1971 Ferrari 512 M

History

Raced in 1970 and 1971, the Ferrari 512 was a sports vehicle, related to the Ferrari P series of sports prototypes that was eventually withdrawn from competition after a change in regulations in 1968. A year later Ferrari decided to do what Porsche did six months earlier and build 25 5.0 L cars at one time to be homologated as sports car prototypes. The surplus vehicles were intended to be sold to racing customers.

The 512 S carried a motor with a new V12 with 560 PS output. Unfortunately not air-cooled like the Porsche's flat-12 the 512 was equipped with a variety of cooling pipes and a heavy radiator. Weighing more than 100 kg than the alloy-framed 917, the chassis was of sturded steel that was reinforced with an aluminum sheet. Despite the weight difference, the Ferrari 512S and Porsche 917 were evenly matched.

Predictable teething problems and a weak suspension and transmission were the main issues with the Ferrari 512s in the beginning of 1970.

Produced between 1973 and 1984, the Berlinetta Boxer, or the Ferrari 512 was the name for a series of vehicles produced by Ferrari in Italy. A huge venture for Enzo Ferrari, the Boxer was a mid-mounted flat-12 engine that replaced the FR Daytona and succeeded in the Ferrari stable by the Testarossa.

Though Enzo feared that the mid-engined road car would be too difficult for his buyers to handle, he eventually agreed to his engineer's request that he adopt the layout. In the late 1950s, this attitude began to change as the marque lost its racing dominance to mid-engined competitors. The result of all this was the mid-engined 4, 6 and 8-cylinder Dino racing vehicles that Ferrari eventually allowed for the production Dino road cars to use the layout also. While the Daytona was launched with its engine in front, the company moved its V12 engines to the rear with its P and LM racing vehicles. Finally, in 1971, a mid-engined 12-cylinder road vehicle came on the scene.

Released at the 1971 Turin Motor Show, the first Boxer was the 365 GT4 BB with the production intent to rival Lamborghini's Miura. In 1973 it was finally released for sale at the Paris Motor Show. A total of 386 units were sold with only 58 of them being right-hand drive. The most prestigious of all Berlinetta Boxers, this was the fastest and most rare model.

The Boxer was as unique as possible, though it shared its numerical designation with the Daytona. Like the Dino, the Berlinetta Boxer was a mid-engined vehicle that housed the now flat -12 engine mounted longitudinally rather than transversely. Sharing the internal dimensions of the Daytona V12, the engine was spread out to 180_ as on Ferrari's 1970 Formula One car. Mounted above a five-speed manual transmission the engine produced 344 hp at 7200 rpm and 302 ft_lbf of torque @ 3900 rpm. This engine also used timing belts instead of chains.

In 1976 the 365 was updated as the Ferrari 512 BB, resuming the name of the previous Ferrari 512 racer. A total of 929 of the 512 BBs were produced. Though peak horsepower was off slights to 340 hp @ 6200 rpm (redline 7000 rpm), the engine was larger at 4942 cc. Due to a larger displacement and a longer stroke, torque was now up to 46 kgf_m from 44 kgf_m at 4600 rpm. To achieve a lower center of gravity dry sump lubrication was used. New external features were a front spoiler, added NACA side air vents that ducted air to the brakes, four tail lights instead of six and wider rear tires.

In 1981 the Bosch K-Jetronic fuel-injected 512Bbi was released. The end of the series, the new fuel-injected motor released cleaner emissions and 340 hp at 6000 rpm and produced 333 ft_lbf of torque at 4200 rpm. New updates included badging and a change to metric-sized wheels along with the Michelin TRX metric tire system, red rear fog lamps outboard of the exhaust pipes in the rear valence and small running lights in the nose. A total of 1,007 512Bbi units were produced.

A total of 25 512S Ferrari's were produced within the first nine months with even chassis numbers from 1002 to 1050. In 1970, 19 of those units were raced, with five of them being spyders. At the end of the season, the 1020 was converted as a 512M and sold to NART which entered it in competition a year later.

By Jessica Donaldson