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D on D

Dino e Dallara. Two automotive engineers steer us through 60 years of the history of engines, designs, ideas, and inventions. A story that brings together the dreams of Dino, Ferrari’s first son who died prematurely in 1955, and the experience of Giampaolo Dallara, who started out from Maranello in his own quest for success. In discussing a rare document from the TCCT archive, written by Dino regarding the future of cars, Giampaolo explains why certain things happened, and others didn’t.

by Antonio Ghini

132 // TOP OF THE CLASSIC CAR WORLD

Andrea de Adamich’s Formula 2 Dino is flying, almost representing the successes of the small V6 60° that was suggested by Enzo Ferrari’s eldest son, who died at a young age. This power unit was used on tracks, for rallies and also on road cars very different from each other.

Photo courtesy of Gabriela Noris Archive. gabrielanoris@ virgilio.it

D On D // 133

V

elocità is the name of a magazine created in bologna by racing driver Cesare Perdisa. The second issue was published in April 1955, proudly announcing the collaboration of Alfredo Ferrari, affectionately known as Dino, Enzo’s eldest son, who first suggested the V6 65° angle engine that bears his name and contributed so much to defining Ferrari’s history. Dino writes an interesting, in-depth article on construction trends in racecars, which sadly turns out to be a one-off contribution. The brilliant young engineer suffered from an incurable hereditary illness, and died three months later, on 30th June 1956, at the age of just twenty-four. Having unearthed this practically unknown document, The Key discusses its contents with Giampaolo Dallara, the famous 134 // TOP OF THE CLASSIC CAR WORLD

engineer and now also constructor who began his successful career at Ferrari, a few years after Dino’s death.

First working at Maranello, and then with Maserati, Dallara acquired considerable track experience first-hand. Then at Lamborghini, he designed the Miura, later working for De Tomaso in the Formula 1 years. All this culminated the foundation of his own company.

It’s fair to say he knows all the inner secrets of racing cars. Today Dallara manufactures Indy car single-seaters, Haas Formula 1 cars, and Formula 2 and Formula 3 single-seater vehicles. Indeed, this examination reveals a great deal about the evolution of cars both road and racing vehicles, since Dallara now also produces the Dallara Stradale, a highly distinctive Gran Turismo.

“He’s talking about the Modena approach to car design and engineering. This is clear from what he writes. Dino was brought up on bread and motors,” says Giampaolo Dal-

lara sitting at the desk of his office in Varano del Melegari. From the window you can see a flying saucer of sorts, all lit up.

It’s the new company Museum, where they hold seminars and courses for engineers in collaboration with Parma University. “The point is that Italian automobile engineering and design owe a great deal to Officine Reggiane which, during the war years produced the magnificent RE2000 fighter aircraft. The company generated a number of engineers who made a name for themselves in automobile design in the post-war period, including Lampredi, Salvarani, and Rocchi.”

The Reggiane factory was located just a few miles from Modena, where Ferrari and Maserati, as well as Stanguellini, a much smaller firm, had helped breathe new life into the sports car sector. “Enzo Ferrari produced

Giampaolo Dallara, who engineered the Miura and other famous winning single seaters, first and foremost the Formula Indy ones, analyses for The Key the interesting but unknown article that Dino Ferrari wrote in 1956 for the magazine ‘Velocità,’ only a few weeks before he died.

cars that raced in all categories: Formula 1, World Constructors’ Championship with the Sports series, Indianapolis, Formula 2. The same principle prevailed throughout: it was only the engine that really mattered. The chassis was made from robust tubular steel, and as Ferrari himself liked to say, the engine was up front, like the oxen that draw a cart.

Dino had absorbed this culture. What’s more, Ferrari made everything in-house, they had their own foundry, and everything was built on the spot, starting from the engines.”

Yet it’s surprising to discover that Dino’s article for Velocità begins with a discussion of Turbine engines, which he did not exclude for the future of automobiles. “Fair enough, he was right to think about their possible use in the future. There was a similar illusion about the Wankel engine and the Hewland experiment with the 3-cylinder sleeve-valve engine. but it wasn’t to be, and for two reasons: internal combustion engines had enjoyed a major evolution, and the turbine was not suitable for use in automobiles.

