The Ferrari P was a series of Italian sports prototype racing cars produced by Ferrari during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Although Enzo Ferrari resisted the move even with Cooper dominating F1, Ferrari began producing mid-engined racing cars in the early 1960s with the Dino-V6-engine Formula One Ferrari 246 P and the sport prototype SP-series.
The V12 sports car racers followed in 1963. Although these cars shared their numerical designations (based on engine displacement) with road models, they were almost entirely different. The first Ferrari mid-engine road car did not arrive until the 1967 Dino 206 GT, and it was 1971 before a Ferrari 12-cylinder engine was placed behind a road-going driver in the 365 GT4 BB.
The 1966 330 P3 introduced fuel injection to the Ferrari stable. It used a P3 (Type 593) transmission whose gears were prone to failure.
There are no longer any Ferrari 330 P3s extant as the original 330 P3 0846 was converted to a P3/P4 and definitively written off and scrapped by Ferrari due to previous accident damage and fire damage it sustained at Le Mans 1967, and P3s 0844 and 0848 were converted to P3/412 Ps by Ferrari. At a later point P3/412 P 0844 was converted by Ferrari to a 330 Can-Am and in the 1990s returned to P3/412 P configuration in private ownership.
In order to be able to accept the challenge posed by the competition from the Ford GT40, the P2 was consistently further developed. Since increasing displacement was not part of Ferrari's philosophy - some Ford GT40s had 7-liter V8 engines - better performance could only be achieved through reduced weight and improved aerodynamics. Three new bodies were therefore created in the workshop of Piero Drogo, who also gave the customer 365P2 a new shape.
In 1966, Ferrari used Lucas injection for the first time in the 330 P3. Like the P2, the 330 P3 had dual ignition and four overhead camshafts. Ferrari specified 420 hp at 8000 rpm as performance. The vehicle had a ZF gearbox and a Borg&Beck clutch.
The 330 P3 made its racing debut at the 1966 Sebring 12 Hour, with Mike Parkes and Bob Bondurant behind the wheel. After finishing second in qualifying, the duo retired after 178 laps in second place with a gearbox failure. But the second mission brought the Scuderia a historic success. Mike Parkes, this time with partner John Surtees, won the Monza 1000 km race ahead of the two Ford GT40s driven by Masten Gregory / John Whitmore and Herbert Müller/Willy Mairesse. This achievement is significant in that Monza was driven for the last time on the original 10km track including the banked corners.
At the 1966 Targa Florio, Nino Vaccarella and Lorenzo Bandini failed because of Bandini's impetuous driving style, much to the chagrin of the Sicilian Vaccarella. In a superior position in the lead, Bandini lost control of the P3 in a narrow passage and damaged the front of the car so badly in the accident that it was unthinkable to continue. Victory at the 1000 km race at Spa-Francorchamps followed, driven out again by Mike Parkes and John Surtees.
In the 1966 1000 km race on the Nürburgring, the two Brits retired prematurely after taking pole position due to clutch damage. The Ferrari didn't stand a chance against the superiority of Ford in the Le Mans 24-hour race. Enzo Ferrari also made an exception to the usual vehicle policy at the Sarthe and ceded a P3 to Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team. There, chassis 0846 was converted into the only P3 Spyder, driven by Pedro Rodríguez and Richie Ginther. However, the car failed after just 151 laps with gearbox damage. The two factory cars didn't fare much better. Mike Parkes was involved in an accident in the number 20 car he shared with Ludovico Scarfiotti. The second works car, starting number 21 and driven by Jean Guichet and Lorenzo Bandini, had an engine failure.
In 1967 the 330 P3s were replaced by the 330 P4s and two copies were given to the Scuderia Filipinetti.
--copied from Wikipedia
