Assetto Corsa: 1970 Ferrari 312b at Monza 66

In the fall of 1969, with Fiat's money securely in their pockets, Mauro Forghieri and his team at Ferrari designed a new flat 12 engine which would not only create more horsepower, but sit lower to the ground to increase handling. Despite the letter "b", the engine was not actually a boxer, but a V12 sitting at 180 degrees. The 312b was also the first Ferrari with wings built into the structure.

After a series of tests in late 1969, in which the new engine failed every time, Chris Amon chose to leave Ferrari for the new factory March team. Ferrari was able to court Jackie Ickx away from Brabham, but the car took forever to develop. 5 rounds into the 1970 season Ickx had only scored a single 3rd place finish, while Clay Regazzoni and Ignazio Giunti each scored 4th place finishes in the second car. From that point onwards, however, Ickx would duel Jochen Rindt at every race, trading pole positions and wins, until tragedy struck at Monza and Rindt, the points leader, was killed. Regazzoni made the most of the opportunity, winning the somber race for his first victory. The pair of Ickx and Regazzoni would finish 1-2 twice more, but both were too far back of the deceased Rochen Rindt to win the title, making Rindt the first (and hopefully last) posthumous world champion.

Taking their momentum into 1971, Ferrari fielded a third car for Mario Andretti, who promptly won his first race with the team. With 3 more podiums from Ickx, Ferrari and Tyrell looked set for a season long constructors battle. Instead, Ferrari scored only 5 more points and fell to 3rd behind BRM. The team fared no better in 1972, and by 1973 the car was totally uncompetitive.

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