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Ferrari 312B (2017)
I'd be lying if I said that
I persuaded 'il Commendatore' Ferrari. Because I think he came to the same conclusion himself. But as he was asking me questions, I said 'I think it's time to turn the page a little.' I said that at the end of '68. And he asked me what I wanted to do. It was the car during the period when Ferrari became big and it was the car that changed everything. It was a year of transition; full of vitality, full of personalities. There was an energy in the air. This sparked off changes in the sport and a renewed sense of purpose. In short, it was a very intense championship featuring many races and stars. There was Ickx returning to Ferrari. There was Rindt, the god of counter-steering. There were Pedro Rodriguez and Jackie Stewart, the world champion and Jack Brabham, a driver who seemed to hail from another time. What's the story of this one? That's the original model of the car. This is the 70? - Yes. And this would be at risk of breaking? Yes, this is not usable. You'd be well advised to make new ones. It depends on the risk you want to take. Formula 1 is risky. But no one says, 'I take a risk at that level'. It's the ignorance... - And the suspension arms... Wheels, brakes, all the parts of the four corners of the car. When you design these suspensions it happens that you get a number of cases of cars going off the track, etc... So you had the wishbones and the links bent. It was a way of acquiring experience. - Of getting experience. The 312B is part of my life. It was one of the first things I became fascinated with as a child when I first got interested in the world of racing. It was an unattainable object to me because it was driven by racing drivers and for me the racing driver was a mythological figure. As a child you go, 'It's impossible'. I'm dreaming of doing it, but that's what it is, a dream. Then, having met Mauro Forghieri, the man who created the car the feeling became something else because I told him 'Mauro, if you're in, we take the car, and we fix it.' It's been a surprise to me because I told him, 'I'm very happy to do it'. In that moment I saw the possibility for the dream to become something else, to turn into a project. What Paolo had offered me was a bit like a rebirth. I'd come back into the world of Formula 1 from a secondary entrance. But it was like getting back into battle. The car was stripped of all its parts. The restoration of the 31251 was without doubt a very complex thing. It's all used up, though, I see. I can say that the 312B1 is still one of the few Ferraris from back then that was exclusively the product of a pencil and a drawing board. So I used my recollections of the car my recollections of the engine... One of the most beautiful things when restoring a historic car that used to be so successful is to see a machine go back on the very path that started it all those years ago. Paolo has had a decent racing career. So we set up a programme for him to do a few test runs because he's thinking of returning to race in the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco. My hope for Monaco is to drive a car... to experience those feelings in a Ferrari let the engine roar through those streets. I met Stefano at the Paris-Dakar Rally in 2001. I had decided to do it together with two friends in a truck. Ten days into the race our front axle broke and the truck was sinking into the sand. Stefano passed by and gave us a tow. A year later, we fixed up the same truck and I went with him, and this time I finished the Paris-Dakar Rally. He's an old-fashioned mechanic. He's using old-style methods, let's say. With Stefano we gradually established what needed doing. We started looking for the structures that would help us achieve what we wanted to build. So how did you get on with the pressure ratio? How did I...? - We have measured it! Because for example I can tell you that... Here are some edges, let us... A little more? - Yes. We already smoothed them, but we can do better. Because it gets hot. We need to check that the engine fits in those according to the findings of 30... How many years? I do not remember. 45, 46 years ago. We should already have tested the engine back in early December. We are a month behind due to a number of things. Enzo Ferrari had always been a fan of the 12-cylinder. There is a separate legend surrounding Forghieri parallel to that of Ferrari. I think he was the perfect interpreter of Ferrari's philosophy. I would say that with engineer Forghieri in Germany we were able to start a car that was a 12-cylinder as a 10-cylinder. We closed the holes where the oil pressure was higher for those who know something of mechanics, with toothpicks. On the cup below the engine that was cracked and half opened we put some Sellotape, some cardboard to keep the oil inside. We did about a thousand metres at the start but we managed to secure a signing. Forghieri was someone with a thousand ideas, a thousand solutions when something happened he had a thousand ideas then afterwards he would realise that maybe another idea would have been better but that's the benefit of hindsight... Mauro lived through very dangerous times. There was the danger of fire. The machines were not as robust as they are today. Yet the next day they had to race again. It took along time to rebuild those cars in the correct