When Penske built the world's fastest Ferrari

Daytona, January 1971. It's the second round of the International Championship of Makes - the World Endurance Championship in today's terminology - and Porsche starts as favourite for the 24 Hours.

The German manufacturer has won all but one of the previous year's rounds, topped the season-opening Buenos Aires 1000Km earlier in the month, and John Wyer's crack Gulf JW Automotive team of two 4.9-litre 917Ks has no factory opposition, just an eclectic mix of privateer Ferraris. But among the assorted 512Ss and new, squarer 512M models is an immaculate blue machine that's not been seen before.

Roger Penske's team is well-known in American racing circles but has rarely taken on the Europeans, even though it won Daytona two years ago with a Lola T70 in a remarkable race of attrition. Its Ferrari is rather different to the others.

"When we came to Daytona, the European press were very scoffing about it because you could eat food on the floor of this thing," recalls David Hobbs, who shared the 'Penske-White' 512M with American racing star Mark Donohue. "It was just American spit and polish, and they were very dismissive of it."

That feeling changed when Donohue blew the Porsches away in practice with the meticulously prepared Ferrari, taking pole by 1.26 seconds from Pedro Rodriguez's 917, with apparently less effort. Donohue duly led from the start too, with Rodriguez hanging on and attacking once the duo started encountering traffic as both gradually pulled away from Jo Siffert's JWA 917. The battle raged, but the Ferrari tended to have the edge, partly thanks to Penske pitwork.

"The other thing that got everyone up in arms was the quick filler we had," adds Hobbs. "That was the first time they had seen it and they went ballistic and went to the organisers, and Penske said, 'Well it doesn't say anything that we can't do it'."

Porsche was under pressure. At least it was until the 512M hit alternator issues and lost four laps. Donohue and Hobbs charged back to third, but then Vic Elford's Martini 917 suffered a tyre failure on the banking during the night, probably due to debris, and crashed. Donohue slowed and was hit by one of the Porsche 911 backmarkers. Another hour was lost to repairs.

Fuel-feed and tyre issues then hampered the recovery and Donohue/Hobbs finished third, behind the winning Rodriguez/Jackie Oliver 917 and North American Racing Team 512S of Ronnie Bucknum and Tony Adamowicz. The 512M took the flag looking a lot less immaculate than when it had started, being partially held together by copious amounts of tape, but no one was scoffing now.

"When we came to Daytona, the European press scoffed because you could eat food on the floor of the car. It was just American spit and polish, and they were very dismissive of it."David Hobbs

"One can't help wishing that Ferrari had signed over his sportscar programme to Roger Penske in the same way that Porsche did to John Wyer," reckoned Autosport. Ferrari's 512S had failed against the Porsches in 1970 and, although the new car had outpaced the 917s on its debut at the Osterreichring before hitting trouble, the Scuderia decided to focus on its three-litre 312P for 1971, the final year that the five-litre Group 5 monsters were eligible.

That left the 512s to privateers, most of whom weren't in the same ballpark as the works JWA and Martini Porsche teams. Penske was, of course, the exception. He had attempted to buy a 917 from Porsche, but failed - for reasons neither party has ever been able to satisfactorily explain. Used-car dealer Kirk F White then provided the Ferrari for Penske to run.

Chassis 1040 had been built as a 512S Spyder and raced with no significant success by amateur Jim Adams. The team tested the car in this form and was unimpressed. It decided on a total rebuild, with Lujie Lesovsky being brought in from Holman-Moody to help. Using pictures of Ferrari's new 512M and limited parts from Maranello, the team, which included top mechanic John Woodard, created its own version, strengthening, lightening and improving things as it went. As had become standard Penske practice, the team also used a skidpad to fine-tune the chassis.

"Even the plumbing and wiring was done our way," said Donohue in his autobiography The Unfair Advantage, written with Paul Van Valkenburgh. "Our team created new body panels and remade the suspension for the car," recalls Penske, now 82. "I am not sure how different our car was from the standard 512M Ferraris but we made the changes we felt would improve the performance of the car overall for the endurance races."

A large, full-width rear wing, courtesy of Penske's Don Cox, also demonstrated how American aerodynamic thinking was still ahead of the Europeans, while Penske engine partner Traco performed similar magic on the five-litre V12. Donohue reckoned it produced 630bhp at Daytona, more than the 917s, helping to explain how it was able to outrun the 917s on the banking. The power-to-weight disadvantage the 512 had previously suffered had been eradicated.

