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I've noticed some differences between the Fly Ferrari 512S Coda Lunga cars that ran at Le Mans. The #'s 5, 7, and 11 have the tail fins while the #'s 6 and 8 do not. Here's where I need your expertise, are the cars with the fins a later or earlier model of the car or was Ferrari just experimenting with both in 1970 and 1971? Thanks.

Joe F.

Hey Joe, I think they were experimenting with both, but 'no fins' would be an earlier development, 'fins' would be a later development. Fly released a 512S CL that was a 'test car' with no fins, and being a test car, was probably early in the 512 CL's development. It was right around this time that vertical fins were coming into play. Porsche's 917 had no fins in 1970, and the car was all over the road. They found stability by adding the fins in 1971, and won at Le Mans with that setup. But the fins were definitely a later development -- they didn't start with fins, then take them away.

It seems that fins first got favor on the long tailed cars. The first 908s to get fins were long tailed cars. I'd guess that without wind tunnel testing, the builders weren't anticipating the extra lift generated at the back end due to the long bodywork. That meant that the tail would get twitchy at speed, so they'd need to counter that with vertical stabilizers.

That's about all I got...

Thanks Kurt, I knew I could rely on you because of your Le Mans knowledge. Thanks for your timely reply.

Joe F.

No problem, Joe! Happy to share what little I got. :lol:

Thanks Kurt, some good stuff there.

Joe F.