Ferrari 156

The conversion

Who has dealt with Enzo Ferrari and his cars from the historic point of view, sooner or later had to take this unhappy statement into account : “it’s the horse pulling the cart! I’ve never seen a horse pushing it. I’ve seen some donkeys, if anything !”; having said this the man from Maranello had silenced Mino Amorotti, his affectionate advisor. In fact, in January 1958 on the return from the GP of Argentina, where the small mid-engine Cooper had imposed itself with Stirling Moss, Amorotti rushed into Ferrari’s office, foretelling the end of single-seaters with front engine, and in exchange for it he received that unfortunate answer, later repeated like a mantra in front of the press (also in version “oxen”) which went down to history definitively.

The small Cooper, with a Coventry Climax 170 bhp engine, against 280 bhp of the six-cylinder Dino mounted on the 246 F1, won also the next Grand Prix of Monaco with Trintignant. But Monaco was always Monaco: the place of impossible achievements. In fact,. the title fell into Mike Hawthorn’s hands, a Ferrari driver, and in the end the major danger had come from the Vanwall, rather than the small Cooper.

Slaps were violently given in 1959, when the championship was monopolized by the “Spiders”, as by that time were called the small Coopers driven by Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren and Stirling Moss. The Ferrari had only held out at the GPs of France and Germany, where Tony Brooks dominated. The fall of Monza fortress, where it was supposed a Ferrari’s advantage thanks to its major power, dropped definitively the idea the front engine cars could hold the lead on fast circuits. The 246 was certainly fast, but wore the tyres. Whatever reasons had been to induce Enzo Ferrari to support the front engine configuration, were destined to be set aside in favour of a major pragmatism. The turning point of “Commendatore” was made it easy by the technical discussion broken out inside the company with Carlo Chiti, a young technical director arrived at Maranello in 1957 from Alfa Romeo, who was in favour of the new configuration. But a final boost came from Piero Taruffi and Vittorio Jano, two people who enjoyed Ferrari’s full reliability.

Chiti himself told Oscar Orefici in the beautiful interview book “Carlo Chiti: the roaring symphony” how the conversion had occurred: “Taruffi, a former driver of remarkable experience, but above all an intelligent engineer, had followed us at Zandvoort where we had planned some private tests. After those tests he agreed with me that the only possible solution was to built up a mid-engine single-seater. Jano too, whose advice was regarded by Ferrari with deep respect, was of the same opinion”.

In the 1959 winter the technical office of the Scuderia was involved in two fronts: on one hand the last attempt of improving Dino 246 performance, on the other facing the mid-engine matter. It wasn’t a question of working so as to get results in the 60’s season, but being ready on the next season, when new rules would have come into force providing engines with 1500 cc and the use of conventional fuel.

The world had to be in the dark about the construction of the new prototype. In an interview in the newspaper “Gazzetta del Popolo” dated December 1959, Ferrari yet reasoned on that way: “where is the engine on my GT cars “ In front or behind? If they have it in front of them I must construct racing cars in accordance with the construction formulas of production cars.”

As a matter of fact, since October the Ferrari factory had borrowed a Cooper from the Scuderia Centro Sud of Mimmo Dei to test it at the Aerautodromo in Modena in order to study its chassis. The 246P, rear engine, was prepared on the basis of the available material, in the attempt of copying the Cooper chassis and by the use of the same six-cylinder engine, 65 degree V angle, of the conventional 246, reduced to 263 bhp. The hardest work concerned the gear-box, mounted back on the differential, and the rear suspension, abandoning the De Dion rear axle layout so as to use the double rear wishbones already existing on the front.

After the first private tests, always at Aerautodromo in Modena, made between March and April 1960 with Martino Severi, the tester, the car was carried to Monaco for the second Grand Prix of the season, with some opposition from Carlo Chiti: “ I wished the experimental car had been brought to the debut by Phil Hill or von Trips and not by Ginther, who was our worst driver. I don’t think I offend his memory by saying that he drove very slow. It was a Ferrari’s typical obstinate idea, as he was jealous of a possible success in a project he had not shared.”

The American driver was qualified tenth, not so much for his poor fast qualities but for the car semi-axle failure. In the race dominated by Moss in Lotus, the 246 P lasted 44 laps out of 100, but all the same it was qualified sixth. The press pulled to pieces the new creature of “Prancing Horse”. Enzo Ferrari’s reaction was furious: “I’ve had enough of these newsvendors, who first demand new cars and later they insult us as soon as we take part in a race!” and he said to Chiti he had to forget to “enter Formula 1 Grand Prix with this car. We’ll go on with the experiments in Formula 2, with 1500 cc engine, in view of the change of regulations on next season.” And he was right too, in his way.

