Pete05
Premium
- 7,040
- Melbourne, Australia
Within the sprawling Ferrari compound at Maranello, nestling against the foot of Italy's Emilian Appenine mountains, there are a number of tiny engine test cells, their brick walls stained with a film of oil. Each diminutive cell played an important role in motor racing history, for it was here that Ferrari first ran many of the most successful racing engines of the postwar period. To Enzo Ferrari, the engine was always of paramount importance. Until 1963, the chassis which carried it was merely a secondary consideration.
In 1946, the first Ferrari V12 appeared, designed by Gioacchino Colombo, the ex-Ferrari and Alfa Romeo engineer, who had difficulty finding work in the postwar period because of his vociferous wartime allegiance to Mussolini. It was Enzo Ferrari who finally hired Colombo to produce an engine which would give competitive power to a new range of Ferrari sports and Grand Prix cars. This new engine had to have greater power potential than the currently supreme straight-eight supercharged Alfa Romeo 158 (initiated by Ferrari himself in 1937) and had to be sufficiently low-stressed to provide a firm foundation for extensive future development.
Colombo produced a 1500 cc V12, unusual at the time not only for its multiplicity of tiny cylinders, but in their use of a greater bore than stroke. The engine had single overhead camshafts in each cylinder bank. It was used in a series of sports racing cars built between 1946 and 1947. In 1948, a single-stage Roots-type supercharger was added and this engine appeared in a prototype Ferrari single-seater which made it's debut at Turin in the first postwar Italian GP.
In theory, Colombo's calculations showed that the engine would rev to an unprecedented 10,000 rpm, but in practice it could not exceed 7500 rpm safely. Consequently, it's power output was restricted to a disappointing 225 bhp. To make the most of this modest output, the new V12 was installed in a light low-profile, short-wheelbase car. This squat build, combined with swing axle rear suspension, made the car nervous and intensely demanding on it's drivers, because it was liable to spin at the slightest provocation.
During 1949, in the absense of the Alfa Romeo GP team, these new Ferraris and their developed successors proved quite successful, particularly when driven by Alberto Ascari and his mentor Luigi Villoresi. In 1950, however, when Alfa Romeo returned to the fray, the better-handling, long wheelbase, twin-stage supercharged, 1.5 litre Ferraris were simply outgunned for power.
Meanwhile, Ferrari had employed a new engineer, Aurelio Lampredi, who believed that the team should turn to unsupercharged 4.5 litre option in Grand Prix regulations. Instead of combating Alfa's 1.5 litre supercharged straight eight cars with a 1.5 litre supercharged V12, he suggested a redesigned V12, normally aspirated making use of those extra three litres. As a result, the big 4.5 litre V12 Ferrari 375 was developed from smaller capacity unblown versions.
During 1951 it proved it could run with the supercharged Alfas, and then (when it was driven by Froilan Gonzalez) it beat the previously insuperable Alfa Romeo in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Ascari won the next race, the German GP at the Nurburgring, and this proved it was the car, not merely the driver,
which had succeeded in Britain.
ENGINE
Configuration
60 degree V12
Location
Front, longitudinally mounted
Construction
Silumin block and head
Displacement
4494 cc / 274.2 cu in
Bore / Stroke
80 mm (3.1") / 74.5 mm (2.9")
Compression
11.0:1
Valvetrain
2 valves per cylinder, SOHC per bank
Fuel feed
3 x Weber 40 mm DCF Carburettors
Ignition
Single plug, 2 x Magnetti Marelli magnetos at the back of the camshafts, spark plugs located inside the V
Lubrication
Dry sump
Aspiration
Naturally aspirated
Power
350 bhp / 261 kW @ 7000 rpm
DRIVETRAIN
Chassis
Aluminium body on tubular frame with elliptical section side members and tubular cross members
Front suspension
Double wishbones, transverse lower leaf spring, Houdaille hydraulic lever dampers
Rear suspension
DeDion axle, transverse lower leaf spring, 2 radius arms, Houdaille hydraulic lever dampers
Steering
Worm and sector
Brakes
Finned drums, all-round
Gearbox
Four speed manual
DIMENSIONS
Weight
720 kg / 1587.3 lbs
Length
3937 mm / 155"
Width
1428 mm / 56.2"
Height
960 mm / 37.8"
Wheelbase
2320 mm / 91.3"
Front track
1270 mm / 50"
Rear track
1250 mm / 49.2"
Front tyre
Pirelli 5.50" x 16"
Rear tyre
Pirelli 7.00" x 16"
Fuel tank
195 litres of benzene/alcohol mixture, rear mounted
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/120/Ferrari-375-F1.html
http://www.f1technical.net/f1db/cars/16/ferrari-375
http://formula1.ferrari.com/cars/375-f1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_375_F1
Last edited:
