Tag Archives: 312T

Winning Horse

Modern Formula 1 cars last just one season. But back in the 1970s Scuderia Ferrari created a car that lasted for six. And it won four of them, making it the most successful design in Formula 1 history.

First competing in 1975, the Ferrari 312T featured a tubular steel spaceframe, a transverse 3 litre flat-12 making around 500bhp, and excellent reliability. The version we have here today is the T4 variant, featuring aerodynamic modifications to take the Constructor’s World Championship back from Lotus, whose ‘ground effect’ design ended the 312T’s winning streak in 1978.

It worked too, returning the Constructor’s title to Ferrari and giving Jody Scheckter the Driver’s Championship. This fabulous recreation of the 312 T4 comes from Andre Pinto of Flickr, and captures Scheckter‘s title-winning car in spectacular detail.

Custom chromed pieces, authentic replica decals, and stunning internals make Andre’s Ferrari 312T one of the finest vintage Formula 1 cars we’ve published yet, and you can find all the images at his ‘Ferrari 312 T4’ album via the link above.

Ferrari 312T | Picture Special

This is the four-time Championship winning Ferrari 312T, shown here in its earliest configuration from 1975, and it’s one of the greatest Formula 1 car designs of all time. Powered by Ferrari’s proven flat-12 engine the 312T was not turbocharged as per many of its rivals, despite the ‘T’ in the name. That ‘T’ in fact stood for ‘Transverse’, denoting the gearbox layout, making the 312T the first Formula 1 car to use the design.

The result was fantastic handling, and whilst the newer turbo-engines in rival cars of the time made huge power it was often at the expense of reliability, meaning their straight-line advantage often came to nought. Ferrari’s handling edge was so good they raced the 312T for six years, evolving the design over that time to meet with changing regulations, before the car was finally replaced in 1981.

This incredible replica of Niki Lauda’s championship-winning 1975 Ferrari 312T comes from race-car-building-legend Luca Rusconi aka RoscoPC. Developed from an earlier model featured here last year, Luca has updated his 312T with the latest LEGO parts, and the model comes complete with beautifully authentic-looking period decals, working steering, suspension, and a faithful recreation of the famous flat-12 engine.

There’s a whole lot more to see of Luca’s stunning Ferrari 312T at his Flickr album via the link above, plus you can learn how Luca creates his amazing historic racing cars like this one in his Master MOCers interview by clicking here.

You Can’t Leave Your Hat On

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This is Ferrari’s 1975 312T Formula 1 car, recreated in spectacular detail by TLCB favourite and Master MOCer Luca Rusconi aka RoscoPC. Rosco continues to upload his huge back-catalogue of stunning historic racing cars to Flickr, and his latest is one of the most successful single designs ever to race in F1.

Launched in 1975 the Ferrari 312T was the first Formula 1 car to feature a transversely mounted gearbox, with the ‘T’ donating that layout rather than the turbocharger you might expect, the engine being Ferrari’s long-standing naturally aspirated flat-12.

The clever gearbox position gave the 312T superb handling, something that its 312B predecessor wasn’t blessed with, and it delivered immediate results, winning Ferrari’s first F1 title in eleven years. During its long racing life from 1975 to 1980 the 312T won three Drivers and four Constructors World Championships, evolving over this time to take into account the changing regulations. Even losing its characteristic high air-box in 1976 due to an FIA ban on the design didn’t stop it winning.

The 312T was finally replaced in 1981 by the new 126C, Ferrari’s first turbo-charged Formula 1 car, leaving the 312T to be remembered as one of Ferrari’s greatest ever Formula 1 designs, and the car that made World Champions of Nikki Lauda and Jody Scheckter.

There’s much more to see of Luca’s incredible Lego replica of the Ferrari 312T at his Flickr album, and you can read our interview with the builder as part of Season 2 of the Master MOCers series by clicking here.