The 246P was deeply revised, by adopting a new body, much lower and tapered, according to Cooper style, with a shorter nose and mounting the evolution of Dino 156 engine of Formula 2. The 65 degree V angle and six-cylinder engine, designed by Vittorio Jano in 1957, was originally featured by 64.5 mm stroke and 70 mm bore for a total displacement of 1489.35 cc The top power of 180 bhp was produced with 9000 rpm.

In order to develop the engine because some changes of regulations were coming up in 1961, Chiti reduced the stroke to 58.8 mm and increased the bore to 73 mm, by raising the displacement to 1476.60 cc. As a result he obtained 185 bhp at 9200 rpm.

The 156 F2 was lined up in one only race of his category, the Grand Prix of Solitude, near Stuttgart, it was given in Wolfgang von Trips’ expert hands. To allow a comparison the Ferrari company entered the race with Phil Hill at the wheel of a traditional car with the front engine. At the start the Porsche driven by Herrman soon took the lead tailed by von Trips and held out for 17 laps. But the Ferrari’s driver launched his decisive attack three laps before the end, scoring the victory in front of a crowd that was in frenzy. After realizing that Hill had taken away 4 seconds on lap from his team mate, Ferrari’s last reserves about the mid-engine engine had definitively dropped. Chiti had carte blanche.

The rear engine for F2 was again lined up at the Grand Prix of Monza, and was given to von Trips in a triumphal day for the Scuderia of Maranello. In fact, the win was gained by Phil Hill, ahead of Ginther and Mairesse, all at the wheel of a Ferrari 256. The fourth place was scored by the Cooper car with Giulio Cabianca of Scuderia Centrosud, however, powered with a Ferrari engine, and the fifth place was won by the car driven by von Trips. Such an excessive power of red cars was explained by the absence of English teams, filled with indignation against the choice of that year’s layout, that also included the danger of the high speed ring, to a good use of the horsepower that was lacking for the British single-seaters. The English Rac lodged a protest left unanswered and the only possible option was to stay at home. Availing themselves of the Cooper design made in the previous winter and the experience on the 256P, then converted into the 156 F2, since September the technical office of Ferrari factory had been working to prepare the vehicle of 1961. The starting basis was made by 4 shaped tubes, 38 mm diameter, suspended by double wishbones with smaller diameter. Due to the use of a 120 degree V-angle engine, the two upper supporting tubes were remarkably wide apart to obtain a cradle of more space for the engine. The tanks in riveted plate were fastened on the sides of the cockpit, which gave further stiffness to the structure of the frame which was also equipped with a generous roll bar, envisaged by new regulations, able to assure a minimum protection to the pilot in case of a capsizing of his single-seater.

This light and simple construction was covered by slimmer and lower bodywork whose main feature was a pointed nose, and then known as “ sharknose", with a twin nostril air intake, which allowed to inlet major quantity of air to the radiator. A configuration resulting from first aerodynamic and rough designs, which was also taken back to sports cars of the same period. Bodyworks were hand built by bending very thin and fragile sheets of “allumag”, under the expert guidance of Medardo Fantuzzi, who since 1957 had been taking car of the livery of fantastic Maserati racing cars, and on the next year had offered his expertise to the Commendatore.

The experience of the single-seater of Formula 2 was taken again with a layout for suspensions made by double wishbones, telescopic dampers and front and rear coil springs. Ferrari went on with Dunlop Disk brakes, deeply experimented all over the last seasons. On the rear the disk brakes were inboard, by the side of the differential.

The wheelbase was 2320 mm and its full length was little over 4 m, while both tracks were 1200 mm and the width was 1380 mm. The empty weight was 440 kg within the 450 kg limit provided by regulations. With time, a further weight lightening was obtained by lowering to 420 kg.

What in 1961 made a difference in comparison with the competition it was certainly the engine. Chiti with Franco Rocchi and Angelo Bellei’s help had already revised Dino 65 degree V angle, for the 60’s rear engine car of Formula 2. To get ready for the new season they went on dealing with basic sizes, working out a first engine with a short stroke - 81 mm /48.2 mm (Type 188) - for 1496 cc of full displacement. Thus the engine power was pumping out around 200 bhp with a decisive increase to 10500 rpm.

But a bold project got into Chiti’s head: to enlarge the V-angle of the engine from the original 65 degrees to 120 degree V-angle. Thanks to 73 mm bore and 58.8 mm stroke with a full displacement of 1476.60 cc, the power was slightly lower than the previous original structure: 190 bhp at 9500 rpm, but the advantage given by lowering the centre of gravity was such as to compensate the lost horse power.

