Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer

Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer at a glance

The BB replaced the Daytona at the top of Ferrari's road car range. All Ferrari models are in the Ferrari catalogue.

History: why the engine moved behind the driver

Enzo Ferrari was for many years against a mid-engined road car. He believed it would be too difficult for his customers to drive. His engineers needed years to convince him, and his view changed as Ferrari lost its racing advantage to mid-engined rivals in the late 1950s and 1960s. The BB became the first mid-engined Ferrari road car with twelve cylinders.

A prototype of the 365 GT4 BB was shown at the Turin motor show in 1971, and the production car followed at the Paris motor show in 1973. The development team was led by Angelo Bellei, with Giuliano de Angelis responsible for engine development and Mauro Forghieri as engine designer. The body was designed by Leonardo Fioravanti at Pininfarina.

Design and construction

The BB is a two-door berlinetta, 4,400 mm long, 1,830 mm wide and only 1,120 mm high, on a 2,500 mm wheelbase. Its body combines a steel centre section with aluminium front and rear covers and doors, while the lower front and rear panels are made of fibreglass. The bodies were built by Scaglietti, and final assembly took place in Maranello.

Underneath is a steel tube chassis with a semi-monocoque centre section. Two large diagonal tubes run from the engine cradle to the roof to strengthen the car in a rollover. Suspension is independent all round with double wishbones and anti-roll bars, the steering is unassisted rack and pinion, and there are disc brakes on all four wheels.

The flat-12 engine and gearbox

Ferrari calls the engine a flat-12; Mauro Forghieri said its cylinder heads sit at a 180° vee, which makes it technically a 180° V12. The unusual feature of the layout is the gearbox: the five-speed manual transaxle sits directly below the engine, next to the oil sump, and drop gears carry the drive down to it. A limited-slip differential was fitted.

The later BB 512 received dry-sump lubrication to prevent oil starvation in hard cornering.

The first version: 365 GT4 BB (1973–1976)

The first BB used the Tipo F102A engine with 4,390 cc (bore 81 mm, stroke 71 mm) and four triple-barrel Weber 40 IF 3C carburettors. The owner's manual gives 253 kW (344 PS) at 7,200 rpm and 409 Nm at 3,900 rpm. The car had a single-plate Fichtel & Sachs clutch and a dry weight of 1,235 kg.

Ferrari claimed a top speed of 302 km/h. Road & Track measured about 282 km/h (175 mph) in June 1975, and Ferrari gave 5.4 seconds for 0–100 km/h. Production ended in 1976 after 387 cars, 88 of them with right-hand drive and 58 of those for the United Kingdom.

BB 512 (1976–1981)

The BB 512, shown at the Paris motor show in 1976, took its name from its five-litre, twelve-cylinder engine and revived the name of Ferrari's 512 racing cars. The Tipo F102B engine has 4,943 cc (bore 82 mm, stroke 78 mm) and a compression ratio of 9.2:1. Dry-sump lubrication replaced the wet sump, and a twin-plate clutch handled the extra torque.

Power figures vary between Ferrari documents. The brochure first quoted 268 kW (360 bhp), later revised to 254 kW (340 bhp); the owner's manual lists 250 kW (340 PS) at 6,200 rpm and 451 Nm at 4,600 rpm. Dry weight is given as 1,515 kg in the workshop manual and 1,596 kg in the owner's manual.

The BB 512 can be recognised by its chin spoiler, NACA air ducts behind the doors, two tail lights and two exhaust pipes on each side and more vents in the engine cover. It also has wider 225/70 VR 15 rear tyres on 9-inch wheels and a rear track of 1,563 mm. The owner's manual quotes 272 km/h as an attainable top speed; Autocar measured 262 km/h in May 1978.

BB 512i (1981–1984)

The last version, the BB 512i of 1981, replaced the carburettors with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection and used the F110A engine with revised camshaft timing and a Magneti Marelli Dinoplex ignition with a built-in rev limiter. The owner's manual lists 250 kW (340 PS) at 6,000 rpm and 451 Nm at 4,200 rpm, and an attainable top speed of 257 km/h.

The 512i was the best-equipped BB. Air conditioning, electric windows and a stereo were standard, and the car ran on Michelin TRX tyres (240/55 VR 415) on metric wheels. It was also the most numerous version, with 1,007 cars built until 1984. Wikipedia notes that perhaps 27 cars had an optional wool interior by Ermenegildo Zegna.

Racing: NART and the 512 BB LM

Scuderia Ferrari never raced the BB itself, but private teams did. Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team (NART) entered modified 365 GT4 BBs: chassis 18139 finished sixth at Sebring in 1975 and 16th at Le Mans in 1977 and 1978.

For customers, Ferrari built the 512 BB LM in two series. Three Series I cars ran at Le Mans in 1978 - two for Charles Pozzi and one for NART - but none finished. The Series II followed: nine cars were built in 1979 and 16 more were updated between 1980 and 1982, 25 in total. They also ran at Le Mans in 1980 and 1982, finishing tenth and sixth. The best result was fifth overall and first in the GTX class at Le Mans in 1981.

Legacy and collectors

The Berlinetta Boxer changed the layout of Ferrari's flagship from front-engined V12 to mid-engined flat-12, a format that continued in the Testarossa from 1984. In the United States, BBs arrived through the "grey market": specialists such as Richard Fritz's Amerispec, working with Chinetti Motors, converted cars to federal standards with more than 75 changes per car. Carburettor 512s needed secondary air injection and catalytic converters, while the injected 512i needed fewer changes. A change in US law in 1990 ended the practice for cars without a comparable US model, unless they were more than 25 years old.

For collectors, the three versions have clear identities: the early 365 GT4 BB is the lightest and rarest, the carburettor BB 512 has the bigger engine and the final BB 512i is the most usable and the most numerous. More about the company is in our history of Ferrari.

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