way. They were not built using pre-existing equipment like moulds and things like that. You could say they were built using a tape measure and hammer. Good morning, Ilaria! - Hello, how are you? You always come over when it's raining. I left with the snow and you with the rain. I am more satisfied now than when I had my hands on it. When you called me and you made me feel the vibration, I was moved. And you can feel it, you know? The engine that vibrates underneath seems alive. There is a wire marked red. - Yes. I think that it indicates the signal. Let's ask. Yes, to make sure. But it's on the diagram. Is it on the diagram? - It should be on there. Let me take a look. If we have doubts... It's on there, right? The signal... - There's the earth. It is indeed the signal. Wait, let's try something. Let's start the rev counter so we can see if... Do the power curve in this situation. The less it increases, the better the engine. Check if the rev counter says 10. Davide, don't get upset, it's him who's increasing the power. Yes, don't worry. Let's do 10 and 5 and see what happens. It's kicking, eh? - Oh, yeah! 11 and 3,11 and 4. Let's put down the curve at this point. Should we put it on here? Ferrari: a complete car. Chassis, engine, piece by piece, with an extraordinary craftsmanship an extraordinary dexterity, an accuracy... For many years there was a rivalry between Ferrari and the English teams, the English mechanics. There are some cars that leave their mark on a specific time. This one certainly did. Also in terms of form in terms of design and colour. A harmony, a grace. When I travel back to my childhood... it was a period where the missile, the 'rocket' as it was called fascinated children. And this car here had that magic of representing a missile. In those years, in the 70s the fact that men had landed on the moon was an extraordinary thing. Many engineers in the racing world had a desire or passion for aeronautics. Aeronautics may even have been their childhood dream. The things that I drew most often were aeroplanes. Equally, the engines that attracted me the most were aeronautical turbines. The flat 180 V engine originated with Franklin who built private planes in America. And it was Franklin who asked us to build an engine that could be inserted in the wing. We would not have built it so flat for Formula 1. We used the modern techniques that came from aeronautics. Engines like that hadn't existed before. It doesn't fit, damn. I wash my hands, and have a look as well, come on. There must be one that goes with the wire. This one's been burnt by the exhaust. Alright. The driver who feeds on solitude needs an ally. An ally outside of the track. You need reassurance that someone is there for you. Stefano is the most important person there is. The driver must have confidence. You do something quickly because the engineer is telling you that you're three minutes behind and only got three laps left. All of this in a hurry. But the driver must trust you. And in order to earn the driver's trust you can never, never get it wrong. The engine was inside the car. I think it gets hot in the back. They say that even Regazzoni felt hot. Of course, the water is at 212 F! When you look at the design it is extreme because in the end they used up all the space around the man that is, they surrounded the man with fuel tanks, engines, mechanics. Mauro told me that they put the fuel inside and then used the compressor to send it to the tanks under pressure to fill that one and this one over here and finally closed them with the fuel coming out. Otherwise it would spill. - Yes. Damn! It took so much fuel! Who knows how the driver must have felt! I think Paolo Barilla wants to look after this car a bit like his father, who bought works of art and put them in a place for everyone to see. Of those cars they only made four original ones. They were very demanding cars for us as well as Ferrari back then. Last time I said I would be a lot happier if the gearbox was closed. The gearbox... it's closed now. I cut some sections... and after that... we'll wait for the flywheel and put it in the car. If there weren't all these drawbacks if the input shaft was fine, the flywheel... I would have already finished the car. Now I am no longer calm otherwise I wouldn't have been here at Easter or yesterday. What do you say? Because the race is a risk for the car. Oh well, it was built to race, yes,but" That's that! We brought it back as it was originally, all bolts restored, the washers... I could have put it in all new. The 312B, I've seen it come into the world. Because it came to us to what was then called the Chassis Department the chassis, the body arrived. What was then called the chassis, now the body. We mounted the four groups of suspensions and there was work to be done. I experienced the first time it was put on the track. The sound of the exhaust was pure music. Don't lose that cap! I just want to see if it fits! Paolo's first go-kart was a gift from my mother with which he eventually entered his first few races. Then he bought another one with which he won the Italian Go-Kart Championship in 1976 and then in '79 he moved from go-karts to Formula Fiat Abarth then Formula 3. He had an almost perfect race. Together with his partner Klaus Ludwig they won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was a glorious victory. Le Mans especially then was considered