Inhaltsverzeichnis für Issue 2 in Enzo

FOR MANY ENTHUSIASTS just a few years older than myself, the Dino is the most beautiful small Ferrari ever made. I have some sympathy with this view, but the 308 GTB was the small Ferrari of my impressionable childhood and so can never be usurped. Driving one for this issue has only cemented its place, and this despite the difficult conditions that met us during the making of the cover story. The 308 was a fabulous introduction to the star-studded V8 line-up we assembled and I can’t thank owner Simon – and Sal, Andy and Mike – enough for bringing their cars along to rain-lashed Wales. Latest in the line of ‘junior’ supercars is the 488. I’ve been lucky enough to drive a few of its rivals, but none engages…

‘AS WAR ENDED, HE WAS ALREADY TEEING-UP PRODUCTION OF NEW ROAD AND RACING CARS’ When Enzo walked out on Alfa Romeo late in 1938, one clause of his severance agreement was that he would neither build nor race cars under his own name for four years. Short-term he set up a topquality precision machine-shop business in his old Scuderia HQ on Modena’s Viale Trento-Trieste under the title Auto-Avio Costruzioni. It was there that the son of his 1924 Alfa Romeo team leader, Antonio Ascari, called on him, around Christmas 1939. Young Alberto Ascari and his aristocratic friend, the Marchese Lotario Rangoni, wanted Ferrari to build them sports cars capable of competing in the 1500cc class of the forthcoming short-circuit Mille Miglia at Brescia in 1940. Fiat was offering attractive bonuses…

Our 308 GTB is an early car, fed by four Weber 40DCNF carburettors but, unlike its four-seater 308 GT4 sibling, with dry sump lubrication. This is the Ferrari V8 in its purest, most analogue form, its snap-crackle throttle response the result of slugs of rich mixture rather than carefully tuned engine management. It’s the smallest engine here at 2926cc and the gentlest at 255bhp, and its old-school nature shows in its two valves per cylinder and its points ignition. The need to maintain power while cleaning up the emissions soon concentrated Ferrari’s engineering minds, though, and as the years passed it was possible both to have an ever bigger power cake and eat it with no leftover crumbs. As with all Ferrari V8s installed in actual Ferraris, it has a…

Direct-injection technology was the main change for the 458 Italia. With this and the high compression ratio of 12.5:1 that it enabled, power shot up to 562bhp despite only a modest capacity increase to 4497cc. The engine was happy to rev to a stratospheric 9000rpm, too. Detail developments over the F430 abounded. Three throttle valves between the plenums of each bank could be opened or closed in combinations to ensure optimum intake resonances to suit every engine speed and load. The ignition system detected ionisation currents to help optimise each cylinder’s sparking phenomena, enabling more precise control of spark advance. The dry-sump oil system used four separate scavenge pumps, the sucking of two of them timed to counteract crankcase pressure pulses caused by descending pistons, and thus reduce power loss…

It doesn’t matter how many times you hear a ‘Colombo’ V12 reaching its sweet spot, the reaction is always the same: eyes widen, pupils dilate and language tends to take a turn for the fruity. ‘Our’ Ferrari 330 GTC is nothing if not choral, but that’s only part of its appeal. This is among the finest GT cars of its generation; one that effortlessly marries performance and practicality with looks to die for. It is everything you want a ’60s Maranello road car to be and more. Which rather begs the question: why aren’t its praises sung as loudly as those of other models in the marque cannon? Classic Ferraris, by definition, are lauded. It goes with the territory. But there is a pecking order. As such, the understated front-engined…

‘THE 550’s 12 cylinders are among the most beautiful and potent Ferrari has ever produced for a road car. Michael Schumacher helped develop the motor. He said at the time: “During the test period I took this 12-cylinder engine on tuning runs. It’s not only sweet at high revs, it gets a move on right from the start.” He’s right. By 3000rpm it’s already producing 200bhp. The action concentrated between 3000 and 7000rpm is more violent still and delivered in one long surge. But it’s a refined surge. Too refined if you like your Ferrari music raw and bloody… The 550’s reputation for being comparatively easy to drive is true: visibility, gearchange, driving position and pedals all work for you; they don’t hinder. But that shouldn’t be interpreted as a…

‘FLAT OUT IN THE new Ferrari 348’. That was the secondary coverline on Car magazine of October 1989, the primary heading a scoop of Jaguar’s soon-to-be-stillborn F-Type, this the overweight, over-budget XJ41. The Jag was not the only car on this cover with problems. Not that I realised this at the time, as I took the first journalist’s ride in Ferrari’s brand new V8, entry-level supercar. ‘In fact the 348’s troubles had been revealed within 500 metres’ The new 348 was to replace the company’s best-selling model to date, and also one of its prettiest, the 308/328. Despite its age, the 328 remained a good drive, too. So replacing it would be no small task. While more power was found simply by enlarging the V8, the engine also now sat…

ENZO FERRARI IS THOUGHT BY many to have been a difficult man to approach, aloof and all-powerful in his empire as he hid behind those dark glasses. But he had to communicate sometimes, with industry suppliers, motorsport magnates, his own designers and engineers. And his working day needed to be organised. Without PA Brenda Vernor, much might not have got done, and certainly not with the efficiency with which it was. Brenda was Enzo’s conduit to potential new drivers, to Bernie Ecclestone, to anyone who didn’t speak Italian but could manage English or French. And Brenda, surprisingly given her role but not surprisingly given her name, is English. From Croydon, in fact. She hasn’t lived in England since travelling to Italy in the early 1960s to become an au pair.…