Cars are different from airplanes, where the

Two wonderful creatures with Dino engines: the 246 and the Lancia Stratos.

rotation is constant. With cars, you need to be able to accelerate and to brake, and the turbine doesn’t lend itself to this.” Yet Dino was naturally interested in what was going on in the sector, where there was a certain buzz in the air: Fiat and Renault had produced record-making vehicles, and in 1954, GM had presented the futuristic Firebird with that engine. “It took time to see the advantages of the progress made in metallurgy and the new potential of the turbo,” Dallara recalls. And indeed, there were other attempts made in the same direction, such as those of Lotus and Andy Granatelli’s team at Indianapolis, or Rover at Le Mans, and even in Formula 1 with the ill-fated Lotus 56 of 1971.

Pointing out how Ferrari was both traditionalist and courageously innovative, Dallara also recalls how it experimented with something different toward the end of the 1970s, working with the brown boveri supercharging system. Just one test in race conditions on the track at Long beach in 1981 was all it took, and the choice turned definitively toward the turbo.

Dino also talks about desmodromic valves, pointing out that “it’s worth bearing in mind that in those days things were slower than they are today. They were times in which there was no data analysis aimed at optimizing results because everyone relied on experience. If something worked, it continued to be used until a better idea came along. The desmodromic valve system was interesting, but if no one adopted it, except Ducati, there must have been a reason! On the other hand, Dino’s considerations on fractioning the engine displacement are interesting: Ferrari had won two Formula 1 World Titles in 1952 and 1953 with a small, light 4 cylinder engine.

At the time the regulations imposed a maximum capacity of 2000cc, so this was the right choice. In actual fact, Enzo had tested all the possibilities, including a two-cylinder engine for Formula 1.” That curious engine designed

by Lampredi still exists and is part of Lord George bamford’s collection. “With the increase in displacement introduced by the new World Championship regulations, Dino duly believed that the most suitable engine was the 12 cylinder with its smaller units because it D On D // 135

1958 Dino 256 F1

allowed for much higher revs. Ferrari was right in acting accordingly, and in time this decision became a Ferrari hallmark.”

1963 Dino 206 SP

1967 Dino Fiat Spider

1967 Dino 206 GT

There is a short silence, as Dallara continues to read the long article in Velocità, his glasses poised on his forehead. “See, he also had doubts about the injection system, and for a good reason because in those years injection was mechanical, which is very different to what it later became. He then goes on to embrace a wider perspective: that of the differences between the Italian, the English, and the German approach. “The Germans won and left. They used all possible technology to dominate, and that was it. The English followed a different route. Apart from bRM, which did everything in-house, the trend was to build cars starting out from components made by specialists. Here in Italy, we had specialists too, for instance, Colotti for gearboxes and Weber for the carburetors. but the English used engines such as the Climax and Hewland transmissions, as well as other components available on their market, disk brakes included. They were thus able to concentrate on the chassis, focusing on lightness and aerodynamic qualities. Ferrari and Maserati were completely different because they made everything, they really specialized”. There is a telling counterexample that indirectly proves how appropriate the Italian decision was. 1960 saw the entry of the all-American Scarab with its front-mounted engine, a car based on obsolete mechanics that were simply not competitive. The constructor and pilot was the son of the American billionaires barbara Hutton, a fact that was understandably not widely publicized, and no further developments were made.

patched Piero Taruffi to study the behavior of vehicles with rear-mounted engines at the German Grand Prix. The following year the combination of English construction principles and a Ferrari engine made an unbeatable World Champion out of the 156 F1, known as the Shark nose”.

The real revolution was still to come, however. It centered around the understanding that air was not an enemy that needed to be penetrated with zealous efficiency, but rather a precious potential ally. “The importance of ground effect had been discovered by General Motors in America, by a team of engineers working on solutions to road safety problems.

Ralph nader, a respected author for his outspoken views, had judged the road holding of the Chevrolet Corvair to be unreliable. Instead of trying to defend the status quo, GM had set up a team that grasped the importance of the downforce obtained by removing resistance to the air that passes under the vehicle.

