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Modern Ferrari Engines

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by 134282, Aug 17, 2009.

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  1. 134282

    134282 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    #1 134282, Aug 17, 2009
    I had a nice long conversation yesterday with a (very patient) LWAusbrooks about vintage Ferrari engines (Colombo, Lampredi, etc.). These guys are credited with some of the greatest engines ever.

    That led me to wonder if there is a single name attached (be it one person, or the leader of a design team) to the engines we see in Ferrari's contemporary models. To whom does the credit go for the 599 engine? Does it vein all the way back to Colombo's designs (the 125 through the 512), or does it go to someone in the Formula One department? Are Ferrari's engine designs credited to a single individual (or design team) any more, or is the Colombo, Lampredi, Bizzarrina, etc. era extinct?
     
  2. El Wayne

    El Wayne F1 World Champ
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    #2 El Wayne, Aug 17, 2009
    The design work was probably outsourced to someone in India.
     
  3. Ferrarista3

    Ferrarista3 F1 Rookie

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    #3 Ferrarista3, Aug 18, 2009
    I'm having a hard time believing that :rolleyes:
     
  4. Ed_Long

    Ed_Long Formula Junior

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    #4 Ed_Long, Aug 18, 2009
    Or Nigeria either. Iralian all the way.
     
  5. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

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    #5 beast, Aug 18, 2009
    While the old engines were primarily designed by one person with a pencil and paper. the modern engines are designed by a team with one focusing on fuel and emissions, the other focusing on lubrication, another of valve train etc. The you have another team working on the packaging of the engine that works with the chassis team to make sure it will fit into the car.

    The days of a single person creating a work of art engine is long gone.
     
  6. 134282

    134282 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    #6 134282, Aug 18, 2009
    Thanks, Rob!

    Any idea why today's teams (who I assume have a team leader) aren't credited like the designers of yore? Same thing with body designs - if it weren't for his intense involvement in P4/5, would any of us really know that it was Jason Castriota (at the time with Pininfarina, now with Bertone) who designed the 599 and the Maserati Birdcage?

    Aston Martin engines have an inspector's name attached. I think that Ferraris are still special enough to have names attached to the engines and bodies and so forth. Or am I just being a zealot?
     
  7. AceMaster

    AceMaster Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #7 AceMaster, Aug 18, 2009
    good explanation!
     
  8. AceMaster

    AceMaster Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #8 AceMaster, Aug 18, 2009
    i would bet my life against this
     
  9. Far Out

    Far Out F1 Veteran

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    #9 Far Out, Aug 18, 2009
    As said above, it's impossible today for a single person to design an engine. Many teams are working together, and if there's a single guy on top, he's a project manager, coordinates the work and most probably hasn't even touched a drawing himself.
    An interesting number comes from the professor who lectures "Internal Combustion Engines" at my university: It takes about 4 years today to design an engine from scratch, and another 1-2 years application to the car where it's used in.
     
  10. Ferrarista3

    Ferrarista3 F1 Rookie

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    #10 Ferrarista3, Aug 18, 2009
    The head of engine development for road cars is a man called Jean-Jacques His. He was interviewed by EVO some time ago.
     
  11. beast

    beast F1 World Champ

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    #11 beast, Aug 18, 2009
    But he does not sit down and design a engine from scratch therefore we cannot call a new modern Ferrari engine a "Jean Jacques"
     

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