Photos and Story by Ryan Delane
The beautiful, quick,
yet somehow unsuccessful
Ferrari 312
This car is gorgeous. Todd Morici’s example, chassis number 0007, has
a history that epitomizes that of the whole Ferrari 312 F1 series of racecars.
This car, which was driven primarily by Chris Amon, took three pole positions,
two fastest laps, over fifty laps in the lead, and only one podium, a third,
for Amon.
In the only car that could compete with anything powered by a DFV, Chris started
in the top three and ran in the top three for a great deal of this car’s
career, only to be put off by mechanical troubles or simple human error. Amon
continued his reputation as the greatest driver never to win a race in this
car. Nevertheless, while a DFV sounds wonderful, nothing can compare to the
sound of the raw 3-liter 242c echoing from what are easily the most beautifully
sculpted exhaust headers in motorsport.
Todd Morici has owned this car since 1997, and he is a loving caretaker of
one of the greatest Formula One race cars in Ferrari history. He shares it
with the racing community on regular occasion, most recently at the season-opening
HMSA event at Las Vegas.
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