 1967 312 F1 | 1969 312 F1  |
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1968 Ferrari 312F news, pictures, and information | ||
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 |  |  | Chassis Num: 009 |
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 wîth the 312 T series.The 312
The 312 was Mauro Forghieri's creation. Turned loose by Enzo Ferrari wîth 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 wîth the 312 T, or transversal. The 312 T employed a transversally mounted gearbox between the engine and the rear wheels' centerline, along wîth 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 wîth 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 wîth 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 - wîth 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 wîth 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 wîth Villeneuve only four points behind and Ferrari again earned the Constructors' title.Source - Gooding & Company
| BREMBO CIRCUIT IDENTITY CARDS FOR MOTOGP AT FRENCH GRAND PRIX (LE MANS) | |
 | What's the 'toughest' track in MotoGP? Brembo Circuit Identity Cardsfor MotoGP are available to the public on the Friday before each race at www.Brembo.com. Each Circuit Identity Card graphic includes general characteristics of the track itself (layout, length, number of braking events and turns, percentage of time spent under braking per lap), along with technical information of the key braking zones, such as speeds before/after each brake event, braking time and distance, maximum deceler...[Read more...] |
| 1970 Monaco Grand Prix: A Reversal of Fortunes | |
 | In gambling and sports there is one word that seems to be absolutely foundational to both—luck. Heading into the 1970 season Jack Brabham had had his share of luck. Jochen Rindt, on the other hand, seemed to have none of it. This would all change on the 10th of May, 1970. Jochen Rindt had come into Formula One during the mid-1960s and was certainly fast straight-away. Often one of the quickest drivers on the circuit, Rindt would find his choice of teams to be his biggest letdown as the reliab...[Read more...] |
| 1969 United States Grand Prix: The Rise of Rindt | |
 | If there was one racer in the Formula One paddock that drivers and spectators alike believed should have scored his first victory before the start of the 1969 season it would almost unanimously be Jochen Rindt. Fast and flamboyant, the Austrian exhibited car control that enthralled just about everyone it seemed, except perhaps the cars themselves. Constantly undercut by poor reliability, it seemed Rindt was to forever suffer under such an oppressive weight. However, at the 1969 United States Gra...[Read more...] |
| 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans: A Cool Head in the Face of a New Threat | |
 | Heading into the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans it had become clear Ford was intent on taking the fight to Ferrari. Ford would spare no expense to take the fight to the company it had intended to buy. Ironically, the North American Racing Team would enter a Ferrari that would include the talented Jochen Rindt to help quell the storm. It would prove to be the wall necessary to provide Ferrari its last victory at Le Mans. Ford had made his declaration of intent to remove Ferrari from its throne as th...[Read more...] |
| 1968 Belgian Grand Prix: A First for McLaren | |
 | McLaren and Formula One are truly synonymous. Over the course of its history, McLaren has completed 714 races and have garnered no less than 178 victories. But while McLaren and victory in Formula One are an almost certainty, the very first would be anything but a complete surprise. In December of 1959, Jack Brabham would be leading the way in his Cooper T51 with Bruce McLaren following along not all that far behind. The final lap of the United States Grand Prix held at Sebring, Florida has j...[Read more...] |
 1968
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Scuderia Ferrari 1968 Formula One Season
| Race | Circuit | Date | Winning Driver | Constructor |
 South African Grand Prix | Kyalami | Jan 1968 | James 'Jim' Clark, Jr. | Lotus |
 Spanish Grand Prix | Jarama | May 1968 | Norman Graham Hill | Lotus |
 Monaco Grand Prix | Monaco | May 1968 | Norman Graham Hill | Lotus |
Belgian Grand Prix  | Spa-Francorchamps | Jun 1968 | Bruce Leslie McLaren | McLaren |
 Dutch Grand Prix | Zandvoort | Jun 1968 | Sir John Young Stewart | Matra |
 French Grand Prix | Rouen-Les-Essarts | Jul 1968 | Jacques Bernard 'Jacky' Ickx | Ferrari |
| British Grand Prix | Brands Hatch | Jul 1968 |  Joseph Siffert | Lotus |
 German Grand Prix | Nürburgring | Aug 1968 | Sir John Young Stewart | Matra |
| Italian Grand Prix | Monza | Sep 1968 | Denis Clive 'Denny' Hulme | McLaren |
 Canadian Grand Prix | Mont-Tremblant | Sep 1968 | Denis Clive 'Denny' Hulme | McLaren |
 United States Grand Prix | Watkins Glen | Oct 1968 | Sir John Young Stewart | Matra |
 Mexican Grand Prix | Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez | Nov 1968 | Norman Graham Hill | Lotus |
| 1967 312 F1 | 1969 312 F1 |
