Stefano Domenicali

Are you talking about Franco Rocchi? He was an ex-Ferrari engine designer.
As a consultant, he designed a W12 F1 engine (that's right, 3 banks like a Napier aero engine).
As nobody wanted to buy the project, he built the unit himself.

The next year, Ernesto Vita, an industrialist from Modena, bought a chassis from First Racing to receive Rocchi's W12 engine to run it under the LIFE banner. (Vita means Life, apparently)
The team was run on a shoestring, with only one chassis and one engine, but they entered the car in 14 GPs in 1990s .
Driven by Gary Brabham or Bruno Giacomelli, the car failed to qualify each time.