<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Despite Ford's immense budget, Ferrari was reluctant to give up and the first tests with the P3's replacement were conducted in December of the same year. Apart from some cosmetic changes the most important new part of the P4 was its engine. Still displacing 4 litres, the unit was derived from the 3 litre F1 engine. Main new feature of the engine was the new head, with 3 valves per cylinder, one exhaust and two intake. The Lucas Fuel Injection was moved from between the cylinder banks to between the camshafts. The engine was rated at 450 bhp at 8200 rpm.
After 560 test laps at Daytona in December 1966, the P4 was ready for action. Two of the three P3s were fitted with P4 style bodywork and a Weber carbureted engine. Two unfinished 330 P3s were built up to the same specifications and dubbed 412 P. All four cars were sold to privateers, to back up the factory P4 effort. New from Ford at the 1967 24 hours of Le Mans was the Mk IV version of the GT40, featuring an American built aluminium-honeycomb monocoque and the familiar 7 litre V8.
All the testing at Daytona paid off as Ferrari dominated on Ford's home soil in the Daytona 24 hours race. The podium was filled by Ferrari drivers which underlined the Scuderia's dominance when the three winning cars crossed the line together. The first two were P4s and the third a P3. At Le Mans, Ford was back with the new Mk IV and beat the sophisticated Ferraris on horsepower. Reliability again almost got the better of Ford, but one of the two surviving Mk IV finished on top, closely followed by two P4s. Ferrari did win that year's overall sportscar World Championship, for the 12th time in 14 years.
Rule changes at the end of the season left the 330 P3, 330 P4 and 412 P obsolete. This cut the career of one of Ferrari's best looking racers short to just one season. Two of the 330 P4s were converted to '350 Can-Am' specification by cutting down the body and fitting a slightly larger version of the twin-cam V12 engine. The third 330 P4 was not raced again.
At the end of 1967, the modified cars were campaigned in the Can-Am Challenge but proved unable to take on the much larger engined and lighter competition. Chris Amon's best result was a fifth in the Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. At the end of the year the two cars were sold to privateers, who continued to race them around the world with considerable success for several more seasons. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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Despite Ford's immense budget, Ferrari was reluctant to give up and the first tests with the P3's replacement were conducted in December of the same year. Apart from some cosmetic changes the most important new part of the P4 was its engine. Still displacing 4 litres, the unit was derived from the 3 litre F1 engine. Main new feature of the engine was the new head, with 3 valves per cylinder, one exhaust and two intake. The Lucas Fuel Injection was moved from between the cylinder banks to between the camshafts. The engine was rated at 450 bhp at 8200 rpm.