Entered the 1970 Daytona 24 Hours & 1000 KM di Monza by Scuderia Ferrari
Originally owned and raced by the Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari Classiche Certified
Used during filming of Steve McQueen's movie, 'Le Mans'
Fully maintained and race-prepared regardless of cost by specialist Tim Samways
Put
together in just three months by a team headed by Mauro Forghieri, the 512 S
mounted an all-alloy V12 of almost five litres with four valves per cylinder.
The tubular spaceframe was developed from the P4 and the 612, while the bodywork
was designed by Giacomo Caliri and made from polycarbonate for light weight.
The car
offered here, chassis 1004, was completed in late 1969 in preparation of the
1970 World Endurance Championship. The car featured external door hinges, a
roof vent and larger diameter anti-roll bar. Chassis 1004 was immediately
destined for competition and entered the 1970 Daytona 24 Hours, which was also
the debut for the Ferrari 512 S model.
1970 Daytona 24 Hours
Date: 31st
January – 1st February 1970
Drivers:
Jacky Ickx & Peter Schetty
Race
number: 27
Qualifying:
5th
Race:
Retired
The Ferrari
works team arrived in Daytona with three recently homologated 512 S’. The
5-litre 60-degree V12 engines developed 550 bhp at 8,500 rpm with a 5-speed
gearbox transferring the power to the road via 15 inch wheels.
Practice
was held on the Wednesday and Thursday prior to the race and was untimed,
however from the pit lane stopwatches the Ferraris were faster than the
Porsche! Qualifying was held on Friday morning and started in the wet. Despite
a whole pack of these fearsome endurance cars qualifying, the track did not
entirely dry out. Ickx was qualifying 1004 and set the fifth fastest time of 1
min 56.9 seconds (117.331 mph).
Race day on
Saturday was cool and dry, conditions which would remain consistent throughout
the entire 24 hours of competition. The entire grid lined up by 2pm and started
their pace laps before the flag dropped at 3pm on the back straight.
The race
was progressing well until chassis 1004 suffered a tyre failure on the banking.
The cause of the tyre failure was due to excessive wear on its inner edge, a
problem which plagued engineer Forghieri throughout the 24 hours. It was
eventually discovered that the excessive wear was due to the increased toe-in
on the banking which was caused by the suspension mounting points cracking,
allowing enough movement to create an issue. This was an issue which hobbled
Ferrari at Daytona in 1970. After the tyre failure, 1004 was retired and returned
to Maranello.
1970 1000 KM di Monza
Date: 25th
April 1970
Drivers:
John Surtees & Peter Schetty
Race
number: 2
Qualifying:
6th
Race: 3rd
The 1970
1000 KM di Monza was held on Liberation Day and was to be run on the Grand Prix
circuit. Practice and qualifying had presented some sensational times with the
fastest being only one hundredth of a second slower than the Grand Prix lap
record. John Surtees was making a welcomed return to Ferrari and was paired
with Peter Schetty in 1004. The pair qualified well and lined up sixth on the
grid for Sundays 174-lap endurance race.
Once
everyone had got away from the start and completed lap one the crowds erupted
with a Ferrari crossing the line first! The race pace was intense and by the
end of lap 35 Surtees was leading in 1004, however he soon needed to pit for
fuel and hand the car over to Peter Schetty who returned to the track in fourth.
At the next round of pit stops the Ferrari mechanics earnt their money with all
three works cars in the pits at the same time. As the race progressed further
Surtees and Schetty climbed the order to cross the line in a strong third
place.
Post Factory Competition
After the
podium finish at Monza, the car was used by the Scuderia for testing at both
Monza and Modena Autodromo. Interestingly, this was also the car which Ferrari
used to test the high-speed tail on the Italian Autostrada. Ferrari had a local
Autostrada closed and completed several high-speed tests with the newly
designed tail section. The car was then sold to Jacques Swaters of Garage
Francorchamps in Brussels on the 20th June 1970. At the point of
sale, the car was renumbered by Ferrari from 1004 to 1024. As can be seen on
Ferrari invoice number 16655 the car was sold as a chassis and body having had
the engine and gearbox removed.
Only one
month later this car was sold to Solar Productions which was owned by Steve
McQueen. The car was purchased to be used during filming of the famous Le Mans
movie. The front and rear body sections from this car were fitted to a Lola T70
to create a look-a-like 512 S which could be used for the well-known crash
scene in the movie.
After
filming in December 1970, Herbert Muller Racing in Switzerland purchased all
512s, except one, used during the filming of Le Mans. Of the four cars
purchased, two were immediately sold to clients of Herbert Muller Racing, with
two (the car offered here, and chassis 1036) remaining within their ownership.
On the 22nd
June 1979, the car was purchased from an Italian in Torino by famed Ferrari 512
historian, Manfred Lampe. The Italian owner had renumbered 1004 again, this
time to be 1012. At this point, Manfred Lampe recalls that the chassis was
complete and the sale included some body panels, four wheels and various other
smaller components.
Lampe sent
this car to the USA later in 1979 before it returned to Europe in the late
1980’s. The car was then sent to Ferrari restoration and servicing specialist,
Bob Houghton, in the UK. A full rebuild was started in 1991 with the assistance
and support of the Ferrari factory. Lampe purchased various 512 S spares for
this car at the Albert Obrist Christies auction at Goodwood in June 1996. The
car was next seen by the public at Concours Automobiles, Bagatelle, Paris in
September 1999 before the restoration was completed by Bob Houghton in August
1999.
Since its
completion, the car has competed at various historic motoring events around the
world, but most importantly in November 2002, after much research in their
archives, Ferrari confirmed that the car sold on 22nd June 1970 to
Ecurie Francorchamps as chassis no. 1024, was originally 1004.
On 22nd November 2011, the car was awarded its Ferrari Classiche Certificate of Authenticity, confirming the car as chassis no. 1004, engine no. 26 and gearbox no. 12. As a result of the car being restored by Bob Houghton to Spider specification with the involvement of the Ferrari factory throughout the restoration, the spider body was accepted for certification.
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