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This $11M Icon Starred in Ferrari's Perfect Racing Season, the 1972 World Championship

After getting thrashed by Ford in the sixties at the famous endurance races of Le Mans, Ferrari retaliated with a monumental machine that won absolutely everything. The legend is the famous Ferrari 312 PB. This racecar prototype gathered 160 points for the constructor’s championship of 1972, giving the Scuderia the world title with a perfect 100% win.
1972 Ferrari 312 PB 88 photos
Photo: RM Sotheby's
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History – with a big hand from Hollywood – notes that Ford built a fabulous racer, the GT40, and beat Ferrari at Le Mans, simply to satisfy Henry Ford II’s egotistical ambitions of revenge over the equally-proud Enzo Ferrari. However, the American racecar was a shooting star in the bright sky of motorsports. It came and went, and people noticed its blazing passing, turning it into fireside tales for generations.

On the other hand, reality registers a very different – and much broader – picture of track motoring. While Ford’s car was born simply out of an automobile tycoon's grudge over a strong indifference to its cubic dollars, Ferrari built its spectacular machines out of love for the piston-blasting sport.

After getting over the miserable years of Le Mans defeats, the Scuderia developed an unbeatable car. It debuted in 1972 and took the podium’s highest step at the end of all ten races it participated in. Out of the 11 events of that season, the 312 PB collected ten victories and eight second places.

This Ferrari 213 PB World Champion car is worth \$11\.6 million
Photo: RM Sotheby's
To compensate for the two races where it scored a solitary win, the abruptly performant model made a historic 1-2-3-4 finish at the end of the Austrian round (the tenth of the season). Ironically, the fast Ferrari was least performant when it raced on home turf in Italy, at Monza and Targa Florio (coincidentally, the latter race occurred precisely 51 years ago, on May 21, 1972).

Just one Ferrari 312 PB got on the podium on that occasion – but on the highest position, nonetheless – because only one car entered (and then started) the race. As for Monza, it took third place, along with the laurels of victory.

Even more ironically, the only race the splendid prototype didn’t win was the infamous French round at Le Mans. And the reason it missed the emblematic race from its otherwise impeccable record sheet is because it did not participate.

This Ferrari 213 PB World Champion car is worth \$11\.6 million
Photo: RM Sotheby's
Ferrari thought their new 3.0-liter flat-twelve was better suited for 1,000-kilometer racing (620-mile). The Florida International 12-Hours of Endurance Sebring is the sole exception. The third race of the 1972 season covered 2,167 kilometers (1,347 miles).

The 24 hours of Le Mans covered more than twice that distance – a scorching trial Ferrari didn’t want to put its new car through. At first, the team entered the cars for that race but did not make the trip to the famed French circuit.

Without that particular event, Ferrari asserted total domination in the 1972 World Championship for Makes (the official name of that year’s motoring competition). The fantastic engine was the four-wheeled hero of the Prancing Horse’s triumphant gallop.

This Ferrari 213 PB World Champion car is worth \$11\.6 million
Photo: RM Sotheby's
Derived from Formula 1, the flat-twelve offered 444 hp (450 PS) at a shrieking 10,800 RPM – with the redline even higher at 11,800 RPM. With a five-speed manual transmission fitted over the rear axle for better weight distribution, the 650-kg single-seater proved too much for its competition. A top speed of 195 mph (314 kph).

Scuderia Ferrari Works assigned six 312 PB cars for the 1972 championship for the sports prototypes. One of those, chassis 0886, made a roaring debut for Ferrari in the inaugural race, taking the pole and then the win with flying colors, in front of 80,000 volcanic Argentinians, in Buenos Aires.

The same car finished second in the third stage, at Sebring, due to a fuel pump malfunction that forced it into the pits after 80 out of the 259 total laps. After the Ferrari mechanics worked their magic, chassis 0886 returned to the race, eventually coming only two laps behind the winner (one of the other two 312 PBs entered).

This Ferrari 213 PB World Champion car is worth \$11\.6 million
Photo: RM Sotheby's
The next podium finish came on home ground, at Monza – with this already awe-inspiring machine taking the lowest step, again accompanying one of its winning teammates. Finally, at the end of May that year, the car saw its last fast-paced official Scuderia Ferrari Works action.

The Nürburgring 1,000 Kilometers Swedish driver Ronnie Peterson ignored the downpouring rain and secured the pole-position-backed lead for the next 44 laps until the checkered flag ended the German round. It would prove a decisive win, as Ferrari pocketed the championship title, thanks to this 1-2 performance from its 312 PB machines.

Following professional competition retirement, chassis 0886 was sold to several avid collectors who took great care of the precious automobile. Certified by Ferrari in 1975, the car – wearing a period-correct engine and having the original race-winning flat-twelve as a spare – just amassed €10.7 million ($11.663 million) at an RM Sotheby’s auction.
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About the author: Razvan Calin
Razvan Calin profile photo

After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads.
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