1971  Le Mans 24 Hours:   June 12, 1971    cont.

Tony gloves-off after completing a stint behind the wheel.   Vicki expresses a look of concern from the garage.

The business end of the Ferrari 512M

        Tony rushes through "White House Corner" at Le Mans

Who would have guessed there would be another important White House

in Tony's life after leaving the one on Pennsylvania Avenue?


Next stop:  CanAm back in America.

After the race, Tony became one of five Internationally FIA graded drivers in the USA.

Tony is one of the few drivers living today to have driven the Ferrari 512 series and the Porsche 917K, experiencing both sides of the Battle of the Titans.

Third place finish at Le Mans puts Tony in the ranks of the world's top drivers.

    The 512 series did not have an illustrious career, however it was truly a spectator's delight to hear the V12 storm off the corners and down the Mulsanne straight.  But it was music never to be heard again.  The Battle of the Titans was over.

    I did manage to win a 12 Hour race in Ecuador in the 512M of Greg Young in 71.  This gave me pretty good finishing record in the 512 series, a first, a second, and a third.  Not bad for a supposedly unreliable Ferrari.  I believe the factory did something right, it just had to be driven within it's imperfections.  I was proud to be part of the bygone era of real racing with Ferrari.

The N.A.RT. Ferrari 512M I drove with Sam Posey at Le Mans to a third place finish.  That's Sam in the car.

    Once again we finished ahead of the Fastest Ferrari in the World, the legendary blue 512 M of Penske/Donahue/Hobbs.  Excellent job, well done by NART and team.  The Blue 512M raced its final race at Watkins Glen, N.Y. where it succumbed to a front suspension failure.  It would become infamous for being the best prepared and engineered Ferrari that never won a race.


    CoCo Chinetti grew tired of the Penske car being called the Fastest Ferrari in the World.  A few months later, he drove our 512M at Bonneville salt flats, setting several new FIA top speed records for sports cars.  I guess ours was the fastest Ferrari.

1MB .wmv Video of 512M Ferrari in Paddock

Tony Adamowicz, Gary Wheeler, Tony a2z, Tony Adamowics, a2zRacer, Gary Wheeler, Tony Adamowicz

    HOME

   DIRECTORY

   LINKS

   BACK

   NEXT  PAGE

PAGE:   

1      2      3       4      5      6      7      8      9      10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17    18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25

26    27    28    29    30    31    32    33    34    35   36    37    38    39    40    41    42    43    44    45    46    47    48    49    50

51    52    53    54    55    56    57    58    59    60   61    62    63    64    65    66    67    68    69    70    71    72    73    74    75

76    77    78    79    80    81    82    83    84    85   86    87    88    89    90    91    92    93    94    95    96    97    98    99    100

101  102  103  104  105  106  107  108  109