Review: Ferrari 330 P4 & 330 P3/4 - 1967 World Sportscar Championship
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BACKGROUND
The 1967 World Sportscar Championship was anticipated to be one of the most competitive on record with new Group 6 Prototypes in the pipeline from Ferrari, Ford, Chaparral and Lola. The Group 6 cars would contest an eight-round International Championship for Sports Prototypes where a manufacturers’ best five results counted towards its final points tally.
Having dominated at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans in 1966, Ford were known to have a next generation GT40 in development: the Mk4. Based around an all new chassis and body developed in the US, the Mk4 would be powered by a further enhanced version of Ford’s dependable 7-litre V8.
In addition, the Mk4 would be supported by a B version of the GT40 Mk2 that had performed so well the previous year. Like in 1966, Ford’s primary focus was on the races at Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans.
Another US manufacturer taking the fight to Ferrari in 1967 was Jim Hall’s General Motors-backed Chaparral outfit which would have the state-of-art Chevrolet-powered 2F at its disposal.
From England, Lola’s highly anticipated T70 Mk3 GT was set to arrive in early spring.
As for Ferrari, the new works-only 330 P4 would be supported by what was dubbed the P3/4: a single P3 which had been uprated to more-or-less full P4 trim. To complement these factory run cars, Ferrari’s US, British, Swiss and Belgian distributor teams were supplied with a new simpler-to-prepare model known as the 412 P.
1967 DAYTONA 24 HOURS
Other than Ferrari, only Chaparral had their latest Group 6 car ready in time for the ‘67 season opener: the Daytona 24 Hours which kicked off on February 5th. The GM-backed team arrived with the all new and extremely modern-looking 2F which featured an automatic gearbox and huge driver-adjustable rear spoiler. To counter, despite the absence of any new models at this stage, Ford had no less than six further refined Mk2 GT40s on hand.
Scuderia Ferrari arrived at Daytona extremely well-prepared having undertaken a week-long test the prior December. The Italian outfit arrived in Florida with a two-car entry: a P4 for Mike Parkes / Ludovico Scarfiotti (chassis 0856) and the P3/4 Spyder for Lorenzo Bandini / Chris Amon (0846). Also representing Ferrari were two cars from NART (a 412 P and an old 365 P2) plus single entries from Ecurie Francorchamps (412 P) and David Piper (365 P2/3).
Qualifying saw the Mk2 GT40 of A.J. Foyt / Dan Gurney on pole followed by the Chaparral of Phil Hill / Mike Spence. Best of the Ferraris was the NART 412 P of Pedro Rodriguez / Jean Guichet in third. Next up was the works P3/4 Spyder of Bandini / Amon which, like the sixth place-starting P4 of Parkes / Scarfiotti, had been content to cruise around safe in the knowledge of their true pace after the earlier test session. Between the works Ferraris was the Mk2 GT40 of Mario Andretti / Richie Ginther.
The early stages of the race saw Phil Hill build a substantial lead for Chaparral followed by Andretti’s Mk2 GT40 and the sister car of Foyt which was battling with Bandini’s P4 and Rodriguez in his 412 P.
Ford’s challenge began to disintegrate during the second hour, by the end of which Spence (now in the Chaparral) led the second placed Francorchamps 412 P of Mairesse by almost 90 seconds. Meanwhile, the works Ferraris of Amon / Bandini and Parkes / Scarfiotti were circulating at a set pace in third and fourth.
The Scuderia team cars went on to inherit the lead at the end of the third hour when Phil Hill (back in the Chaparral) crashed. More Fords continued to fall by the wayside and, at one quarter distance, Ferrari held the top four positions.
Thereafter, the Ferraris ran effortlessly through the night as Ford’s problems worsened.
At 2:30am, Parkes brought the P4 into the pits where a wheel cylinder was found to have seized. Scarfiotti then took over, only to come in the following lap having suffered a mild coming together with another car. However, with little apparent damage he rejoined in second place behind the Bandini / Amon P3/4 Spyder.