Notwithstanding the V-angle enlarged, the two engines had the same layout with the block cast in Silumin; the timing system had two valve-in-head per cylinder, twin overhead camshafts actuated by a Duplex type chain. The Achilles’ heel of these engines was made by the valves which were breaking, a trouble also shared with the Climax FPF. The solution was found by inserting a second valve inside the first one, when the season had already started. The engine of new conception had also problems of the height of oil suction from the block, problems solved quickly by more circulation pumps. To balance the weights, the oil tank was located between the front radiator and a 12 Volt battery.

There was a dual ignition with two Marchal plugs for each cylinder. Marelli ignition distributors, in the 65 degree V angle, were directly splined to the camshafts being more inside the V, whilst in the 120 degrees they were in parallel with the two main bearings of the cylinders, actuated by two independent shafts which received their power directly from the driving shaft.

All engines were equipped with an ignition motor, as provided by the new regulations. The feed of the traditional engine was given by a battery with three twin carburettors Weber 42DCN. As for the 120 degree V angle, Weber prepared a special down-draft and three-body carburettor (40IF3C), which represented an absolute world innovation.

To design the gearbox and driveline, Chiti could count on Salvarani’s help who designed a 5-speed gearbox + reverse gear with the ZF differential mounted before the gearbox and the clutch back the rear. It was an original solution which had to assure an excellent cooling of the clutch itself, the lower fitting up of the engine-gearbox unit and an easier replacement of ratios.

Gears were all synchronized and a special device prevented from shifting more than one up or down shifting with respect to the ratio put into gear. The gearbox tail also housed the ignition engine.

What with the peculiar “Sharknose” and because it was a car completely different from all the Ferraris that had come before, the 156 F1 revealed a charisma that promised well for the next season.

For 1961, Enzo Ferrari confirmed his trust in Romolo Tavoni as a sports director, while the framework of the team drivers was made by Phil Hill, Wolfgang von Trips and Richie Ginther, with the addition of different background figures and an unexpected protagonist.

Philip Hill was told by news as a reserved man who took pleasure in listening to classic music in order to better concentrate before the race and, in particularly hot days, he used to get into the car with his overalls soaked with water. Like many drivers belonging to Anglo-Saxon and American school, Phil had a background of mechanic worker and he arrived at the races having cars with covered wheels, usually British wheels. Enzo Ferrari remembered him as “not a man with excellent class, but sure and reliable above all on the high speed circuits …He was a good driver at the wheel of Sports cars because in the long distance races he succeeded in harmonizing his natural talent for speed with regularity and respect of the mechanical parts: a winning combination”.

Von Trips, the sole heir to an ancient and noble German family, had joined the races filled with pure passion. Since the earliest years of the post-war period he had been racing with all he could find, cars and motorbikes, but he had to be kept his passion secret from his family, that dreamed of quite a different destiny for him. After his agrarian study he started a professional driver’s career thanks to Mercedes and Porsche’s supports. He joined Ferrari Company in 1956, first at the wheel of sports cars and later on the single-seaters of Formula One that preferred. In comparison with Hill he was considered more aggressive and his same team mate admitted: “Trips was able to run big risks that I’d have liked to be able to run me too, and I was very anxious about the thought of the level I should have reached to fight against him. He was capable to reach the limit and farther…He was called “Von Crash”.

We have already mentioned Chiti’s tart comment on Ginther: a partial truth to which it should be added his excellent quality of test driver, thanks to his studies of mechanics. Ferrari remembered him, with unusual tenderness with respect to the results obtained by him: “He was a little man with a great will. And he had also courage.” The start of his career was just favoured by Phil Hill, Californian too, who sponsored the continuation of Ginther’s career even after the Korean War interval. Above all, he obtained results with covered wheels, but that didn’t prevent him from joining the Ferrari’s world in 1960.

At the Monaco Grand Prix they had immediately palmed him off with the hot potato of the 246P, a rear engine prototype. Whatever had been happened, but whatever Chiti’s thought might have been, Enzo Ferrari had certainly had his own reason for that choice.

Above all, the competition spoke English: for Cooper it might be just valid the saying “the team that wins must not be changed”. To drive the “spiders” were confirmed the champion in charge, Australian Jack Brabham and New Zealander Bruce McLaren. The emerging Lotus was driven by a still immature Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor, with the addition of Stirling Moss, who was however running for the Rob Walker Racing, while the BRM had hired Graham Hill and Tony Brooks.

If in the last seasons the strong point was represented by an innovation in the chassis field, in 1961 it was more than ever necessary to rely on that only element, seen the lack of suitable engines .in which they found themselves. The announcement of new regulations had been made in time (29th October 1958) by the CSI, but the English teams had spent two years by trying to boycott it, or at least to make it closer to their self-interests. Thus, at the start of the season they found themselves only with the Coventry Climax FPF: a four-cylinder engine that produced 155 bhp at 7500 rpm, originally designed for Formula 2, waiting for some more powerful engines. Both Coventry Climax and BRM were, in fact, preparing two new 8-cylinder engines which, however, would have been ready, at best, late in the season.