White liked to promote the car as 'the world's fastest Ferrari' and the events of 1971 would support that claim. Wherever it went, the Penske Ferrari was a thorn in Porsche's side, and this at a time when sportscars were quicker than Formula 1 machinery on fast circuits. Following Daytona, the Penske Ferrari's next outing was the Sebring 12 Hours, but preparations didn't go well.

Although the car had a bigger rear wing, suspension geometry tweaks and an improved fuel system and electrics, the team's better V12 had blown up on the dyno and Donohue had twisted his ankle. The works Ferrari 312P was also present. Despite all that and having 'only' 580-600bhp, Donohue beat the Jacky Ickx/Mario Andretti 312P to pole by 0.82s and was 2.19s faster than the best 917! The race was harder, with Siffert having one of his better days and the agile 312P requiring fewer pitstops. Penske remained in contention until another clash, this time with Rodriguez.

"Mark is convinced that he was already past the Porsche, when Pedro deliberately moved over into him and he counts the number of impacts at three," said Pete Lyons in Autosport's report. "Pedro feels that Mark hit him when still behind, when the Porsche was committed to its line."

Whoever was at fault, the Ferrari lost 19 laps. Penske made three separate protests, but the race was lost. After the 312P's transmission failed, the Martini Porsche of Elford/Gerard Larrousse overcame the leading Alfa Romeo to win, while Donohue and Hobbs finished sixth, 17 laps down. Penske's attention then turned elsewhere - it would win the Trans-Am title with AMC, and Donohue would finish eighth in the 1971 USAC Indycar season despite missing several races - but the 512M reappeared for the team's Le Mans 24 Hours debut in June.

"It bristled with evidence of the time and trouble that had gone into preparing it," reported Autosport. "There was even a vacuum device on the brake master cylinders to draw the fluid back from the brakes during a pitstop, to pull the pistons back into the calipers and therefore make changing pads easier."

Once again, Donohue and Hobbs proved quicker than the 917Ks, but this time Penske had the fully developed long-tail 917s to deal with too. They were capable of over 240mph on the Mulsanne Straight - the Sunoco Ferrari managed 212mph - and duly qualified 1-2-3, but Donohue was fourth on the grid, just ahead of the Helmut Marko/Gijs van Lennep magnesium-chassised Martini 917K that would go on to win the race at a then-record speed. All the 917Ls hit trouble, but Penske wasn't able to capitalise.

"For some reason or another, on the Friday Roger said, 'Ferrari will give us a new engine, I want us to put it in'," says Hobbs. "We put the engine in and at about 8pm it blew up. "Would we have won it? It was the year the fastest record was set and they had a long stop even with the distance record, so we might have won it and we would have definitely been on the podium."

Wherever it went, the Penske Ferrari was a thorn in Porsche's side, at a time when sportscars were quicker than Formula 1 machinery on fast circuits

There was still time for one last race weekend for the Penske Ferrari to try to get the result it deserved. The Watkins Glen season finale was set for 24 July, the day before the Can-Am round there, and Penske entered both. The 512M showed its pace again in practice, recording 184.6mph (faster than most of the Can-Am cars) and taking pole for the 6 Hours by 0.8s.

"As so often - so heartbreakingly often - the Penskemobile looked like nothing but bad luck could catch it," said Autosport. And poor fortune did once again thwart Penske. Donohue led from the off and pulled away until the left-front steering arm broke and sent him off the road. No harm was done, but the SuperFerrari's last chance to win had gone. The Can-Am outing was somehow fitting for the car. Donohue got to the front of the Group 5 sportscar runners - inside the top 10 overall - only to break a piston...

"We knew it was the fastest five-litre car on any track besides Le Mans," wrote Donohue. "In spite of all the careful detail preparations we put into that car, pieces broke and fell off continuously."

White tried to petition the FIA to give the five-litre Group 5 cars a stay of execution, but the new world sportscar three-litre limit arrived in 1972 and Penske's 512M became obsolete. "It's probably the most iconic Ferrari 512, and the most expensive and famous, yet it won nothing," concludes Hobbs.

But Penske's 512 shows that results aren't the only things that matter, and it also introduced a legendary American team to those who hadn't been paying attention before that Daytona weekend.