With six hours to go, the works Ferraris were still running as strong as ever. Thereafter, they began to take it easy and ultimately crossed the line in formation finish with Bandini / Amon taking victory in the P3/4 Spyder by three laps from Parkes / Scarfiotti in the P4. Thanks to Rodriguez / Guichet (who were a further 26 laps back in the NART 412 P), Ferrari scored a famous clean sweep of the podium positions.
1967 SEBRING 12 HOURS
Ferrari skipped the Sebring 12 Hours eight weeks later where Ford debuted both the Mk4 GT40 and the its updated Mk2B. Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren gave the solitary Mk4 in attendance a debut victory while A.J. Foyt and Lloyd Ruby bagged the runner up spot in a Mk2B. Both Chaparrals retired.
1967 LE MANS TEST
At the annual Le Mans Test, which for 1967 took place over the weekend of April 8th and 9th, another Ford-based Group 6 challenger unexpectedly emerged in the shape of the Mirage M1.
The Gulf Oil-backed Mirage had been developed by John Wyer Automotive Engineering (which had taken over the Ford Advanced Vehicles operation in Slough, England) as a super lightweight and aerodynamically superior iteration of the Group 4 GT40s that Wyer’s operation ran alongside. However, the team’s Group 4 application was thrown out and the M1 was instead forced to run in the Group 6 Prototype class for the rest of the season.
After a dry and cold Saturday, wet weather on Sunday prevented any faster times being set.
Driving the Daytona-winning P3/4 Spyder (0846), Lorenzo Bandini set a new lap record while the P4 that finished as runner up in Florida (0856) went second quickest in the hands of Mike Parkes.
Next fastest was the Aston Martin-powered works Lola T70 Mk3 GT driven by John Surtees. Then came the first of the Fords, a Mk2 piloted by Mark Donohue, while the Mk4 posted fifth fastest time with Bruce McLaren at the wheel. Sixth best time was set by Richard Attwood in his Mirage M1.
1967 MONZA 1000KM
With no works Fords in attendance at the Monza 1000km on April 25th, Ferrari’s opposition in the Group 6 class came from the solitary Chaparral 2F and a brace of the Mirage M1s which were making their race debut having first appeared at the Le Mans Test two weeks prior.
Scuderia Ferrari arrived with three works cars: the existing P4 (0856) for Lorenzo Bandini / Chris Amon, a brand new car (0858) for Mike Parkes / Ludovico Scarfiotti and an under 2-litre Group 6 class Dino 206 S (for Jonathan Williams / Gunther Klass).
Pole position went to the Mike Spence / Phil Hill Chaparral 2F which posted a time three tenths faster than the old P4 of Bandini / Amon. Parkes / Vaccarella lined up third in the sister car. Fourth on the grid was the NART 412 P of Pedro Rodriguez / Jean Guichet followed by the Mirages of Jacky Ickx / Alan Rees and David Piper / Dick Thompson (fifth and sixth). The new Scuderia Filipinetti Ferrari 412 P of Nino Vaccarella / Herbert Muller qualified seventh.
The race start saw Bandini’s P4 streak into an early lead ahead of Spence’s Chaparral with Parkes in the other P4 third, Rodriguez in the NART 412 P just behind and the two Mirages also in close pursuit. The opening hour saw Bandini and Spence continue to battle hard with Parkes just behind in the sister P4.
However, after 58 minutes, Spence was forced to pit where it was found a universal joint was breaking up. Having returned to the track for an exploratory lap, the Chaparral played no further part in proceedings.
By this time, the Ickx / Rees Mirage had also retired (with ignition trouble) and soon afterwards the second M1 (of Piper / Thompson) found itself in trouble although this M1 was ultimately able to continue and finished the race, albeit well down the order.
With little in the way of opposition remaining and 80% of the race still to run, the P4s just needed a trouble-free race to bag Ferrari its second win of the season.
Bandini / Amon ultimately took the win, finishing a little over three minutes clear of the Parkes / Scarfiotti sister car in second. Third place went to the works Porsche 910 of Jochen Rindt / Gerhard Mitter which won the under 2-litre Group 6 class. Vaccarella / Muller were fourth on the Filipinetti 412 P’s debut.
