Quick, interesting article on the V12

The article less pictures from the Motoring Weekly website

This week’s article is about a range of fabulous engines – the Ferrari V12s. It has been known for decades that a V12 configuration is a smooth number of cylinders and manufacturers like Jaguar, Aston, Ferrari and Lamborghini have all had V12 motors in their sports cars.
Ferrari distinguish their engines by name and number and we’ll start the article with a description of the Ferrari Colombo motors, named after the engineer Gioacchino Colombo. When Enzo Ferrari created his iconic company after the Second World War, he asked Colombo to create a new V12 engine for him. Colombo had designed the engine for the race winning Alfa Romeo 158 so he had a good reputation to keep going and he did this by developing a 1.5 litre V12 for the Ferrari 125S. The engine was great for road use but wasn’t so successful on the track.
The engine was a 60 degree V12 with a single overhead cam on each bank of cylinders and produced 118hp. Grand Prix regulations allowed superchargers, so Ferrari added a Roots type to increase power to 230hp and had moderate success during the 1948 season. The following year, they turned it into a double overhead cam and increased the size of the supercharger to get 280hp and several race wins.
The engine was fitted to the 166, 195 and 212 models with varying size displacements from 2-2.5 litres and was fitted to cars throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Interestingly, after the engine was replaced by a new design, Ferrari still returned to the base Colombo motor for several models like the 1960s 400 SuperAmerica and the 275 GTB/4 in 1967. It finally went into the Daytona and 400/412 saloons with later cars using a flat 12 design. Just like the Jaguar XK motor, the Colombo engine showed what a great design it was, lasting nearly 40 years!
With limited success with the Colombo engine for racing, Ferrari engaged Aurelio Lampredi to build some out-and-out racing motors starting with 4 and 6 cylinders. He also produced a 3.3 litre naturally aspirated V12 for racing that found their way into road cars during the early 1950s. The 342 had a 4.1 litre version fitted producing between 200 and 300hp based on tuning. This motor was increased to a 5 litre for the 1956 410 SuperAmerica with 340hp on tap and it ended its life in the 500 during 1964.
Vittorio Jano, a protege of Colombo also produced a V12 for Ferrari. He had designed the Dino engine during the 1950s as a V6 and then stretched it first to a V8 and then finally in 1992 it debuted as a V12 in the 456 road car using 65 degree banks providing 430hp from 5.5 litres. This motor was also found in the 550, 575M and 612 and was increased to 6 litres for the 599 GTB, Enzo and Maserati MC12. Again like the Colombo engine, the foundation design was good enough for a 60 year life!
Ferrari have used the V12 in Formula One for decades starting with the 125 and then switching to Lampredi’s design for the 275, 340 and 375 during the early 1950s. The rules were changed in 1954 and Ferrari used the V12 exclusively for sports car racing.
With more F1 rule changes in the mid 1960s to a 3 litre Formula – Ferrari developed a V12 for the 312 series of cars. Initially, the Cosworth V8 dominated Formula 1 with Matra and Repco taking at least one title each along the way and it was not until the mid 1970s 312T that Ferrari scored fresh world championships with Niki Lauda and Jody Scheckter.
The F1 V12 survived until 1996 when they switched to a more competitive V10 but not before another championship came their way through good team work in 1983 – no drivers title but solid results to take the constructors title.
To close this article, you have to admire the engine designers of the 1940s and 1950s, their ground breaking work created an amazing foundation for later engineers to build on, using newer, lighter materials and new concepts to increase power and extend reliability. The Ferrari V12 in its many variants is a classic example of such a foundation.

 

Well I never. It's fascinating and, for me, surprising. So our engine is a development of the Dino V6/308-360 V8? I had no idea. I also thought the Enzo/599 had a completely different engine to ours (of which the F12 and 812 have a development).

So by this logic, the 812 Superfast has a development of the Dino V6. Is this really correct?

How is the F133 engine in our cars related to the Dino V6 and 308/328/348/355/360 V8? Are there any interchangeable parts? Bore/stroke similarities?

 

65 degree Vee seems to be the commonality between the 456/550/575 engine and the Dino V6, but it would be very interesting to hear the views of anyone here who knows engines.

 

Darius- This article is a gross oversimplification of the evolution of Ferrari engines. More later.

 

Hi,

Yes, skipping things like firing order and induction is a bit like saying all pianos that have the same amount of keys are the same.

But not everyone wants to get that deep.

I am no engineer but as I have worked on my cars a lot and have had my ears and eyes open most of the time, I can say that yes, obviously ther si some difference with the V-angle, but on the twelve you can have it at 60, 65, 90, 120 or 180 degrees and you essentially have two straight sixes sharing a crankshaft. The V6 and V8 are more complicated when it comes to balancing strokes and pulses. I know the Jaguar V-12 devolopment very well in detail, and they went for a design which is basically four three cylinder units, each three cylinder unit has one carb, one inlet manifold, one exhaust manifold etc.

