They say if you’re into cars, the addiction consumes you and starts to trickle into your everyday life. Thankfully for us car-lovers, there are talented individuals out there who cater for our needs when we want to showcase our passion at home or in the workplace, and someone who does that better than most is Stéphane Dufour.
We’ve been a friend and fan of Stéphane’s work for years, visiting his treasure trove of a studio back in 2019, where he meticulously sculpts scaled versions of some of motoring’s greatest hits. Whether you’re into Porsche 911s, Lamborghini Miuras, race-ready Ford Mustangs or Le Mans-winning Porsche 917s, this French designer has the ultimate desktop showpiece for you. Now, he's catering directly to the tifosi with his latest offering: the Ferrari 312 P.
Continuing from a long line of sports prototype winners, the 312 P came with a flat-12 engine, often referred to as a boxer engine, and quickly cemented itself as a key contender for glory against a formidable grid of rivals. Ferrari fitted the racer with a wedge-shaped body that was derived from the design Giacomo Caliri had penned for the 612 Can-Am. At this time, speed was key, but developments in the study of aerodynamics were also paramount to success, and the 312 P boasted sleek aluminium bodywork with a sharp, cut-off rear tail. Compared with the iconic 330 P4 it replaced, the 312 P was a major step forward, being over 100 kilograms lighter and, despite the smaller engine, a mere 20 horsepower down on power.
It is, therefore, the ideal machine for Stéphane to work his magic on, carefully considering every crease and undulation of the car’s bodylines to create a casting that is filled with resin to create the shape. Once the sculpture has set, the precise finishing touches can begin, where Stéphane will shave hairline Imperfections away, allowing the breath-taking finished product to come to life. Our pick would be the classic Rosso variant, which we are delighted to now have in the CD Shop!
