While tales of 312P’s speed and agility still haunt racetracks across the endurance circuit, parts to rebuild the 312P have vanished. Fortunately, we live in a world with CMMs and 3D printing, which means overhauling a 312P’s engine only takes a matter of weeks.
Starting with an original 60s era engine, precise measurements were made to reverse engineer the 312P’s components. Once the necessary data was captured 3D models of the parts were generated and sent to a Voxeljet sand printer. By the end they’d produced seven sand components, each of which would come together to make up the engine’s complete cast form.
With the 3D sand components ready, the last step in the engine rebuild was to have them cast. Using a special aluminum alloy, Wilhelm Funke poured the new engine block, completing the rebuild in record time.
With the help of additive manufacturing, car enthusiasts around the globe will now have an opportunity to marvel at a working Ferrari 312P. Though the car will likely only be able to make victory laps around vintage car events, I’m willing to bet it could post a pretty good time back in the wild of the 24 hour Le Mans.
Images Courtesy of Voxeljet