If we get back on subject, wasn't it in the middle of the 456 production when Ferrari changed the firing order for the 65 deg. V12? The classic solution being that the two banks run in opposite directions parallel, like tandem, but of course with an offset. That way you can have the exact same hardware, but with a different firing order you get an engine that runs somewhat different. I find this stuff fascinating!

 

The 456M firing order change was interesting, but for what reason?
Plus they don't make much of it

 

Hi,

Yes, I think it's interesting too.

If you google the Jaguar V12 firing order you can even see a GIF animation of the engine and the Marelli distributor (yes, they used Lucas distributors in the beginning, but in the 1980's and 1990's they used the same Marelli distributors as Ferrari and Lamborghini, but sometimes with one coil and later also with two coils, so there are many variations on the internals of the distributor and the rotor) but I will try to make it simple in here.

The "new" firing order for the 456MGT (and I do not know for which other later Ferrari V12's but I would suspect all of them) was to "smooth" the running. They kinda reversed back to the "classic" V12 firing order as AFAIK all classic V12's, like Packard, Rolls-Royce Merlin and Meteor.

What really confuses this with Ferrari is the fact that they did change for some engines the cylinder numbering. The 456 uses the "horse-shoe" numbering, where numbers 1 and 12 are at the front of the engine and numbers 6 and 7 at the rear.

The only real change was that in all "Dino" type engines and the 65 deg. V12 they had the banks running in parallel, meaning that the firing order 1-12-5-8-3-10-6-7-2-11-4-9 shows how two cylinders next to each other always fire in pairs, like you would have six V-2's: 1 and 12, 5 and 8 and so on.

Almost all V12's I know (I think Lamborghini has some exception) have the banks running in the "classic" straight six configuration: 1-5-3-6-2-4.

Now what's different with the Ferrari V12 and the most common Lamborghini V12 and Jaguar V12 firing order, is that Ferrari 456GT has the "Dino" method where the two banks fire in the same order, following each other and the Ferrari 456MGT has the two banks running in opposite directions, I think in order to make it as smooth as possible: 1-7-5-11-3-9-6-12-2-8-4-10

If you look at that per bank, it still has the same on the RH side of the engine: 1-5-3-6-2-4

But on the LH side bank the 456MGT is now running the other way, from the back forward: 7-11-9-12-8-10, which is the same as the other side, but backwards.

Now if this gets confusing, it's always best to make a drawing!


(I think someone had posted the drawings here earlier, I will try to do a search again)

front
--------

12 | 1
11 | 2
10 | 3
9 | 4
8 | 5
7 | 6

The Jaguar numbering may seem confusing at first, but it is really clear once you understand the idea of the two "banks".

front
---------

1B | 1A
2B | 2A
3B | 3A
4B | 4A
5B | 5A
6B | 6A

So the firing order: 1A-6B-5A-2B-3A-4B-6A-1B-2A-5B-4A-3B just shows that they still have the A-bank running the "classic" IL6 firing order: 1-5-3-6-2-4
and the B-bank is running the same, but with a 50% offset, starting from the middle of the cycle: 6-2-4-1-5-3, and that also means that the pulses always come from the opposite end of the engine/crankshaft. That is actually exactly the same firing order as the Jaguar, Packard, Lagonda, Lincoln and classic Ferrari (Colombo, Lampredi) engines used, only the numbering methods vary.

Now I don't think I can tell which one is the smoothest, I think they all are smooth, BUT in higher revs they all sound different, I really like the idea of the six V-2's we have on the "Dino" style 456GT it roars.

 

Hi,

Found it! It was this thread post #44, Natan's drawings:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/456-vs-550-engine.454282/#post-145189420

Cheers,

Pekka T.
Fin.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login From Nathan's post which helps clarify what Ferrari did with cylinder numbering and firing order.

Left: 60 degree Colombo as used from 1947 to basically 1989 in the 412.
Middle: 65 degree as used in the 456, 550, 575, 612 and later F 140 powered models
Right: one time only combination as used in the 456M

 

Hi,

Yes, but the "one time only" part is a bit misleading. Perhaps "one time only" for a Ferrari with a 65 deg. angle, but unlike a V6 or a V8, the V12 does not really care what the V-angle is, as the six cylinder banks are in balance by themselves and the crank does not need a lot of counterweights etc.

The firing order for the 65 deg. V12 in the 456M GT is the same as in all classic. Ferrari V12's, Colombo, Lampredi and basically all V12's I know from the past, Jaguar, Packard, Lincoln, Rolls-Royce Merlin & Meteor, Lagonda, etc.

The 456GT, 550, 575, 612 etc. is the interesting different case, as you can see that at every cylinder and crank shaft, there are always two pulses generated right next to eachother, like six V2's arranged in a line. I like that tune.

Cheers,

Pekka T.
Fin.