Ferrari 312T

The car was powered by the Tipo 015 flat-12 engine, producing around 510 bhp. Although it carried more fuel, oil, and water than Cosworth DFV-powered cars, its power-to-weight ratio was comparable. The engine designation "3" denoted 3-litre displacement and "12" the cylinder count.

Forghieri designed a new chassis in response to intractable handling problems with the 312B3. The 312T chassis was a semi-monocoque of tubular spaceframe reinforced with riveted aluminium panels — a departure from the full monocoque of its predecessor. Though slightly heavier, it offered comparable rigidity, was easier to adjust and repair, and accommodated bodywork with a lower frontal area to reduce drag. Suspension was substantially revised, and later versions received modifications to improve torsional rigidity.

The defining innovation was a transverse-mounted gearbox developed by Forghieri and Ferrari engineer Walter Salvarani. Positioned ahead of the rear wheels, it moved the car's centre of mass forward and lowered the polar moment of inertia. This configuration had precedent in the March 721X. The "T" in the 312T name stood for trasversale, Italian for transverse. In 1979 Ferrari briefly tested a semi-automatic version of the gearbox, hydraulically actuated by steering wheel buttons, but driver Gilles Villeneuve preferred the original manual transmission after testing at Fiorano. Ferrari revisited the semi-automatic concept a decade later in the 1989 Ferrari 640.

Development of the 312T began in 1974. The first car was completed in autumn 1974 and unveiled in Modena. Ferrari used the old 312B3 for the opening two races of 1975 before the 312T received its race debut at the South African Grand Prix. The debut was disappointing: Clay Regazzoni's car was set up incorrectly and Niki Lauda's suffered a power deficit traced to a technical fault. Subsequent testing at Fiorano confirmed the 312T was faster than the 312B3. Lauda won the non-championship International Trophy, then took four of five wins mid-season, clinching the Drivers' Championship at Monza by finishing third while Regazzoni's victory there secured Ferrari's first Constructors' Championship since 1964. Lauda added a win at the US Grand Prix to close the season.

For 1976, new aerodynamic regulations banned tall airboxes from the Spanish Grand Prix onward. Ferrari was permitted to use the 312T for the first three races; Lauda won the opening two and Regazzoni the third. Five 312T chassis were raced (018, 021, 022, 023, 024); the car's final World Championship appearance was at the 1976 United States Grand Prix West.

The 312T2 was launched at Fiorano with several modifications. NACA-shaped air intakes in the cockpit sides replaced the banned airbox, feeding each cylinder bank of the flat-12. The wheelbase stretched to 2,560 mm, 42 mm longer than the 312T. A de Dion rear suspension arrangement was trialled but abandoned in favour of a conventional setup.

The 312T2 debuted at the non-championship Brands Hatch Race of Champions in March 1976, entering World Championship competition at the Spanish Grand Prix. Lauda led the championship comfortably after three wins when he suffered a massive accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix at Nürburgring, caused by a suspected rear suspension failure. He nearly burned to death but returned to racing six weeks later. Lauda conceded the title to James Hunt by a single point, yet the 312T2 secured Ferrari's second consecutive Constructors' Championship.

The 312T2 was uprated to B-specification for 1977. Early races used two of the 1976 cars (chassis 026 and 027), with the first visible change being the addition of Fiat logos to a Ferrari F1 car for the first time. Lauda was dissatisfied with performance at the opening two rounds and led an extensive test programme in the weeks between the Brazilian and South African Grand Prix. The tests produced a new rear wing, revised bodywork, and suspension changes. Lauda won the South African race in tragic circumstances, his car damaged by debris from Tom Pryce's fatal accident.

Over the season three new chassis were built (029, 030, 031). The Goodyear tyres were increasingly optimised for the high downforce of the Lotus 78, making it harder for the Ferrari to build sufficient tyre temperatures. Despite these difficulties, the 312T2B was reliable enough to win Lauda a second Drivers' Championship — three wins for Lauda, one for Carlos Reutemann — and a third consecutive Constructors' Championship. Lauda left the team before the season ended after clinching the championship at Watkins Glen. He was replaced by Canadian Gilles Villeneuve, who struggled with the car's neutral handling style. At the final race at Mount Fuji, Villeneuve was launched over Ronnie Peterson's six-wheel Tyrrell, cleared the Armco barrier, and landed in a spectator-restricted area, killing two spectators instantly. The 312T2B was used for the first two races of 1978 before the 312T3 replaced it.

The 312T3 was introduced for Villeneuve and Reutemann at the third race of the 1978 season. It featured a completely new monocoque, revised suspension designed to work with Michelin tyres, and visibly different bodywork with a flatter top surface to improve airflow to the rear wing. The flat-12 engine was tuned to approximately 515 bhp. The pioneering Lotus 79 ground-effect car defeated all opposition that season. Reutemann won four races; Villeneuve scored his first win at his home race in Canada. Ferrari finished second in the Constructors' Championship. Reutemann departed for Lotus, replaced by Jody Scheckter.

To compete with the Lotus ground-effect cars, Forghieri designed the 312T4 for 1979, introduced at the South African Grand Prix. The car was closely based on the 312T3 and adapted for ground effects, but the width of the flat-12 engine limited the underfloor geometry, making it more comparable to the Lotus 78 than the 79. Its monocoque was made as narrow as possible to maximise ground-effect benefit. Despite the aerodynamic compromise, the 312T4 was exceptionally reliable, recording only one retirement for mechanical reasons. It won six races, three each for Villeneuve and Scheckter. Scheckter won his only Drivers' Championship, and Ferrari claimed its fourth Constructors' Championship in five seasons.

Scheckter was later given the championship-winning car as a gift after the 312T5 was ready. He ran the 312T4 at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend to mark Formula One's 60th anniversary, alongside every living World Champion except Nelson Piquet and Kimi Räikkönen, and again at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix for the fortieth anniversary of his title. The car was subsequently sold at auction in 2024.

The 312T5 was a heavily updated 312T4 introduced for 1980. The flat-12's width made it fundamentally unsuited to the aerodynamic requirements demanded by that season's competition. The car was unreliable, slow, and fell further behind as rivals developed their machines. Ferrari did not win a race for the entire season, the first such outcome since 1973, and finished tenth in the Constructors' Championship. Scheckter failed to qualify in Canada and retired from the sport at year's end with only two points. Villeneuve's best qualifying result was third for the Brazilian Grand Prix; the car's best race results were three fifth-place finishes — Scheckter at Long Beach, Villeneuve at Monaco and at Canada. The 312T5 was succeeded by the entirely new 126CK for 1981.

The six-wheeled 312T6 used four tyres at the rear on a single axle — the inverse of the Tyrrell P34, which used four smaller wheels at the front. It was tested by both Lauda and Reutemann in 1977 but never raced: it exceeded the regulations' permitted width, and proved difficult to drive. During one test session at Fiorano, Reutemann crashed the car on the 12th lap, after which it caught fire. A rear upright failure occurred on another occasion. Reutemann was unimpressed with the car.

Following the 312T6 experiment, Italian press articles appeared with photographs depicting an eight-wheeled Ferrari F1 car — four wheels at the front like the Tyrrell P34 and four at the rear like the March 2-4-0. No such car was ever built. Years later the images were revealed to be a mock-up released, unofficially, by Ferrari itself to maintain public attention.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.