1967 SPA 1000KM
Ferrari entered a solitary works car for the Spa 1000km race a week later on May 1st with the new P4 that had appeared at Monza (0858) allocated to Mike Parkes / Ludovico Scarfiotti. In support were the 412 Ps from Ecurie Francorchamps (Willy Mairesse / Jean Blaton) and Maranello Concessionaires (Richard Attwood / Lucien Bianchi) the latter of which was making its competition debut.
Qualifying saw Phil Hill set fastest time in the Chaparral 2F he was sharing with Mike Spence. Second spot went to Jacky Ickx in the Mirage M1 that would also be driven by Dick Thompson. A tenth of a second back in third spot was the Parkes / Scarfiotti P4 followed by the Francorchamps 412 P in fourth. The Pauk Hawkins / Jackie Epstein Lola Mk3 GT qualified fifth, the other Mirage of David Piper / Dick Thompson sixth and the Maranello Concessionaires 412 P seventh.
Unlike qualifying, which took place in warm and dry conditions, race day was sodden and misty.
At the drop of the flag, wet weather maestro Ickx streaked into the lead followed closely by the 412 P of countryman Mairesse. This pair had soon built a gap to Parkes in the P4, Spence’s Chaparral and Hawkins’ Lola.
Shortly before quarter distance, Hawkins, who had by this time passed Spence, moved his Lola up to third place after slipping past Parkes at Stavelot. Soon afterwards the Chaparral, which had also been closing on the P4, came into the pits and lost over nine minutes when it failed to restart.
By mid-distance the solitary P4 had progressed to third after a slow stop for the Hawkins / Epstein Lola. The works Ferrari was then temporarily promoted to second after Mairesse had a massive accident in his 412 P, but a loose gear selector rod caused a several minute pit delay.
More time was lost when Parkes had a moment coming out of La Source and Ferrari ultimately had to settle for a fifth place finish, two laps behind the winning Mirage of Ickx / Thompson. Second spot went to the 2-litre class Porsche 910 of Jo Siffert / Hans Herrmann. After a disappointing start, Attwood / Bianchi claimed third in the Maranello Concessionaires 412 P and Hawkins / Epstein took fourth in Epstein’s Lola.
1967 TARGA FLORIO
Two Group 6 Ferraris were present for the Targa Florio road race on May 14th where the tight and twisty nature of the 72km Little Madonie course meant big Prototypes only had a slim performance advantage over the nimbler, smaller engined machinery that were normally not a threat at higher speed circuits.
Ferrari entered the Daytona-winning P3/4 Spyder for Nino Vaccarella / Ludovico Scarfiotti and a 2.4-litre Dino 206 S for Gunther Klass / Mario Casoni. The other big Ferrari on hand was Scuderia Filipinetti’s 412 P allocated to Herbert Muller / Jean Guichet. Neither Ford nor Mirage attended which left the Chaparral 2F of Phil Hill / Hap Sharp, Jackie Epstein’s Lola, the half dozen Porsche Prototypes and Alfa Romeo’s four Tipo 33s as Ferrari’s primary rivals for outright victory.
Local man Vaccarella went quickest in practice and next quickest car was the works Dino. Leo Cella set third fastest time in his Porsche 910 followed by Hill in the Chaparral, Andrea De Adamich in the best of the Alfa Romeos and Jo Bonnier in a sister Tipo 33.
After a scintillating opening lap, Vaccarella was 63 seconds clear of Mitter’s Porsche which was in turn six seconds ahead of team-mate Siffert. Holding fourth spot was Muller a further four seconds back in the Filipinetti 412 P.
Unfortunately, lap two saw both works Ferraris drop out of the race.
First to go was Klass whose Dino clouted a marker stone and broke a damper. A little later, Vaccarella made an uncharacteristic mistake. Going into a slow left hairpin at Collesano, the Sicilian misjudged his speed and slid into a wall which broke both right-hand wheels and damaged the suspension.
On the penultimate lap, Muller went off in the 412 P, which left the quasi-works Dino 206 S of Jonathan Williams / Vittorio Venturi as the only finisher from Maranello. The Scuderia Nettuno Dino crossed the line fourth overall behind a trio of works Porsche 910s with the 2.2-litre Flat 8-powered car of Paul Hawkins / Rolf Stommelen emerging victorious.
