Maranello in the winter
Maranello, early 1971. Nino Vaccarella, Arturo Merzario, Mario Andretti (in the car), Ignazio Giunti and Clay Regazzoni, strike an elegant pose, next to the new Ferrari 312 PB, destined for the 1971 World Sportscar Championship. One driver is absent on this pic-above, and not the least, lead Scuderia driver: Jacky Ickx.
The Ferrari 312 PB presented that day, was a Group 6 Sports-Prototype car, designed by the great Mauro Forghieri. It had an aluminium chassis with a steel space-frame and was powered by a 3.0 litre flat-12 engine, often called “Boxer”, hence the PB denomination.
The car first appeared at the 1971 1000 km of Buenos-Aires in Argentina in the hands of Italians Ignazio Giunti and Arturo Merzario. Its history started off tragically when Giunti was killed in this race, after he hit Beltoise’s Matra head-on, while the Frenchman was pushing the stricken car back to the pits…
Despite the best efforts of its drivers led by Jacky Ickx, who regularly battled the more powerful Porsche 917’s, the car did not win a race that season. In 1972, with only Alfa Romeo answering the challenge, the 312 PB was very successful and won all World Sportscar Championship races in which it was entered.
Ferrari skipped Le Mans though in 1972, as the F1-based engine had not lasted 24 hours in testing, and would surely spoil their otherwise perfect record. Victory went to Matra then.
Picture below: Clay Regazzoni at the wheel of the 312 PB, at La Source hairpin, during the 1971 1000 km of Spa. Incidentally, this was the first race I attended with my parents, as a 10 year-old. A wonderful first experience.