a historic race of global significance. It was one of the most important events of the year. A racing driver is always a racing driver. And when he lowers the visor, he acts like a racing driver. There will be ten and ten. There's a lot of people I don't know. Let's start it up and do some quick fixes. We need to do some laps. First we need to get it started. Now even the fuel pump... We detach this. - Yes. However, with both of them up. - Yes. On the first lap, I pull this one down. No, you need to do it as you're going out. - As I'm leaving... Because the problem is that if you go down to the minimum without the fuel pump, it switches itself off. He wants us to hear it. He did it for me and for you. So, you're going to put in the return springs and use them in the same way as the others. I think it's the pedal that stays down. We will take a look at it. Can I tell you something? You have the return springs that don't work when you close the throttle. I think it's the pedal that stays down. No-one has ever used the return springs in that position. No-one. Shall I go? - Go. Connect the pump. Four? - OK, go. Does it stay accelerated? Then I'll attach the return springs... Now we have a leak, get out. However, compared to before from the little I can tell it sounds much improved by ear but it's a different thing to be inside the car. Yes, no, it's that you can't drive it. Let's take off the starter. I don't know if we can get another lap in as the track was booked until 1pm. We have it until... - 1pm is now. Stefano must take a look at the leak. Davide? - Tell me. Come here so you can see it better. We have to take the gearbox off. So, Stefano, how is it going? - The entire car has to be dismantled. Two laps to hear if the accelerator is OK? No, it is not worth it. I took off the starter and a glassful of oil came out. No, we might burn the engine, basically. Let's dismantle the car. - Alright. When you assemble a racing car and put it on the street it's not a given that it'll all go fine. There's no guarantee. You know if we had two years, the oil seal would not bother me, but we have two weeks. The first half of the championship is animated by the rivalry between the Ferrari of Ickx and the Lotus of Rindt. On the difficult Monte Carlo circuit it is Jochen Rindt who gets the victory. At the Belgian Grand Prix, Ickx must leave the place to Rodriguez and in the Netherlands Rindt is again first. But there is great news on the horizon for Ferrari. A young talent of motor sports is taking his first steps in the paddock. Clay became Formula 2 European champion using a car built in Bologna by the Pederzani brothers. What in your opinion, Mr Pederzani, is the future for Clay Regazzoni? I think he has all the qualities to become one of the best drivers in the world. Enzo Ferrari liked Clay very much because he reminded him of drivers that he had loved. Regazzoni is a man who speaks little who has a nice smile and who is above all not a piantagrane that is to say he doesn't cause problems. To have a man who was supportive towards the mechanics and drank Lambrusco. He was almost Italian because he was a Swiss from Canton Ticino who spoke Italian with a natural congeniality. Looking back at your life, would you say you're satisfied? Are you happy, have you, in short, reached your goal and your ideals? I never had the ambition to get into Formula 1. Of course today I'm really happy and I must say that I am doing pretty well. Regazzoni arrived and he was relatively unknown. He immediately showed himself to be fast and in tune with the atmosphere of that particular Ferrari. I think the best drivers of today are Rindt then there is Brabham always with the first ones, Stewart... At the next roundabout, take the third exit. Stefano! You can't give it a telling-off like that! You are right. - Because the pistons will go to hell. The engine can't keep on running, give it a little more fuel. But he must have fuel, not him. It's not a solution. Every time you use it the piston could seize up. Do you know him? - Him? No! Did he stop on the circuit? The battery. When I stopped, it turned off immediately. But the engine can't keep running, can't you see, Jesus Christ! It is a 12-cylinder. That one is an 8-cylinder and keeps running on its own without a problem! This one doesn't run and neither will it start. OK, is it turned off? Anyway, a Formula 1 engine needs to last! The engine isn't right. It sounds wrong. We must ensure that the pedal doesn't go back. Turn it off. - And it remains accelerated. Let's see if changing speed resets it so we have an idea if not, we must try... Now go ahead, give it a try... - Let's do a trial run. Now I put it back as before. If it seems OK, let it do a few laps so we get an idea about the car. If it stays accelerated, I come back in. Yes, because we put it as it was before. Can I go? - Go! Maybe there's a problem with the mechanical pump or with the valve. - Not with both, no. The valve. - The valve because there is some dirt or something. But if he does five laps, we can understand what's wrong with the car. We can talk about it... - Yes. You can take a look... How is the car handling the track? It has a constant understeer. I fear that rolls a bit on the rear which makes me want to harden the rear bar a little. Wait, this'll make you laugh. I came with this. Yes. I won't tell you the racket I hear, but they forced me to