1967 LE MANS 24 HOURS
Ferrari had completed a third P4 in time for the Le Mans 24 Hour race which took place over the weekend of June 10th / 11th. All three P4s were taken to la Sarthe along with the P3/4 Spyder.
Chassis 0858 was allocated to Mike Parkes / Ludovico Scarfiotti, chassis 0860 to to Gunther Klass / Peter Sutcliffe and the P3/4 Spyder chassis 0846 to Chris Amon / Nino Vaccarella. The other P4, chassis 0856, was loaned to Ecurie Francorchamps. This car appeared with a yellow centre stripe for Willy Mairesse / Jean Blaton. Maranello Concessionaires, Scuderia Filipinetti and NART were on hand with their 412 Ps, the American squad also bringing along an old 365 P2.
As for Ferrari’s rivals, Ford took seven cars to Le Mans (four Mk4s plus a trio of Mk2Bs) and there were two-car teams from Mirage (M1), Chaparral (2F) and Lola (with its Aston Martin-powered T70 Mk3 GTs).
Pole position was claimed by the Mk4 GT40 of Bruce McLaren / Mark Donohue which was three tenths quicker than the lead Chaparral of Mike Spence / Phil Hill. Next up were two of the other Mk4 GT40s (those of Lucien Bianchi / Mario Andretti and Denny Hulme / Lloyd Ruby) followed by a brace of Mk2B variants (Ronnie Bucknum / Paul Hawkins and Frank Gardner / Roger McCluskey).
Quickest of the Ferraris was the P4 of Scarfiotti / Parkes in seventh. Behind them was the NART 412 P of Pedro Rodriguez / Giancarlo Baghetti in eighth and the Mk4 GT40 of Dan Gurney / A.J. Foyt in ninth. The P4 of Mairesse / Blaton started tenth, Klass / Sutcliffe qualified eleventh in the sister car and Amon / Vaccarella lined up twelfth in the P3/4 Spyder.
The race was run at a tremendous speed and many entries dropped out.
First to go were the Lolas followed by the Mirages and then the Chaparrals. No less than six of the Ferrari Prototypes also retired, most notably the works P3/4 of Amon / Vaccarella (0846). Having suffered a tyre blow out, Amon had been unable to fit the spare owing to a faulty mallet. Unfortunately, while crawling back to the pits, sparks from the wheel hub started a fire in the engine and, a long way from any marshal posts, the P3/4 was consumed by fire. Upon its return to Maranello, the car was scrapped.
As for Ford, having held the top three positions at 3am on Sunday, they lost a trio of cars in a remarkable accident less than an hour later. The incident began when Mario Andretti span his Mk4 after a set of brake pads had been incorrectly fitted. The two GT40s following close behind crashed while trying to take evasive action which left the Gurney / Foyt Mk4 five laps clear of the Parkes / Scarfiotti P4 in second.
Having run as high as fourth, the Klass / Sutcliffe P4 retired during the 18th hour with fuel pump failure.
Although the best placed P4 of Parkes / Scarfiotti eventually cut the gap to Gurney / Foyt, Ferrari had to settle for second and third positions as Ford won Le Mans for the second year in a row. Mairesse / Blaton rounded out the podium in the Ecurie Francorchamps P4 despite having run for several hours with a badly damaged left front fender.
THE FIA BANS OVER 3-LITRE PROTOTYPES FOR 1968
The day after Le Mans, the FIA stunned the racing fraternity by announcing that Group 6 Prototypes would be limited to three-litres for 1968.
Speeds had risen to the point that the governing body felt drastic action was needed. The decision meant that, in a few months, cars like the seven-litre Mk4 and Mk2 GT40s, Ferrari’s five-litre P cars, the Chaparral 2F and Mirage M1 would no longer be eligible to compete in the World Sportscar Championship.
Ford and Chaparral quit while, considering the FIA’s decision to unfairly favour Porsche, Enzo Ferrari also decided to withdraw his team in protest. For 1968, Ferrari would concentrate on other forms of sports car racing to include the big money Can-Am Championship in North America.