The results persuaded Jim Hall, who built the Chapparal racecars, to work on a highly advanced vehicle for the Can-Am Champion-

1978 Brabham BT46 with an Alfa Romeo engine.

1978 Lancia Sibilo

136 // TOP OF THE CLASSIC CAR WORLD

Although this American experience was not successful, it was the Americans who really turned the page in racecar progress. “The English actually took the first step by placing the engine behind the driver. As Carlo Chiti pointed out when he was the technical director at Ferrari, this lowered the center of gravity and meant that the driver was semi-recumbent. It also reduced the front surface of the single-seater vehicles and allowed for a 55-58% distribution of overall weight onto the back wheels, which was a considerable advantage.

Ferrari felt this made sense and even dis-

ships”. After experimenting with the advantages of a movable spoiler on the Chapparal 2F of 1967, Hall applied the principles of downforce to the 2J of 1970, introducing a pair of rear-mounted fans driven by a dedicated engine. These sucked the air out from under the car, making it much more efficient on any type of bend. In 1978 the same solution was adopted by brabham in Formula 1 at the Swedish Grand Prix, where niki Lauda drove his bT46b to a brilliant victory. Mirroring the American Federation’s ruling on the Chap-

1970 Chaparral 2J Can Am

paral, the FIA also immediately banned this technique on safety grounds. but the point is that automobile design had already undergone a radical change. With the Lotus 78, Colin Chapman understood how to achieve similar results without incurring a ban: he adopted flexible rubber-build side skirts that sealed the car to the ground, making it much more efficient for bends and braking.

analyzed, and changes are made in relation to scientific feedback rather than the intuition of test drivers.” Even after his death, Dino continued to be present at Ferrari. It wasn’t only the photo in Enzo’s office, but also the way people continued to talk about him with great respect. They were shocked by the tragedy that had struck the young man’s father». Dallara notes that Dino’s article was published in Velocità only shortly before his death. He sighs as he realizes that Dino’s fate was unavoidable at the time he wrote it. Since he must have been aware of this, we can’t help wondering whether the article might have been intended as a message. not a testament, exactly, but the remarkable insight of a trained engineer – which his father was not – who could have worked alongside his brother Piero on guiding Ferrari towards its future developments. but Fate, as we are all painfully aware, had decreed otherwise.

Engine Dino V6 65° – 26 different vehicles: Single-seaters.

1957 Dino 156 F2 1498,35cc 1958 Dino 256 F1 2417,33cc 1958 Dino 325 MI (Monza.Italia) 3210,12 cc 1959 256 F1 2474,54 cc 1960 246 P F1 2417,33 cc 1960 156 F2 1476,60 cc 1961 156 F1 1496,43 cc 1966 246 F1 66 2404,74 cc 1967 Dino 166 F2 1596,25 cc 1968 Dino246 Tasmania 2404,74 cc Sport/Prototypes 1958 Dino 196 S 1983,72cc 1958 Dino 296 S 2962,08cc 1960 Dino 246 S 2417,33 cc 1961 246 SP 2417,33 CC 1963 Dino 166 P 1592,57 cc 1963 Dino 206 SP 1986,60 cc 1966 Dino 206 S 1986,60 cc GT 1967 Dino 206 GT 1986,60 cc 1967 Dino Fiat Spider 1986,60 cc 1967 Dino Fiat Coupé 1986 cc

“We began with Dino, and we’ve reached the cars of today when every item of data is

1969 Dino 246 GT 2419,20 cc 1969 Dino Fiat Spider 2.4 2419,20 cc 1969 Dino Fiat Coupé 2,4 2419,20 cc 1972 Dino 246 GTS 2419,20 cc 1972 Lancia Stratos HF 2419,20 cc 1978 Lancia Sibilo 2419,20 cc

In the Fifties, turbine engines are a popular subject: the Année Automobile magazine dedicates its cover to these models. Dino imagines their development.

Amongst the topics, the use of air in the car dynamics and the first experiments – immediately banned – with extractor fans on the Chaparral 2J Can Am and Brabham BT46.

D On D // 137