Three-quarters front view of a Yellow, Ferrari 365 P in its 1966 Le Mans 24hrs configuration.
The Ferrari P was a series of Italian sports prototype racing cars produced by Ferrari during the 1960s and early 1970s. Although Enzo Ferrari resisted the move even with Cooper dominating F1, Ferrari began producing mid-engined racing cars in the early 1960s with the Dino-V6-engine Formula One Ferrari 246 P and the sport prototype SP-series. In the 1966 1000 km race on the Nürburgring, the two Brits retired prematurely after taking pole position due to clutch damage. The Ferrari didn't stand a chance against the superiority of Ford in the Le Mans 24-hour race. Enzo Ferrari also made an exception to the usual vehicle policy at the Sarthe and ceded a P3 to Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team. There, chassis 0846 was converted into the only P3 Spyder, driven by Pedro Rodríguez and Richie Ginther. However, the car failed after just 151 laps with gearbox damage. The two factory cars didn't fare much better. Mike Parkes was involved in an accident in the number 20 car he shared with Ludovico Scarfiotti. The second works car, starting number 21 and driven by Jean Guichet and Lorenzo Bandini, had an engine failure. The V12 sports car racers followed in 1963. Although these cars shared their numerical designations (based on engine displacement) with road models, they were almost entirely different. The first Ferrari mid-engine road car did not arrive until the 1967 Dino 206 GT, and it was 1971 before a Ferrari 12-cylinder engine was placed behind a road-going driver in the 365 GT4 BB.
Size: 5421px × 3449px
Location: Museum of the 24hrs of Le Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -quarters, 24hrs, 365, 1966, circuit, configuration., de, dnf, ferrari, ford, france, front, la, le, mans, museum, sarthe, view, yellow
