Ferrari Colombo engine
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Ferrari Colombo Engine was a petrol fueled,
water cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and non ...
, carburetted 60°
V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The fi ...
designed by
Gioacchino Colombo Gioachino Colombo (1903–1988) was an Italian automobile engine designer. Colombo was born in Legnano. He began work as an apprentice to Vittorio Jano at Alfa Romeo. In 1937, Colombo designed the 158 engine for the Alfetta and caught the attentio ...
and produced in numerous iterations by Italian automaker
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
between 1947 and 1988. The maker's first homegrown engine, its linear successor is the Lampredi V12, which it far outlived, the last Lampredi being made in 1959. Colombo, who had previously designed
Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
s for
Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italians, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari ...
, placed bore centres at 90 mm apart, allowing for significant expansion. Displacements ranged from the diminutive debut that powered the 125S racer to the unit in the 1986 412i
grand tourer A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either ...
. Significant updates were made in 1963 for the 330 series, featuring a redesigned block with wider, 94 mm, bore spacing. Enzo Ferrari had long admired the V12 engines of
Packard Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. One of the "Thr ...
,
Auto Union Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today. As well as acting as an umbrella firm f ...
, and
Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
(where he was long employed), but his first car, the 1940
Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 The Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 was the first car to be fully designed and built by Enzo Ferrari. Legal issues with former associates Alfa Romeo prevented Ferrari from creating the Ferrari marque. The 815 raced at the 1940 Brescia Grand Prix, where ...
, used a
Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
derived
straight-8 The straight-eight engine (also referred to as an inline-eight engine; abbreviated I8 or L8) is a piston engine with eight cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. The number of cylinders and perfect primary and secondary engi ...
. Development of the V12 Colombo engine continued long after Colombo had been replaced by
Aurelio Lampredi Aurelio Lampredi (16 June 1917 – 1 June 1989) was an Italian automobile and aircraft engine designer. Born in Livorno, he began his career before World War II at Piaggio, moved to Isotta Fraschini, and then joined Reggiane. This time he des ...
as the company's marquee engine designer. Although the Lampredi V12 was a real force for the company, it was Colombo's engine which powered Ferrari to the forefront of high-performance automobiles through the 1950s and 1960s. __TOC__


125

The first Ferrari-designed engine was the V12 125, the work of Gioachino Colombo and assistants Giuseppe Busso and
Luigi Bazzi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's ma ...
. The engine's name, and the car powered by it, the 125 S sports racer, were derived from the tiny by cylinders. The
single overhead camshaft An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...
60° V design had one cam on each
cylinder bank The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...
, two valves per cylinder, and three 30DCF
Weber carburetor Weber Carburetors is an automotive manufacturing company founded in 1923, known for their carburetors. History Eduardo Weber began his automotive career working for Fiat, first at their Turin plant (in 1914) and later at a dealership in Bologna ...
s. A 7.5:1
compression ratio The compression ratio is the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber in an internal combustion engine at their maximum and minimum values. A fundamental specification for such engines, it is measured two ways: the stati ...
yielded at 6800 rpm. First appearing May 11, 1947, the engine allowed the company to claim six victories in 14 races that year. Colombo and Ferrari had designed the engine with
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
regulations in mind, and introduced it the next year in the company's first F1 car, the 125 F1. This time, it was
supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
, in accordance with F1 dictates, for a total output of at 7,000 rpm. However, the single-stage Roots-type supercharger was incapable of producing the high-end power required to compete with the strong eight-cylinder
Alfa Romeo 158 The Alfa Romeo 158/159, also known as the ''Alfetta'' (''Little Alfa'' in Italian), is a Grand Prix racing car produced by Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo. It is one of the most successful racing cars ever; the 158 and its derivative, the 1 ...
and four-cylinder
Maserati 4CLT The Maserati 4CL and its derived sister model the Maserati 4CLT are single-seat open-wheel Grand Prix racing cars that were designed and built by Maserati. The 4CL was introduced at the beginning of the 1939 season, as a rival to the Alfa Rome ...
. Nevertheless, strong driving and a nimble chassis allowed the company to place third in its first outing, at the Valentino Grand Prix on September 5, 1948 and the company persevered in racing. For 1949, the engine was further modified with
dual overhead camshaft An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...
s (though still two valves per cylinder) and a two-stage supercharger. This combination gave the car better top-end performance and the resulting gave it five Grand Prix wins. Development continued the following year, but the problematic superchargers were dropped in favor of larger
displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
and Lampredi's 275 engine superseded the original Colombo design. Applications: * 1947
Ferrari 125 S :''See also the Ferrari 125 F1, a Formula One race car sharing the same engine'' The Ferrari 125 S (commonly 125 or 125 Sport) was a 1.5 litre race car built in 1947 by automaker Ferrari of Modena, Italy, its first vehicle. Only two were made. ...
— * 1948
Ferrari 125 F1 :''See also the 125 S, a sports racer sharing the same engine'' The 125 F1 was Ferrari's first Formula One car. It shared its engine with the 125 S sports racer which preceded it by a year, but was developed at the same time by Enzo Ferrari, Vale ...
— Single supercharger, * 1949–1950
Ferrari 125 F1 :''See also the 125 S, a sports racer sharing the same engine'' The 125 F1 was Ferrari's first Formula One car. It shared its engine with the 125 S sports racer which preceded it by a year, but was developed at the same time by Enzo Ferrari, Vale ...
— Dual-stage supercharger,