put it in. Why? - I got this one deaf ear. Then we used to work like now. - Sure! No ear protectors, nothing. In acceleration it goes down and when I let go, the pressure goes back up. There is almost definitely something wrong with the carburation. I don't understand why. Someone must have made an imperfect carburation. They were supposed to try this thing, but they didn't. Why doesn't this pump push? You do everything you can to do your best and you realise that it's impossible. We should have thought about it. I blame myself. I can see that this system doesn't work. Because if he says... - Davide? If he says that the electric petrol pump shoots like this... I can't hold it with the finger. - ... not even making one bar! Excuse me... - Tell me, Mauro. Can you see how it's flat? This is one of the reasons why the accelerator keeps blocking. I don't think so. It's a sheath made out of steel, it can't be crushed. It's the first time I've seen it done in this manner in this car. Never seen it done like this in all my life. OK, but this here... - It has a seat that... Look, this is flat. Mauro, even pliers can't crush the sheath. Excuse me, try to open the accelerator if you can. It gets stuck. - Well then, what can you tell me? No, Mauro... - You have to put it underneath! As soon as I let go, it turns off! What happened? There is a big problem. That carburation problem, the accelerator that did not go the fuel system that did not work has taken out a valve. The car does not move anymore. The problem is that we don't have time. We have less than 20 days. It's pointless for him to take the cam, just send back the engine. He must do two cams, he already knows what I mean. We have to pull it out of the car and send it to Novara. There's not much time. The car does not move anymore. Now you're telling me that you haven't done those things. You did not check valve clearance. I told you ten times. Excuse me, I just wanted to say that at Paul Ricard, we ran out of time. We went against the piston, that's for sure. We are up to our neck in it. Yes, I'd even say, we are in deep shit. So, I won't say anything anymore because we would only lose time. I realised that I can't know what happened. Let's not talk about it anymore. Then, you have to mount the engine now. 1:17. Can you tell me if you have oversteer? Huh? - Do you have any oversteer? No, there is... With stiffer springs you have the impression that it is easier to drive. I have to go to the office. Stefano, I will send you everything he tells me in the car even while Paolo is driving. But he said our work there hasn't solved the problem yet. Gaetano, look, first and last. So if it rains we have to loosen the shock absorbers in extension front and back. It won't rain. Did you race with this car many times? Yes, because cars back then lasted a long time. We made many changes. He, however, has completely rebuilt the car because he had to remove all the pumps. He is one of the original drivers of the car. Do you know what he'll make you do? He'll make you drive! He'll put a helmet on you. Those times are gone. All we want is to do well, by which I mean, get to race. Look, Derek Bell... No, but Stefano now says that we must be very careful because he is starting to have other ideas. This is the original, sister to the other in case you need some spares. It took him eight months to build it. Now is the time for the Series F cars. The F1 cars that marked the period 1966 to 1972. They already got down on the track. For them the reference time is that of Katsuaki Kubota already a highlight in the previous session in the other series here with the Lotus 72, 1971. The weather is on the drivers' side this morning but as we know the meteorological conditions here in Monaco are often unpredictable. After only three laps, qualifying sees Katsuaki Kubota in the lead followed by Stuart Hall and in third place the Ferrari 312B driven by Paolo Barilla. Until now their timings are 1:36 for Kubota's Lotus 1:40 for Hall and 1:41 for Paolo Barilla. And although these are only the first laps of qualifying the drivers are already pushing themselves to the limit to earn the top spots on the grid for tomorrow's race. Who had problems? The Lotus went straight at the 'Tabac corner.' He was the one who was driving fastest. He is Japanese, from Kakanui. Right now you're just five seconds slower than the best. But the car is fine if I remove that when I'm going fast, because it gives me... Cars re-enter the track after a short stop put in place after an accident by Katsuaki Kubota whose racing chances are compromised. Let's see how the other drivers will be able to benefit from the exclusion of the one Who so far proved to be the fastest driver on the track. Remember that this is one of two qualifying sessions today. Let's now see the lap of Paolo Barilla with his 312B. If he improves on his time, he will take pole position. Now the Ferrari is passing the chicane and driving towards the Swimming Pool section. His lap time doesn't seem to have improved after the short pit stop. It could be better. This completes the first of the qualifying sessions for Series F. In first position Stuart Hall, then Smith-Hilliards Surtees followed by Dayton's Brabham, Kubota fourth and Paolo Barilla in tenth position. We'll see if the former Formula 1 driver improves his time and takes the pole in the afternoon session. When they suspend the