amedee Gordini, brought the first 1.5-liter turbo as an alternative. Entrants didn't need to post $48 million to pass through the FIA's portal to a Formula One gravy train, they just needed audacity. Which many be why there were characters on the pit wall like Lord Hesketh, Parnelli Jones, Mo Nunn, Teddy Yip, Roger Pensky, Walter Wolf, Guy Ligier and even, lest his origins be overlooked, one Bernie Ecclestone.

Then there were the drivers. They had arms and elbows, all fully employed in glorious abundance to slide, steer and even pass. Remarkably, at least by present-day standards, they were old enough to drink legally. And many of them did. They also partied, caroused and spoke their minds. Few of them had managers; almost all of them had talent and style. In fact, they had personalities, without being 'personalities.' They loved life, particularly in fast cars.

The end of the era came in 1980 when Alan Jones, Rene Arnoux, Didier Pironi, Carlos Reutemann, Jacques Laffite, Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Nelson Piquet were winners. That's eight separate drivers in 14 points-scoring races, driving for four different teams. Ferrari wasn't among the 1980 winners, but during the '70s the dominant team was Ferrari, winning four Constructors' Championships and three Drivers' titles with the 312 T series.

The 312
The 312 was Mauro Forghieri's creation. Turned loose by Enzo Ferrari with a 'clean sheet of paper,' Forghieri created the flat-12 3-liter engine to implement his goal of lowering Ferrari's GP cars' center of gravity and concentrating its masses within the wheelbase for the quickest possible directional response. Forghieri noted later that the 312 was a flat-12, not a 'boxer.' The distinction was important to Forghieri because he'd considered a boxer layout in conceiving the 312 engine.

The first 312 took to the track in 1970, designated the 312 B. Forghieri's flat-12 was easily the most powerful engine, and subsequent developments focused on building chassis and developing aerodynamics that would harness the 312's nearly 500 horsepower. In 1974, the 312 B3 brought Clay Regazzoni second in drivers' points - only three behind Emerson Fittipaldi - and Ferrari just eight points behind McLaren in the Constructors' Championship.

Forghieri made another dramatic change in 1975 with the 312 T, or transversal. The 312 T employed a transversally mounted gearbox between the engine and the rear wheels' centerline, along with center-mounted coolant and oil radiators to further consolidate the important masses within the 312's wheelbase. Tapered sidepods effectively acted as downforce-generation airfoils which the flat-12 engine's low profile complemented perfectly. With it, Niki Lauda captured the Drivers' title and Ferrari once again won the Constructors' Championship with Lauda and Regazzoni taking six wins in 14 races. The next-generation 312 T2 narrowly missed the 1976 Drivers' Championship after Lauda's fiery accident at the Nurburgring, but Ferrari captured the Constructors' title. Both Ferrari and Lauda recovered to take both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships in 1977.

The handwriting appeared on the wall in 1978, however, when Lotus introduced the ground-effects Lotus 79 and put it in the hands of Mario Andretti and Ronnie Petersen. Not even the addition of a young, French-Canadian talent named Gilles Villeneuve to Ferrari's driver team could overcome the advantages of Colin Chapman's innovative employment of under-car airflow to suck his cars to the track.

Ground effects posed another challenge to drivers. When, through mechanical failure of the side skirts or disruption of the seal over curbs, the side seal to the racing surface was disrupted and the inflow of air into the under-car low-pressure area robbed downforce and destroyed the tires' lateral traction. It took immense talent and blindingly quick reaction compensate. Gilles Villeneuve had them.

Ferrari responded with the 312 T4 in 1979. The 312 flat-twelve was still the most powerful engine on the Formula One Grid, but the advantages which had contributed to its success early in the decade - a low, wide section that reduced aerodynamics - impinged upon the developing science of ground-effects aerodynamics. Only the 312 engine's power advantage, flexibility and a concerted effort by Ferrari to test and develop new aerodynamic packages - with help from Fiat and the Pininfarina wind tunnel - allowed Forghieri's team to create another champion.

And, to be sure, that bright talent from Canada, Gilles Villeneuve, who displayed brilliance during the season. At the Frend GP at Dijon-Prenois, he challenged Rene Arnoux's Renautl - clearly the dominant car of the race - in a wheel-to-wheel duel during the closing laps. Their contest let Jabouille, in the other Renault, escape to the win, but the battle between Villeneuve and Arnoux was pass and re-pass for laps where, as Adriano Cimarosti describes it, 'they Polished the sides of each other's car with their wheels in the middle of corners.' At the flag it was Villeneuve in front by 14-hundreths of a second. At the end of the season Jody Scheckter earned the Drivers' Championship for Ferrari with Villeneuve only four points behind and Ferrari again earned the Constructors' title.

Source - Gooding & Company

View more Formula One vehicles

Vehicle Spotlight