58.8 mm stroke

The early 166, 195, and 212 cars used Colombo V12s of varying sizes. All shared the same
stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
, with 60, 65, and bores giving displacements of in the 166, in the 195 and in the
212 Year 212 (Roman numerals, CCXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Asper and Camilius (or, less frequently, year 965 '' ...
, respectively. Output ranged from to .


250

One of the most common Colombo engines is the 250, which debuted in 1952 in the 250S and lasted through the 1963 330 America. It used a bore with the common Colombo stroke of for a total of . Beginning with the famous 250 TR, "Testa Rossa" racing car, Ferrari began a new series of modifications to the Colombo 250 engine. The spark plugs were moved to the outside of the cylinder head, near the exhausts. This enabled Ferrari to introduce separate individual intake ports to use with the six two barrel Weber carburetors. Four cylinder head bolts per cylinder were introduced (instead of three) to cope with the added power. These changes eventually were incorporated into the Ferrari road cars, beginning with the 250 GT SWB and the 250 GT Series II Pininfarina cars.


275

The final Colombo Ferrari was the 275. It used a variant of the V12 with a wide bore for up to .


330

The 1960 400 Superamerica replaced the previous model's Lampredi engine with a Colombo. It diverged from the standard stroke with a stroke and bore. Output was with triple Weber carburetors. Although the 1963 330 series also used a engine with the same bore and stroke as the 400 Superamerica, this engine was quite different. It used a wider bore spacing, paving the way for future displacement increases. The
spark plug A spark plug (sometimes, in British English, a sparking plug, and, colloquially, a plug) is a device for delivering electric current from an ignition system to the combustion chamber of a spark-ignition engine to ignite the compressed fuel/air ...
s were moved and a new water pump was used. The dynamo on the prior versions was replaced by an alternator.


Four-cam

The Colombo V12 was substantially reworked for 1967's 275 GTB/4. It still used two valves per cylinder, but
dual overhead cam An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion c ...
s were now used as well. In a departure from previous Ferrari designs, the valve angle was reduced three degrees to 54° for a more-compact head. The dual camshafts also allowed the valves to be aligned "correctly" (perpendicular to the camshaft) instead of offset as in
SOHC An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...
Ferraris. It was a dry-sump design with a huge capacity. The engine retained the bore and stroke dimensions of the 275 model for of displacement. Output was at 8000 rpm and of
torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...
at 6000 rpm with six 40 DCN 9 Weber carburetors.


365

The 330 Colombo engine was enlarged with an bore to for 1966's 365 California, retaining single overhead cams and
wet sump Within piston engines, a wet sump is part of a lubrication system whereby the crankcase sump is used as an integral oil reservoir. An alternative system is the dry sump, whereby oil is pumped from a shallow sump into an external reservoir.Wet sum ...
lubrication. A reworked engine with four
camshaft A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams, in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition systems ...
s was used in the ''GT/4'' models. The 365 GTB/4 Daytona was the only 365 engined car featuring
dry sump A dry-sump system is a method to manage the lubricating motor oil in four-stroke and large two-stroke piston driven internal combustion engines. The dry-sump system uses two or more oil pumps and a separate oil reservoir, as opposed to a conve ...
lubrication. Applications: * 1966–1967 365 California * 1968–1970 365 GTC, 365 GTS * 1968–1972 365 GT 2+2 * 1968–1973 365 GTB/4 Daytona, 365 GTS/4 Daytona * 1971–1972 365 GTC/4 * 1972–1976 365 GT4 2+2


400, 412

The wet sump, four-cam, 365 Colombo engine was enlarged again to for 1976's
400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year 11 ...
with the same bore and a stroke. The carburetors were replaced with Bosch
K-Jetronic Jetronic is a trade name of a manifold injection technology for automotive petrol engines, developed and marketed by Robert Bosch GmbH from the 1960s onwards. Bosch licensed the concept to many automobile manufacturers. There are several variations ...
fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All comp ...
in 1979. In 1986 the engine was bored to giving a displacement of . Applications: * 1976–1979
400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year 11 ...
* 1979–1985 400i * 1986–1988 412i


See also

*
List of Ferrari engines This is a list of internal combustion engines manufactured by Ferrari. Straight-2 Ferrari was rare among automobile manufacturers in attempting to build a straight-2 automobile engine. The racing prototype never made it to production. * Lamp ...


References


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrari Colombo Engine
Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
Formula One engines Gasoline engines by model V12 engines