The car entered in the 1970 International Championship for Makes[4][5] by the factory Scuderia Ferrari and private teams.

In the 1971 International Championship for Makes, the factory focused on the new Ferrari 312 PB and abandoned the 512 which was only entered by privateers.

From 1972 onwards, the 512 (as the 917) was withdrawn from the world championship following a change in the regulations; some 512s in private hands went on to compete in the CanAm and Interserie races.

Despite having a suitable engine, Ferrari sat out the 1968 season, to return in 1969 with the Ferrari 312 P. In that year, Porsche had taken full advantage of a loop hole with the Porsche 917, making the risky investment of building 25 examples of a five-litre car to allow homologation into the FIA's Group 5 sports car category.

Notwithstanding the weight difference and higher center of gravity, the Ferrari 512 S and Porsche 917 seemed fairly evenly matched.

For speed tracks such as Le Mans, Spa, Monza and the Osterrichring, an extra rear body panel designed to suit the 512 better was fitted on the car.

The modified 512 M had proven to be fast at the end of the season, and Ickx/Giunti also won[7] the Kyalami non-championship Springbok nine-hours race.

Just in time for the 24h of Daytona, Ferrari in January 1970 presented the required number of 25 512 S, as 17 complete cars and eight assembly kits, to the homologation authorities.

Car 1040, sold to Chris Cord and Steve Earle, was entered in 1971 by Penske at Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans and Watkins Glen, setting the pole positions at the American tracks.

Compared to Porsche which since the mid-1960s strived to align the top sports car drivers of that era, Ferrari's Mauro Forghieri could not count exclusively on top racers in their quest to win the 1970 International Championship for Makes, as Ferrari had abandoned sports car racing after 1967, save for few entries in 1969.

It was scheduled that Regazzoni, Ickx, Ignazio Giunti, Peter Schetty, Nino Vaccarella and Arturo Merzario should race as many rounds as possible.

Although fast, they were not such typical all-rounders as Jo Siffert, Brian Redman, Vic Elford, Hans Herrmann and Pedro Rodriguez (of them Siffert raced in F1 for March and Rodriguez raced F1 for BRM, but had not the same heavy testing duties as most other F1 racers), who all could drive, for example, the ultra-fast Spa-Francorchamps in a 917K just as competently as they could drive the twisty, winding Targa Florio course in a 908/03.

Vaccarella was "the man of the rocky mountains" at the Targa Florio and Schetty was the specialist of hillclimbing racing where Porsche was also a dominant factor.

John Surtees, who had quit Ferrari in 1966 after an argument with Eugenio Dragoni, returned for the races in Monza, Spa and at the Nürburgring.

Eventually his top racer Mario Andretti could only be present for the three American rounds (Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen).

Both failed to surpass the points tally of late Jochen Rindt, who had a fatal accident during practice for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix.

He was leading the 1971 1000 km Buenos Aires race when he collided with the Matra which Jean-Pierre Beltoise was attempting to push back to the pits after running out of fuel.