session and you are there at the pits the pump heats up. Even if you keep the electric pump on, it does not load fuel anymore. We must solve the pump problem, otherwise the engine doesn't work. But the pump hasn't got a problem if he keeps the electric pump on. So if you leave the battery you let the electric pump go and the pump cools down. It has always been like this, it never had this problem! We are having some problems. We are missing 4cm to the roll-bar. But we can't add it, we have to saw it from the car. Are you kidding me? If I were Paolo, I wouldn't race. It's raining, guys! It's raining! Qualifying might start again in a few minutes. They won't make it, it takes two or three hours of work. I won't get ready. Finish... The second and final qualifying session is about to begin for Series F that we remember includes Formula 1 cars dating from the period 1966 to 1972. Notably absent from this session are Katsuaki Kubota's Lotus 72 and the Ferrari 312B of Paolo Barilla. Given the sudden weather change, cars are equipped with rain tyres and it will be difficult for the drivers to improve on their earlier times. But let's see if this final qualifying session will produce unexpected results. So the second round of qualifying came to an end leaving the earlier results virtually intact. Finished? Paolo has retired. No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry too, especially for you, Paolo. The greatest disappointment is that the project remains unfinished. We had all these hopes, all this work this joint effort made by lots of people and I cannot honour it. I was sorry for everyone involved, especially those people who worked on it. For me personally I lived it instead as a great privilege because to bring the Ferrari to Monaco to race it, is an extraordinary thing. Because of something stupid, we missed out on our dream. It bothered me that it was a stupid thing. It really did! And also the way that everything happened in a way to get us there to the point where we could not do anything else. You know, you are disappointed for the two years of work for the little thing here you say... damn! Two pumps broke within just a few road tests. This part here took us 20 days to make. The nice thing was that at the end of the race in front of the tribunes by the Swimming Pool section everyone applauded the car! That leaves you with a sense that what you are doing... You always doubt if you're doing something important if you're only doing it for yourself, being selfish but if someone can really appreciate it then you think it was the right thing to do, because this car can be a beautiful thing for anyone who sees it, lives or feels it. What happened wasn't important. A Ferrari must express itself. It must express itself on the track. And a car can express itself only at 100% of its possibilities. For us it means pushing it to the limit in order to make it live as it once lived. In the second half of the season Ferrari and Lotus continue to battle until the last turn making the tyres screech on the asphalt, wheel to wheel. But despite Ickx managing to reach the podium more often it is Rindt who wins two more races, one after the other. And it is in England that Regazzoni manages to fully earn Enzo Ferrari's trust and his place in the team. In Hockenheim, just as the flag is lowered, Rindt ends up in the field but it only takes him one lap to regain the second place behind Ickx. It is again Rindt who crosses the finish line first beating Ickx by only 7/10 of a second. Rindt dominated the middle part of the season and won four races in a row. There was not that perception of being able to catch up a guy and a car like that, it looked like a closed championship. But Ferrari had not yet shown to be able to keep that pace there. Just before the long awaited Grand Prix of Italy something incredible happens. From the beginning, this is Ferrari's day. Regazzoni dominates on the first lap but then Ickx overtakes him and takes control. The all-Italian temperament of engineer Mauro Forghieri is an explosive mix. The triumph is all Ferrari's. With Ickx and Regazzoni recording the best lap in the same time. Then the Ferrari had an extraordinary comeback with a first Ferrari double-win in Austria which was a bit... Austria has always been an Italian appetizer. The Monza Grand Prix is a roulette because it takes place on a high-speed circuit. I think our drivers know what they have to do. They must help each other and try to reach the last lap. As close to first position as possible. Jochen Rindt, who is almost the world champion only needs a few points with four races left to go in order to become 1970s world champion. Monza 1970, I was twelve. I had two favourite drivers. Rindt and Jackie Ickx, fighting in that year. The feeling for everyone was that Rindt had already closed the scores because he was in great shape. The image was that of a driver and a car that were unreachable. There was a suspicion that it was a dangerous car. I remember that it was the first time there was an invasion of the track. And it was an incredible victory for us. The public considered Clay Italian. The image of 312B and the image of Monza have always been one. For that day, for that victory. That celebration remains in history. So it was a perfect day. It was one of the most beautiful racing periods of my life. |
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