Ferrari 512 BB

Monday 3 October 2011
A Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer is one of a series of cars produced by Ferrari in Italy between 1973 and 1984. They used a mid-mounted flat-12 (180° V12, not actually a true Boxer) engine, replacing the FR layout Daytona, and were succeeded in the Ferrari stable by the Testarossa.
Production of the BB was a major step for Enzo Ferrari. He felt that a mid-engined road car would be too difficult for his buyers to handle, and it took many years for his engineers to convince him to adopt the layout. This attitude began to change as the marque lost its racing dominance in the late 1950s to mid-engined competitors. The mid-engined 4-, 6-, and 8-cylinder Dino racing cars were the result, and Ferrari later allowed for the production Dino road cars to use the layout as well. The company also moved its V12 engines to the rear with its P and LM racing cars, but the Daytona was launched with its engine in front. It was not until 1971 that a mid-engined 12-cylinder road car would appear.
No BB was ever originally sold in North America, as Enzo did not believe it to be worth the cost of federalizing. However, third parties made conversions, and quite a few of them are now in the United States.
The first "Boxer" was the 365 GT4 BB shown at the 1971 Turin Motor Show. Designed to rival the Lamborghini Miura, it was finally released for sale in 1973 at the Paris Motor Show. 387 were built, with 88 in right-hand drive (of which 58 for the UK market), making it the rarest of all Berlinetta Boxers. The Pininfarina-designed body was an angular wedge with popup headlights.
Though it shared its numerical designation with the Daytona, the Boxer was radically different. It was a mid-engined car like the Dino, and the now flat-12 engine was mounted longitudinally rather than transversely.
The engine shared its internal dimensions with the V12 from the Daytona, but was spread out to 180° as on Ferrari's 1970 Formula One car and was mounted above a five-speed manual transmission. One major difference in this engine was its use of timing belts rather than chains.
The 365 was updated as the BB 512 in 1976, resurrecting the name of the earlier Ferrari 512 racer. The engine was larger at 4942 cc, had an increased compression ratio of 9.2:1, and a new dual plate clutch to handle the added power and ease pedal effort. Dry sump lubrication was used to prevent oil starvation in hard cornering due to revised rear suspension and wider rear tires. External differentiators included a new front spoiler, wider rear tires, added NACA side air vents ducting air to the brakes, and four tail lights (instead of six).
929 BB 512 models were produced.

Technical data:
- engine: Flat 12
- capacity: 4962 cc
- horsepower: 360 HP
- gearbox: 5+1
- top speed: 260 km/h