Now close to the form in which it would finish its career, Ferrari’s original roadgoing V8 gained new cylinder heads with five valves per cylinder for the 355. To the great relief of mechanics, self-adjusting hydraulic tappets meant no more shims. The middle of three inlet valves sat at right angles to its camshaft’s axis, but the other four valves did not, which meant that the camshaft loads had to be machined at an angle. There were increased side loadings on the valve guides, too, so the old bronze guides were replaced by sintered steel items. Initially the fuel and ignition were managed by a separate Bosch Motronic 2.7 system per bank. Later 355s used a single 5.2 system, better for emissions but less crisp in response. Both used exhaust…

The launch of the 488 saw a fundamental change: turbochargers, a pair of twin-scroll, low-lag items made by IHI. Turbocharging is central to the new family of 90-degree vee-engines designated F154: a V6 for Alfa Romeo, V8s for Ferrari and Maserati. Most potent is the 3902cc, 661bhp engine used in the 488, whose 560lb ft torque peak arrives at just 3000rpm – an unusually low crankshaft speed for a Ferrari engine. Direct injection, ionisationsensing ignition and continuously variable valve timing are features inherited from the 458, but the use of roller-finger cam-followers (their reduced friction is said to reduce power absorption by ten per cent at low revs) and the mounting of the timing chains at the flywheel end are new. At every turn, the engine team wanted to create…

Pulling power by Mark Dixon THE ONLY TIME I’ve been chatted up while sitting in a traffic jam was in an F40. We had ended up side-by-side, the Ferrari being left-hand drive, of course, and I remember her well: blonde lady in a BMW 3-series convertible, on the A41 heading into London, the autumn of 1992. But I remember the car better. I’d been a motoring journalist for just three years and the F40 was like nothing I’d ever driven. Back then, 478bhp in a car that weighed about the same as a new Mk3 Golf GTI was pretty special. It’s not exactly shabby now. Every moment is etched in my mind. Shadowing a big bike on a dual-carriageway, and being able to keep pace with it when the rider…

RECORD SALE Star of the RM Sotheby’s auction at Fiorano in September to celebrate Ferrari’s 70th anniversary, a unique LaFerrari Aperta with one-off livery was knocked down for an incredible 8.3 million euro, with the proceeds going to Save The Children. It was a world record figure for a 21st Century car. SMILES PER HOUR Fifty very special and deserving children from Rays of Sunshine were treated to an incredible passenger ride in a Ferrari 488 Spider around Silverstone in September. The award-winning charity grants wishes to seriously ill children, and the event, hosted by FNE, featured René Arnoux as a special guest. YOU’RE HIRED Six new graduates from the Ferrari apprentice programme – four new service advisors and two new parts advisors – have been welcomed into the FNE…

It’s all change on the core engine front for the F430. Fiat-driven rationalisation with Maserati led to a new family of V8s dubbed F136, able to be stretched to a larger capacity and made in versions to suit both marques (and Alfa Romeo, briefly, with the 8C). All were made at Maranello, with flat-plane crankshafts for Ferrari, 90-degree crankshafts for the ‘lesser’ marques. Key departures from the previous V8, which finished its career in the 360 Modena, were a combined sump and main-bearing-cap casting for extra stiffness, Nikasilsurfaced cylinder liners, a reversion to four valves per cylinder (still with hydraulic tappets) and chain drive to the four camshafts instead of belts. Both inlet and exhaust camshafts featured variable valve timing through a range of 50 degrees, replacing the exhaust-only, two-position…

FERRARI’S FIRST ROADGOING V8 was not created for a Ferrari. It was designed for the Dino 308 GT4, launched in 1973, which didn’t officially become a Ferrari until 1976, shortly after the launch of the two-seater 308 GTB. But its career since then makes it as core an engine to the Ferrari story as an engine can possibly be. This neat V8 engine served Ferrari’s smaller machinery all the way through to 2005 and the demise of the Ferrari 360 Modena. Only then was it ousted by a new generation, going out on a high as its final iteration sent 420bhp to the rear wheels of the 360’s Challenge Stradale version. Really? The same engine? Obviously there were many developments: two, four then five valves per cylinder, wet or dry…

166/195/212 (1947-1951) First true road car was 166, with 2-litre Colombo V12 (166 the capacity of each cylinder). Largerengined 195 and 212 followed. Total built c200. 166 Inter: 1995cc V12, 110bhp, 106mph 340/342/375 America (1950-53) Based on evolution of 166 chassis, America series used ‘long block’ Lampredi V12 of 4.1 and later 4.5 litres. Just 41 built, all highly prized today. 340 America: 4102cc V12, 200bhp, 140mph 250 Europa (1953-55) Ferrari’s first real GT car and first to carry the 250 series nomenclature, though power was from a short-block version of Lampredi V12. Just 17 built. 250 Europa: 2963cc V12, 200bhp, 140mph 250 GT Boano/Ellena (1955-59) First ‘volume-produced’ Ferrari with classic 3-litre Colombo V12. Most designed by Pinin Farina, but built by Boano and later Ellena. Total built: 130. 250…