Ferrari P

About Ferrari P

The Ferrari P was a series of rear mid-engined two seat sports prototype racing car models produced by Ferrari during the 1960s and early 1970s to be raced mainly by the factory Scuderia Ferrari racing team. When a double digit number of identical cars was planned for homologation and sale to customers, the codes LM (Le Mans) or S (Sportscar) were used instead. Although Enzo Ferrari witnessed the rear mid-engined Auto Union racing cars of the 1930s, and with Cooper dominating F1 with back-to-back World Championship wins, 1959 and 1960, he resisted to move the engine behind the driver. This even after Scuderia Ferrari put the Dino V6 engine in the rear of a single-seater, resulting in the Ferrari 246 P and the Ferrari 156 F1 "shark nose" that won the 1961 Formula One season. The Dino V6 with 2.0 or 2.4 litres was also used in the first rear mid-engined Ferrari sport prototypes of the Ferrari SP series of 1961–1962. The 3 litres-plus V12 sports car racers followed in 1963, starting the P series. Although these cars shared their numerical designations (based on engine displacement) with road models, they were almost entirely different.