By very nature of the beast, Ferrari road tests tend to be few and far between. But what made my first two drives amazing beyond the rarity of opportunity was an uncanny sequence of circumstances and coincidences.
The first was the 112th Ferrari ever made, a 1951 Type 212 Export by Touring of Milan.
With a rich competition history in Italy that included a number of Mille Miglia road races, this handsome, compact V12 coupe arrived in Australia in 1956 in the colours of magenta and silver, where it raced sparingly before passing through a succession of owners.
In 1985, I had the opportunity of writing a feature story on #0112E for Sports Car World magazine, which involved a day’s drive with its owner Andy Brown through the Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley.
Acclaimed Adelaide-based photographer Peter Watkins was commissioned to shoot the action.
Lightning, it would appear, can strike twice.
Exactly 20 years later, I received an invitation from the marque’s new Australasian agents, European Automotive Imports, to come to the City of Churches and drive another Ferrari of great provenance, one of a pair of contemporary 612 Scagliettis that had just made world headlines by accomplishing a monumental trek across China.
Like its illustrious ancestor of some five decades earlier, the 612 presented in similar livery (red and silver) and again our drive took in the very same roads and a photo shoot by none other than Peter Watkins.
That sounds like a story to me; two, in fact…
Owner Andy Brown and Barry Green tackling the Gorge Road.
Wheels magazine cover featuring the 212’s arrival in Australia.
Shapely rear three-quarter lines.
2.7-litre Colombo-designed V12.
Interior is spartan yet stylish.
1951 Ferrari Type 212 Export Berlinetta
Rewind to 1985. Bob Hawke, the so-called Silver Bodgie, is Prime Minister of Australia; the subliminal sound of Tears for Fears’ hit Everybody Wants to Rule the World pulses from the AM car radio; and the words ‘Formula 1’ is about to be added to the title of Australian Grand Prix.
At the time, I was a Sergeant in the RAAF based in Melbourne and also writing freelance for a number of good-read motoring, motorsport and motorcycle magazines.
An Air Force colleague, John Withers, had just been made an offer he couldn’t refuse on a damaged MV Agusta 750 GT he had so expertly restored.
The offer came from one Bill Alexander, an enthusiast and collector of great things Italian on four and two wheels.
John sold, Bill bought, and I hotfooted it out to Mt Waverley to do a photo story on the GT and its handsome Sport sibling which Mr Alexander also owned.
It just so happened that he was going on to the annual Sandown (Park) Historics, and so was I.
We ran into one another there and Bill introduced me to someone who had bought one of his collection and was racing it on the day.
Said gent was Andy Brown, the car a Ferrari, and in the course of conversation, he somewhat incredulously invited me to Adelaide to have a steer of his Type 212 Export Berlinetta.
In those early days of Ferrari, the factory produced the rolling chassis and a Carrozzeria (coachbuilder) was commissioned to fabricate the body, hand-built to the customer’s specifications.
Because of this, the dimensions, body styles and features of the car could vary.
In the instance of the 212, there were basically two models: the Inter, which was intended for road use, and the Export, primarily constructed for competition.
All versions came with the standard Ferrari five-speed, non-synchromesh gearbox and hydraulic drum brakes.
Under the long, shapely bonnet lurked a Colombo-designed, 2.5-litre V12 available in a variety of tune and specification of customer’s choice.
With standard single Weber 36 DCF carburettor fitted, the engine produced 150hp (112kW); opting for triple Weber 32 DCFs liberated another 20hp (15kW).
At some stage, a replacement engine was fitted to #0112E, a 2.7-litre V12 from the later 225 model.
This was upgraded to use roller-type cam followers that were first introduced by Lampredi in the long-block V12.
Power was rated at 210bhp (155kW) @ 7200rpm.
Italian consul and textile agent Nino Sacilotto imported the car into Australia, arriving aboard the SS Neptunia in February, 1956.
It made the cover of Wheels magazine’s June issue, a tagline inside declaring it to be ‘The fastest road car registered in Australia’.
The 212 campaigned at a select number of race meetings – Mt Panorama, Gnoo Blas and the 1956 Australian Tourist Trophy at Albert Park where it finished 2nd in class.
A drive of a superlative car like this deserves a superlative setting and the legendary Gorge Rd outside Adelaide, certainly provided that.
Many a test car has since come and gone and many a bold red decanted, but here’s how I relive that golden autumn day . . .
Nervously letting out the clutch, I coax the gear lever across and up to 1st. Away we go without stalling, but my first and subsequent attempt to change to 2nd are foiled by the cantankerous ‘crash’ gearbox.
Coming from a generation pampered by all-synchro transmissions, I made the mistake of waiting too long on the upshift and got caught in No Man’s Land.
I can’t get into 2nd nor go back to 1st. The only escape is to double declutch, normally only done on down-shifting so Andy Brown, seated alongside, advises: clutch in, slip into neutral, release the clutch, blip the throttle, declutch again at just the right moment and complete the shift.
