The ex-Scuderia Ferrari/ Scuderia Filipinetti/ Manfredini & Moretti Mount Fuji-race winning Private Portfolio No. 036
1969/71 Ferrari 512M/F Sport Prototipo Chassis no. 1022
Engine no. 261C N.42
Price on request
The 512S and its M evolution were the very last exalted products of a long dynasty of Ferrari sports prototypes both raced by the factory and available to its customers; a line that stretched across the incredibly intense, frantic development that took place at Maranello in the 1960s, from the earliest rear/ mid-engined endurance racers such as the 196SP, 250P, 330P and short lived 1969 312P, and culminated with the 512 at a time when the merger with Fiat changed the picture and Ferrari decided to react to the Porsche 917’s surprise launch at the 1969 Geneva Salon. Ferrari deemed the subsequent 3 litre 312PB introduced in 1971 upon the announcement of the 3 litre cap for 1972 too complex and pricey to run for privateers, so the 512s became the last of an era. Soon after the 917's introduction at Geneva in March 1969 the engineering team led by Mauro Forghieri was briefed to create the 512, within rules that loosely made it a road going model. A production minimum of 25 cars, a 5 litre maximum engine capacity, two seats, a spare wheel and, voilà, an icon was born, presented at the Gatto Verde restaurant in the foothills of the Apennines above Maranello in the presence of the automotive press, Forghieri, Regazzoni, Merzario and Giunti. Its initial clean shape was, typically, to evolve very soon during development testing, with various winglets, moustaches and vents sprouting upon the gorgeous shape, curvaceous yet still fully retaining the DNA of its illustrious predecessors. After some shake down runs at Vallelunga, our car, chassis ‘1022’, was one of a batch shipped to Daytona for the 24 hour season opener in January 1970. There, as a fully fledged Ferrari factory entry, driven by Vaccarella/ Giunti with race number 26, it performed well until being sidelined by suspension damage due to the banking; a malady several of the 512s encountered that weekend.
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It was then readied for the Le Mans 24 hour test days in April, where Ferrari factory ace and that year’s future Formula One World Championship runner-up Jacky Ickx drove it to second fastest time, behind one of the Porsche 917s. Hence that weekend our chassis was very much the lead car in the Ferrari factory’s assault on Le Mans.