Ferrari 365P or the answer that Enzo Ferrari never gave
03/19/2011
When Ferruccio Lamborghini presented the Lamborghini Miura to the world in 1966, the world of sports cars changed from one day to the next. With its mid-engine, the Miura borrowed directly from motor racing and sports car customers all over the world were probably looking over to the Ferrari stand at the motor shows in Paris, Geneva or Turin to see what answer was coming from there. But Ferrari remained silent.
Ferrari was just about to launch the 365 GTB/4, known to most people as the Daytona, nota bene with a front engine. It was not until 1971 that Ferrari was able to present a mid-engined 12-cylinder sports car in the form of the Berlinetta Boxer , which could not be purchased until 1973, by which time Lamborghini had already launched the Countach with a longitudinally mounted V-12.
There was already a mid-engined Ferrari 12-cylinder car in 1966, namely the 365P, built by Pininfarina as a prototype on the basis of a P2 racing car with a longitudinal 12-cylinder engine (the Miura "only" had a transverse engine) and presented in Paris. But the car was not finished - nor was the Miura when it was first presented - and they probably didn't have the courage to bring the three-seater - with the driver sitting in the middle, as in the later McLaren F1 - to production maturity. In terms of design, however, we find many elements in the Dino 206 GT a little later.
However, Enzo's response to the Miura failed to materialize, at least temporarily.
