Announcing the Slot.It Ferrari 512M - #16 24h Le Mans 1971
Drivers at LeMans 1971: Chris Craft, David Weir
Entered by: David Piper
Stock Number: CA51a
Availability: April / May 2022
The Ferrari 512S had failed to beat the Porsche 917s in the 1970 World Sportscar Championship.
Despite their higher weight and greater consumption, the car had shown winning potential, but the rushed-in construction had left reliability issues unresolved.
A bit of unusually bad luck struck at Le Mans, where an accident eliminated four of the five 512S in one stroke. For the ending part of the season Ferrari decided to create a lighter and aerodynamically advanced version: thus the 512M (Modified). The new 'M' model proved immediately faster than the 'S' version but took its first laps only three weeks before the last Championship race at Österreichring (now Red Bull Ring), where Jacky Ickx led the race until he had to retire due to an alternator failure.
The first victory of the new Ferrari took place in South Africa on 7 November 1970, in a race outside the World Championship, in the hands of Ickx / Giunti who reached the finish line three laps ahead in the Porsche 917K driven by Siffert / Ahrens.
In 1971, however, despite the excellent end of the 1970 season for the 512M, Ferrari decided to concentrate the company's efforts on a car in line with the 1972 regulations, leaving the 512M to private teams: the 512M, therefore, despite its outstanding performance, could never prove its true value.
It remains, however, one of the most beautiful and iconic Sports Prototypes in the history of motorsport.
Slot.It's CA51a model represents the car of Team Piper which, was driven by Chris Craft and David Weir at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1971. Starting 13th from the grid, the car dropped to 44th place in the 2nd hour of the race but climbed back to an excellent 4th place overall.
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