1967 BRANDS HATCH 6 HOURS
As expected, owing to the limited nature of its programme, Ford had not accrued sufficient World Championship points to retain the title it had won in 1966. However, no-one had originally counted on Porsche being in with a shout of taking the over 2-litre title.
Having run cars with engines slightly larger than 2-litres in every round of the ‘67 series thus far, winning outright at the Targa Florio and Nurburgring 1000km, there was every possibility that a strong showing at the season-ending Brands Hatch 6 Hour finale on July 30th could see Porsche secure the title.
Accordingly, Ferrari made a massive effort to do well at Brands, reconfiguring all three of the P4s as Spyders to save a little weight and improve handling on what would be a twisting track likely to favour the cars from Germany.
Unfortunately, factory driver Gunther Klass would not be on hand as the German been killed the week before while practising for the Mugello Grand Prix road race in a Dino 206 S.
The P4 Spyders were entered for Ludovico Scarfiotti / Peter Sutcliffe (0856), Paul Hawkins / Jonathan Williams (0858) and Chris Amon / Jackie Stewart (0860) who qualified fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Pole went to the Sid Taylor Lola of Denny Hulme / Jack Brabham while the similar works car of John Surtees / David Hobbs lined up in second having posted an identical lap time. Starting from third was the Chaparral of Mike Spence / Phil Hill.
The only other over 2-litre Group 6 Ferrari in attendance was the Maranello Concessionaires 412 P of Richard Attwood / David Piper. It qualified tenth behind a brace of 2.2-litre Porsche 910s (driven by Graham Hill / Jochen Rindt and Jo Siffert / Bruce McLaren) and the solitary Mirage M1 piloted by Pedro Rodriguez / Dick Thompson which had set ninth quickest time.
When the flag fell, Surtees made the best start in his Lola followed by Hawkins in the P4. Behind them came Scarfiotti in another of the P4s and Graham Hill’s Porsche.
Hawkins took the lead on lap two when Surtees’ Lola dropped back with flooded carburettors. Spence was now second in the Chaparral with Hulme’s Lola third, Scarfiotti’s P4 fourth, Hill’s Porsche fifth and Stewart’s P4 sixth.
Before long it was Hulme and Spence out front until the Lola limped into the pits with a sick engine after barely 40 minutes. This enabled the Chaparral to canter off into the distance followed by the Ferraris of Stewart, Scarfiotti and Hawkins.
Despite an unscheduled stop for a punctured rear tyre, the Chaparral went on to take its first win of the 1967 World Championship. Best placed of the Ferraris was the Amon / Stewart entry which finished just under a minute behind in second. The works Porsches of Jo Siffert / Bruce McLaren and Hans Herrmann / Jochen Neerpasch were third and fourth.
In fifth spot was the Scarfiotti / Sutcliffe P4 which had been delayed after Sutcliffe had a coming together with Peter de Klerk’s Ferrari 250 LM at mid distance. Both cars were forced to pit, during which the P4 fell off its jack and incurred bodywork damage that had to be wired up.
Hawkins / Williams finished sixth. This pairing had been delayed, losing three places, after Hawkins went wide at Clearways and damaged the rear bodywork which completely detached itself. The Australian continued for another lap, collected the bodywork and, while holding it in place with one hand, drove back to the pits where it was wired into place.
Richard Attwood / David Piper finished seventh in the Maranello Concessionaires 412 P.
FINAL STANDINGS
The result at Brands meant Ferrari reclaimed the World Championship title they had lost to Ford in 1966. The Italian outfit finished the season on 34 points which was two ahead of second-placed Porsche. Ford were third on 22 points.
SUBSEQUENT HISTORY
With the P4s set to become obsolete from FIA-sanctioned events in 1968, two cars (chassis 0858 and 0860) were immediately converted to 350 Can Am specification and exported to the USA where they were campaigned by factory drivers as unofficial works entries.
The sole P4 to remain in original specification (chassis 0856) was sold to British collector Richard Wilkins, who in turn passed the car on to fellow Brit, David Clarke.
The P3/4 that had been badly burnt at Le Mans (0846) was taken back to the factory and scrapped.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ferrari - https://www.ferrari.com, The Henry Ford Museum - https://www.thehenryford.org/ & ACO - https://www.24h-lemans.com/en