I’m half expecting him to add, “Listen, son, I was racing cars with this type of gearbox back when you were still in nappies.”
True words – the year I was born (1953), he drove an MG K3 to a fine 3rd place in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
At legal speeds, the feel of the steering, gear shift, pedal travel is h-e-a-v-y. This is a car you drive with forearms and wrists, rather than palms and fingers.
Then, with 5500 rpm dialed up on the big, chrome-rimmed tachometer, the sounds of Fiorano fill the cockpit as the lusty V12 comes onto full song, the 212 accelerating away with such force as to push me deep into the hand-made, leather bucket seat.
And that’s when the whole driving sensation lightens up and soars to a higher level.
Committing the car to one fast, sweeping bend after another, the Ferrari consumes the road in aggressive swoops without a twitch of body roll. Simply put, this is one car that gets better to drive the faster you push — just the way it should be.
The brakes, though, are another thing; the big, finned drums a shadow of what we have come to expect from the multi-pot discs of recent times.
This veritable drive of a lifetime is over all too soon. But it was an absolute privilege to leave my fingerprints on that handsome, thin wooden steering wheel, one with the Il Cavallino badge at its centre.
1951 Ferrari Type 212 Export Berlinetta
Basic price: N/A
Engine: 2.7-litre SOHC 24v V12
Power: 155kW @ 7200 rpm
Torque: N/A
Transmission: 5-spd manual
Weight: 850kg
Drive: Rear-wheel
0-100km/h: N/A
612 looks at home outside Chateau Tanunda. Photo: European Automotive Imports
The Dragon made it into official memorabilia. Photo: Barry Greento.
Carving up a curve. Photo: European Automotive Imports
The 612’s 5.75-litre DOHC 48v V12. Photo: Peter Watkins
2005 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti F1
Newspaper columnist Phillip Adams once wrote of driving a Ferrari, “Turn the key and the giant exhausts emitted the thunder of Roman legions tramping through Gaul. Press the accelerator and you heard the roar of the crowds at the Coliseum.”
I can raise a `salutare’ to Adams’ masterful prose after having driven a 612 Scaglietti through the super-scenic Adelaide Hills to beyond and back.
Decked out in look-at-me red and silver, complete with dragon motif and colourful signwriting, this particular 612 was just as it appeared completing a history-making, promotional trek across China.
Herein dubbed The Dragon, it was one of a pair that conquered the 5231m Tanggula Shan pass between China and Tibet, thereby qualifying for the Guinness Book of Records for the highest-altitude crossing by a two-wheel-drive vehicle.
Incredibly, given their basic modifications of 10mm raised ride height, skid plate, headlight protectors and 150-litre fuel tank, the only problems reported over 45 days were two bent wheel rims.
Leaving Adelaide via the north-west, we hook up with Montacute Road, a series of gentle bends as our introduction to the Hills and what lay ahead.
Montacute offers the opportunity to access the aptly-named Corkscrew Road, a tight, winding and blind descent that throws up challenges aplenty before reaching the Sixth Creek valley, linking with Gorge Road at River Torrens.
Gorge Road – the name says it all. Here, the black stuff follows the twisting, turning course of the Torrens River as it snakes its way into Adelaide from the Hills.
I throw the Fezza at a succession of sharp crests and stomach-dropping dips, revelling both in the long and fast corners that dare me to lift and tight turns demanding patience before getting back on the throttle.
A rorty induction snarl above 3500 rpm is a precursor to tapping into the big V12’s performance sweet spot which kicks in at 4000 rpm and continues through to 7250 rpm, with torque peaking at 5250 rpm.
Feeding it enough road to keep it in the zone is another thing.
But here’s where enthusiastic use of the paddle shift, six-speed sequential gearbox is invited.
Upshifts are crisp and clean; downshifts complete with throttle blip, short and sharp.
Even with the active suspension set to Sport mode, the 612 soaks up SA’s country road irregularities with unfussed ease, all the while maintaining that oh-so-important connection between driver and car that a Ferrari delivers.
Deliberate late braking fails to induce any understeer and, with the traction control seemingly intuitive, getting – and keeping – the power to the road is a given.
Handling dynamics contradict The Dragon’s 1870kg kerb weight. Punted with verve, the car’s size seems to shrink around me.
Steering response is, in two words, `absolutely linear’ – each revolution of the wheel moving the rack exactly 64mm.
It’s hard to believe nearly 20 years have passed since that day. But more than 1500 test drives later, I still marvel at how that big, halo GT awesome-ised me with its dynamic ability, seemingly infinite performance and (already) historic provenance — much as #0112E did two decades earlier.
2005 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti F1
Basic price: $664,000
Engine: 5.75-litre DOHC 48v V12
Power: 397kW @ 7250 rpm
Torque: 588Nm @ 5250 rpm
Transmission: 6-spd auto-manual
Weight:1840kg
Drive: Rear-wheel
0-100km/h: 4.2 secs
CHECKOUT: Morgan’s Malvern Star a guiding light
CHECKOUT: Elegant Spyder has a tale to tell