In the 60’s there was already a rollercoaster in Team Ferrari, both in the boardroom and in the Formula 1. Ferrari had been bought out by Fiat and the British teams like Brabham, Lotus and McLaren as well as the French Matra regularly were better than the red Ferrari.
At the end of the 1968 season, chief engineer Mauro Forghieri walked away from the F1 team with the blessing of Enzo Ferrari. He wanted to create a Research and Development department near the Ferrari factory. He stayed in close contact with Enzo. The reason was obvious. The Ferrari V12 was not strong anymore, the 1969 season became a disaster, their top driver Chris Amon would leave the team and Fiat owned 50% of the shares.
Together with six colleagues, he constructed a new engine: the flat 12 cylinder engine, called “boxer”. This was a beautiful piece of architecture, directly derived from the V12 and the strong 2L engine that dominated the European hill Climb championship in the Ferrari 212E ( Peter Schetty). The engine delivered 450 bhp at 11.000 t and had 4 valves per cylinder. The engine would be upgraded during the 1970 season.
In this period there was a new revolution in the F1 cars: the transition from a single radiator, mounted in the front nose, to the two radiators mounted on each side of the cockpit. This reduced the frontal area and also improved the handling of the car, because the weight was concentrated around the car in the center of gravity. Also the 312 B2, was an traditional car and has a single radiator mounted in the front nose.
The light and compact engine had a massive influence on the centre of gravity of any future F1 Ferrari. So it was easy to come up with a real star : the Ferrari 312B, still a very beautiful F1 car. The car featured in-board suspension geometry and a shorter wheelbase.
In the team came again Jacky Ickx. He was joined by Ignazio Giunti and Clay Regazzoni. In 1970, the Ferrari 312B came 2nd in both the drivers’ and constructors’, only behind the revolutionary Lotus Type 72. In total 4 races were won, but they just missed the title !
For the 1971 season, the team came up with a new chassis, a new suspension geometry: the 312B2. Jacky Ickx only won the Dutch GP. Ferrari lost a potentially huge number of points in 1971 due to retirements and a car that was not adapted to the new Firestone tyres and slipped to 3rd in the championship. For 1972, the B2 had a revised suspension again. Only Jacky Ickx won the F1 race in Germany and was three more times on the podium. Ferrari was now fourth in the championship.
And again some changes in the team. Peter Schetty became the sporting director and Alessandro Colombo was the Fiat representative in the F1 team. Mauro Forghieri was forced to change and rethink everything in order to keep Fiat satisfied.
Remember in 1972 the Ferrari 312 P, dominated the Sport World Championship, with nine victories in ten championship races. This car was engined from the same 12 cylinders that powered the 312 B2 F1 car, but with less horse power. Mauro Forgieri saw that the 312P had a better handling and was more stable than the F1 car. He used the windtunnel at Stutgart University for more aerodynamic studies. With these data he designed a careened single-seater with an aerodynamics body that concurs to obtain the maximum downforce.
So, on the 15th of august 1972 he came up with a revolutionary car: the Ferrari 312B3. The 312 B3 comes introduced to the specialist press in 15th August 1972, and at the event, was present the entire F1 staff : Alessandro Colombo and its collaborators Calliri, Rocchi, Schetty and the driver Regazzoni and Merzario.
The car had a very short wheelbase, 2230 cm, a bit inspired on the Lotus 72. The centre of gravity was very low and located in between the front and rear axl in order to create maximum downforce. The short wheelbase and wide wheeltrack of the B3 would have given the car an agile handling characteristic, perfect for twisty tracks as well as riding bumps and curbs.
The car featured a very large nose with two large NACA- ducts which feed air inside the car, through past the suspension arms and radiator intakes, then out the side of the car, creating a massive venturi and create a large surface underneath to help the downforce.
The fuel cell was created behind the drive. All this was possible, because he used the concept of two watercoolers in the sides of the car next to the diver, as already seen in a Lotus. This had two key advantages; firstly, it brought the mass of the car closer to the centre, improving handling dynamics, and also, it meant a full sized wing could be mounted to the front of the car without impeding the air going to the radiators. It looked like he invented a sort of central fin, that you see in the endurance car from today. Anyway, this car has everything that you find in a modern F1 car!
The chassis was a steel tubular frame reinforced and hardened with aluminium panel and the engine was mounted in a semi stressed configuration.
The front suspensions system was formed from two overlapped triangles, a long advanced balance arm connected to vertical attachments inside the body, and an anti–roll bar. The rear suspensions, adopt an turned upside down triangle inferior, spring and shock absorbers that are mounted in an inclined position, anti–roll bar and a unique longitudinal control arm.
The car used four ventilated disc brakes, with Lockeed double-piston brake calipers and Ferodo pads. The front discs were mounted at the wheels and the rear are mounted inboard near the differential.
The ‘spazzaneve’ wheels were Campagnolo in magnesium. The front dimensions: 10 x 13″, the rear 17 x13″. The front tire measure are 9.20/20/13″ and the rear 14.0/26.0/x13″.
The car weight: 540 kg.
Wheelbase: 2330 mm
Front wide track: 1527 mm
Rear wide track 1580 mm
Arturo Merzario, Clay Regazzoni and Jacky Ickx did further testing at Fiorano, at Misano and appeared at Monza at the end of August. They found the car very difficult to drive especially in the tight corners. The short wheelbase forced the driver to continuous corrections of trajectory also on a rectilinear track.
In Misano, the car was equipped with a new system of rear suspensions already tested and mounted on the312 B2. During that tests the car had some other obvious modifications, like a new wheelbase of 2380 mm, the adoption of new oil radiators and the enormous rear wing.
The car was offically presented September 10th at the GP at Monza. Because of the large nose, the journalists gave it the nickname “Spazzaneve” (or snowplough). The international press wrote: "It was a pity that the 31 2B3 itself was not at the same level as its engine."
Ferrari was under such pressure that it entered the car for the race. However, it was withdrawn at the last minute apperently due to complaints from the mechanics, who claimed that its atypical shape would take more than eight hours to change the engine if necessary.
A few weeks later, the Spazzaneve project was shelved. Sadly, the Spazzaneve would never get the chance to show its potential. Fiat and Ferrari decided to move Forghieri again from the main design team to his experimental department and he was replaced by Sandro Colombo. However, he decided to use the B3 base for 1973, but with a more conservative appearance and a monocoque manufactured in England by TC Prototypes.
That car did not give the Ferrrari team the expected results. The Scuderia even did not partipated in the Dutch and German GP and Jacky Ickx quitted the team during the season.
Forghieri returned to team management, kindly asked by Fiat, in 1974. He dusted off the plans for the 312 B3 Spazzaneve, adopted some of the concepts he had applied to it, and created the legendary T series and opened the door to a world champion title.
"The Spazzaneve was a very important car for me and for Ferrari. But it was always meant to be an experimental car. For me, it was a basis for studying aerodynamics. It represented a major change in my mind," Forghieri later confessed about his creation.
Ferrari's experimental vehicles are usually left in a corner of the factory to catch dust, but the 'Spazzaneve' was sold to a customer. It changed hands two times more before being offered in the 2002 Bonham's The Ferrari Sale in Gstaad Switzerland. The car's current owner has an a keen interest in the more unusual Formula 1 racers, which is obvious as the Spazzaneve is a regular vistor at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix.
