1967 Ferrari 312 Chassis 0007
After the smaller 1.5-liter Grand Prix cars of 1961–’65, the return to a larger engine size was unanimously welcomed. The smaller cars had been much better than anyone thought they would be, but a “return to power” was thought to be good for motor racing. Ferrari expected they would do well in the new formula, as they already had a good 3-liter sports car engine to develop for F1 racing. However, the promise was not realized for many years. In the coming years, Ferrari built some beautiful cars but they struggled to beat such odd engines as Maserati, Weslake, Honda, BRM, Repco and ultimately Cosworth.
1966—The 3-liter Formula
The first real test for the 3-liter cars came at Siracusa in early May, although this was not a championship round. Ferrari sent a new 312 (0010) for Surtees and an older 158 with an even older 246 engine for Bandini. Surtees and Bandini finished 1st and 2nd, which made Ferrari look good, though this was to prove an inaccurate indication of how the rest of the season would progress. Chassis 0010 had a basic steel tube space frame construction with some stress-bearing panels, as in the 1.5-liter car, and the same double-wishbone suspension with coil springs. The 3.0-liter engine had twin overhead camshafts, one plug and two valves per cylinder, with the inlet valves in the center of the “V” and exhaust valves placed laterally. At the International Trophy at Silverstone, Jack Brabham’s Brabham-Repco took pole position from Surtees (0010), with Rindt’s Cooper on the front row with Mike Spence in the Lotus 33-BRM. Brabham won by eight seconds from Surtees, while Jo Bonnier dragged another Cooper-Maserati into 3rd. Even though the Surtees car (0010) had the differential housing break at Monaco in the first championship race of 1966, and even though Clark was on pole with the Lotus 33-Climax, Ferrari was still certain they would win the championship. However, both teams were surprised when Stewart’s BRM won that year’s Monaco Grand Prix.
