The 312 B3-74 was Ferrari’s weapon for the 1974 (and a couple of 1975 races) Formula 1 season. It was driven by Clay Ragazzoni and Niki Lauda and it was able to achieve 3 victories, 11 pole positions and 6 fastest laps out of 17 races it took part. Even if it has kept the B3 denomination of the 1973, the B3-74 had a very different design: in fact it was a flat and wide car, with side radiators, full width front wing and a high, showy air intake above the rollbar.
Almost every other cars of the rivals were narrow and high but the design choice proved to be very good as the new Ferrari was able to better exploit the aerodynamic effect in search of greater downforce. It was powered by the Ferrari Tipo 001 engine which was a 3-liter flat-12 used in a total of eleven F1 seasons (from 1970 to 1980) and improved over the years in 5 different versions.
The one used in the B3-74 is the fourth evolution and it’s called Tipo 001/12 which was able to produce around 495 hp at 12,600 rpm on a car which weighed approx 590 kg. The car in this video is chassis 312B3/014 which was a new B3-74 chassis fielded in 7 rounds of the ’74 season, driven by Clay Ragazzoni and in just one by Niki Lauda.
It was used again by Ragazzoni in the first two races of the 1975 season. Watch it in action around Imola circuit for a few ‘parade’ demo laps, driven by former Italian F1 driver Alex Caffi (red/yellow helmet) and Franco Meiners (light blue helmet), during the 2017 Historic Minardi Day.
—- see video above —
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