Joe L and His Two Ferrari's: The Story of Three Ferrari 512M's

From my onset into slot cars I never was much of a Ferrari fan. Not too sure as to why this was the case from fifty years forward, as my very first slot car in my twin and my Strombecker set was a 1958 Ferrari 250 V-12 pontoon fendered Tessa Rosa. Tim got the D-Type Jaguar, and I can perhaps more easily imagine Mike Hawthorn or Peter Collins hustling it around our track in a more spirited manner than say Luigi Musso, although a quite talented factory driver from Italy was not a household name at the time. If anything, even six year-olds into slot cars knew about the mystical Le Mans, and that both of these cars were there.

Le Mans, or the 24 heures du Mans as the French say, is the granddaddy of all endurance races and has been held annually in June since 1923. The Circuit de la Sarthe, which is a mixture of closed public roadways and dedicated racing circuits, is where all of the action takes place near the well preserved medieval capital of France's Maine Province and birthplace of England's Henry II, which of course goes back to the Norman Conquest should you be so inclined to open your English history books, assuming that you have not tossed them years ago. Commonly known as The Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, competing teams must balance speed and mechanical durability to finish the race which lasts a full twenty-four hours. Le Mans established who could among the world's automobile manufacturers, build both a fast and utterly reliable sports car that would go the distance. This of course equated sales in that motoring niche, particularly among such notables as Ford; Porsche; and Ferrari. Certainly a lot was at stake in the bid to win Le Mans.

In 1968 the rules for the Manufacturer's Championship Group 6 Prototypes changed, limiting the maximum engine capacity to three liters. Enzo Ferrari decided to follow Porsche's lead to build twenty-five examples of a five liter Group 5 car instead for homologation, and the end result would be the fastest car that the Factory had ever produced, capable of speeds in excess of 235 miles per hour. From the competition debute at Daytona in 1970, the now designated Ferrari 512S would undergo considerable modifications to make it more competitive against the Porsche 917. After Le Mans in June; a developmental team was tasked with paring one hundred pounds from the current racer and making the bodywork more efficient and aerodynamic. The resulting 512M would be competitive from the start, and this was the version that Aurora chose to model in their AFX number 1763 on a non-magnatraction chassis starting in 1972.

Joe L has chosen to build perhaps two of the more significant privately competing 512M's, with the yellow liveried number 15 Escuderia Montjuich being entered at Le Mans in 1971, driven by Nino Vaccarella and Jose Juncadella. The car placed sixth on the starting grid but retired early due to gearbox failure at lap seven. Unlike Porsche, these privately entered cars did not receive the same support as the Ferrari factory entries, and were considered as field fillers-never a candidate for a win.

The blue and yellow Roger Penske liveried Ferrari 512M is represented as the number 6 car as driven at Daytona prior to the Le Mans race and was piloted by Mark Donohue and David Hobbs in both venues. The car was extensively modified with more streamlined bodywork and extensive wiring changes, and was considered at race time to be the world's fastest Ferrari when entered for Daytona. It placed on the pole, but an overnight accident would bring the car to  a quite remarkable third place and literally held together by duct tape to finish. At Le Mans, a broken fan mounting bolt would cause the engine to overheat and die, robbing it perhaps of the stellar ending it deserved.

The third Ferrari 512M that is worth a mention here is the one entered by the North American Racing Team at Le Mans and driven by Tony Adamowicz and Sam Posey to a third place finish. N.A.R.T.'s owner, CoCo Chinetti, grew quite tired of hearing the Penske 512M touted as the world's fastest Ferrari, and took the car to Bonneville, personally setting several FIA speed records, and in the end, setting the book straight as to which car was indeed the world's fastest Ferrari. Aurora would also make a facsimile as well.

Thanks Joe L and Serge-your efforts are most appreciated in bringing historical realism to our beloved slot cars. God Bless! Tony mgbbrown