1971 Ferrari 512 Effort by Roger Penske

[@mpetersen6]

Donahue and Penske had a busy year in 71. Endurance racing in the 512, Trans Am, Indianapolis, and Nascar iirc.

[@mikemcgill4268]

I attended both Daytona & Sebring in the most special year of 1971, what a great privilige to see 2 of the greatest endurance cars of all time: Ferrari 512 & Porsche 917 with the great drivers of the era: Donahue, Siffert, Rodriguez, Redman, Hobbs. Such Sounds!!!

[@shimshonbendan8730]

*Donohue

[@Wuub1e]

Infinitely jealous.

[@gimmeshelter1969]

This Ferrari should have won every race it entered. It was clearly the class of the field. Mistakes and bad luck dogged this team throughout 1971.

[@ferdinandopolverinodelaureto]

512M: the speed with which the blue SUNOCO Ferrari surpassed the legendary 917 suggests how Penske's car was the best 5000 sports car of all time. And also the most beautiful.

[@joepayne7494]

I miss my good friend Kirk F White what a gentleman packed full of awesome stories! You will be missed good friend

[@pfrstreetgang7511]

David Hobbs in a Ferrari. I never thought I'd see that. Rodriguez using a 917 as a battering ram....sacrilege.

[@wraitheful]

Pedro Rodriguez is a legend.

[@tomburroughes9834]

Wonderfully atmsopheric piece of footage. Thanks for posting this.

[@docpalazola491]

Saw the Sunoco Ferrari race in the Watkins Glen 6 hours. What a screamer!! Most immaculately prepared Ferrari I've seen.

[@MrAquinas1]

I was there also and spent a lot of time watching their pre-race prep. Very detailed. I once had a long chat with Peter Revson. He said the 512 was fast but the engineering on much of the car was rushed, unlike the Porsche, and it had a lot of weak points.

[@maliwilliams7262]

Always Wanted to see This.. ALL you Heard about is "917," 917!! A

[@dodge33cymru]

Lots of clips I'd never seen, thanks for the great upload

[@bloqk16]

For those that are curious about details of the Penske/Donohue Ferrari 512M: I strongly encourage for you to get the book: "The Unfair Advantage," by Mark Donohue and Paul Van Valkenburg. A whole chapter in the book was devoted to the 512M, where Donohue pulled no punches with regards to his criticism with the overall fitness of the 512M prior to the Penske team working on it. Donohue said if the team had the time and resources, they would have rebuilt it from the ground up. Donohue was disgusted with the car and the way the Ferrari factory conducted themselves; where it was to his relief when the commitment to race it was over with.

[@getcarter101]

Fabulous

[@vince065us]

Hobbs was always a character!

[@markchamberlain9856]

Lots of good cars at the Glen race, including the new Ferrari 312PB. The Alfa with de Adamich and Peterson won the race. Big accident in front of me at the bottom of the Essex. No one hurt, thank goodness!

[@markchamberlain9856]

*esses

[@daviddavis697]

I watched Mark Donohue drive this Ferrari at the Glenn in 1971

[@incubrian]

Roger = 🐐

[@aureliobrighton1871]

I just read the Sebring, turn 9 accident reports. Interesting. Moreover Penske apparently told M.D. not to *... with Pedro Rodriguez. Who proved his infight qualities even within Gulf season by season. Anyway, I wasn't there, but I also dislike one-sided comments. Thankyou.

[@charlesanzalone5846]

My first Glenn 6 hr

[@kennethellison9713]

I remember a few years ago someone asking me why David Hobbs is a commentator for F1? "What has he ever done?" he asked. Sheesh...

[@brakecheck5354]

Answer: Cars 2, David Hobbscap. Duh 😝

[@williamford9564]

10:30: Pit stop. No pit lane speed Iimit. No fire suits. No helmets. The car owner standing in front of the car when it comes to a stop? What were they thinking about in 1971???

[@brakecheck5354]

Life in general, not just auto racing, was a lot more dangerous back then. Diseases, wars, even road cars were insanely unsafe by today's standards. Society seemed to have a different attitude back then - accidents happen, I can't control everything, life is short, might as well have fun while it lasts. That's my take at least.

[@marklangren3142]

This shows you how poor quality tge Ferraris were, Penske basically redid the car from the groundup. The ferrari was a hood learning lesson for Penske that would show him what needed to be done to go race and win, be prepared for any failure

[@timothyadcock5103]

Only Penske would have that much racer tape on hand.

[@williamford9564]

1:02: Downforce? What is that? Dampers? Never heard of them.

[@danieldravot341]

I knew Hobbs and he’d regale us with stories of falling asleep on the Indy 500 grid. Apparently team owner JC Agajanian was unimpressed, and he whacked Hobbs on the helmet with his cane, saying, “I’m not paying you to sleep!”.

[@williamford9564]

The 512s from the Ferrari factory were junk. Penske made extensive modifications so that is was called a 512M ( "Modified') compared to the 512"S" driven by all the other teams. This made the car the fastest Ferrari and on a par with the Porsche 917s. As someone else said, they was some bad luck, but even Penske could not overcome poorly constructed parts. The engine blew only 4 hours into LeMans and the suspension broke at the Glen. Porsche was very impressed and called upon Penske to develop and run the 917 Can Am cars a year later. The rest is history.

[@bloqk16]

@William Ford . . . from what you wrote, it hints that you read the Mark Donohue book: _The Unfair Advantage_ which was co-penned by Paul Van Valkenburg. The chapter in that book on the 512M was remarkable with Donohue not pulling any punches about the 512 or with Ferrari. If you haven't read the book, I can provide some details from that chapter with the issues the Penske team had with the car and Ferrari in this Comments section.

[@williamford9564]

@@bloqk16 Thanks. Yes, i read the book and there was also some material in some other books I have on sports car racing it that era.

[@toyman81]

Is that Janet Guthrie at 3:40?

[@kevinbaird9763]

yes it is!

[@kipcoulter9302]

????????????????????? WHY DID MR ROGERS CHOSE ###### NUMBER 6 SIX 4444 HIS CARS