A more serious danger could come from Porsche Company that had decided to take advantage of the change of rules so as to try a masterstroke in Formula 1, after making some appearance, here and there some years before, at the wheel of a single-seater of Formula 2, derived from the Sports cars with covered wheels. The four-cylinder boxer and air-cooled engine of the single-seaters 718 and 787, which had to take part in the championship, still produced 190 bhp in the most powerful versions. Besides, the team had a staff made by two real professionals like Dan Gurney and Jo Bonnier. The main Porsche’s handicap was its careful acting when the Company had to face up that adventure and a limited budget as the single-seaters hadn’t even rims in alloy but in standard pressed steel.

The start of the season was scheduled on May 14 th at Monaco, but since March the teams had been running around Europe in order to take part in some races hors championship. Unlike Cooper or Lotus that went wherever there was a hiring, that year Ferrari Company restricted his participations to few and screened events.

The “prancing horse” season started with the Grand Prix of Siracusa on April 25th, where the red and flaming 156F1, at its racing debut, was given to a young promising driver of the Italian motor race panorama. The matter was a simple one: after Musso’s death in 1958 an Italian driver was no longer seen at the wheel of a Ferrari single-seater in the world championship. The press and fans asked for a succession that was late to come: “Commendatore” didn’t want to assume the responsibility for an Italian driver at the wheel of the car” – some years after Romolo Tavoni remembered – “and at that time an alternative formula was found. Ferrari would have given the 156 to FISA, (Federazione Italiana Scuderie Automobilistiche) that would have entered the car on its behalf at the world championships and not hors championships.

The choice of the driver was due to FISA that went fishing in the lively championship of Formula Junior: the most rated candidates were Raffaele Cammarota called “Raf”, Renato Pirocchi, (the winner of 1960 championship) and Lorenzo Bandini. The selected driver by FISA (also not officially by Ferrari) was Baghetti, 26 years old, Milanese; an industrialist’s son who had started racing secretly from his family. He had put himself in evidence first at the wheel of Alfa Romeo’s cars and later on in Junior Formula, with Angelo Dagrada’s single-seater.

After little apprenticeship in Modena with the 156, young Baghetti was sent to Siracusa for the Grand Prix, which was held on the outskirts of Modena on a circuit of 5612 meters, to be raced 56 times. To be familiar with the track Baghetti hired a Fiat. It was a meticulous work which allowed him to qualify his Ferrari on the first row, beside the Porsche driven by Dan Gurney and before John Surtees, Graham Hill and Jack Brabham. Owing to his indecision at the start he was sucked into the eighth position, but his comeback was irresistible and after six laps he newly took the lead, scoring the victory before Gurney and Jo Bonnier.

At its debut the 156 had allowed a beginner to win a race ahead of much more experienced drivers: to Ferrari it looked like to be a decidedly interesting championship.

The start of the season at Monaco left, however, a certain bitterness. Chiti was irritated because once again the experimental material, in this case the only engine with 120 degree V-angle, had been given to Richie Ginther and not to Hill or Von Trips. Secondly the weekend was dominated by the Lotus 18 with Stirling Moss under Rob Walker Racing colours. Ginther did the best to exploit the engine given to him, and finished second in qualify, before Jim Clark and two Hills. He also managed to start ahead of Lotus cars, but on lap 14 had to surrender, almost at the same time, to Moss and Bonnier, while his team mate was running after him. Towards the mid-race the two Ferrari’s drivers managed to get the better of the Porsche with Bonnier and Ginther could minimize the lead taken by Moss over him, even if driving as a mad he couldn’t pass the black car of Lotus that won with 3 seconds’ gap. Third and fourth places were gained by Phil Hill and von Trips. In the end of the race Chiti immediately phoned “Commendatore” to ask him to fit all three cars with the 120 degree V-angle engine for the Grand Prix of Dutch, but he replied in the negative.

Back to Maranello, the question was newly dealt with all management, and with some sparks between Ferrari and his technical director: “As usual – later Chiti reported – nobody dared contradict him, when I burst out: either we race as I want, or here are my resignations. With that he concluded: “Do as you like”.

However, on Sunday, a victory was scored at Monaco by Ferrari 156: at the Grand Prix of Naples, hors championship. On the roads of Posillipo, Giancarlo Baghetti had another great success, by passing all the rivals who were lap down. His rival, Lorenzo Bandini, scored the lowest step of podium with a Cooper-Maserati of Centro-Sud. While the Italian press published banner headlines on the new crack racing-driver, at Maranello Enzo Ferrari was deciding to plan Baghetti’s debut at the world championship Grand Prix of France, which was envisaged in July.

Meantime there was still the Grand Prix of Dutch, where Ferrari Company exhibited all three cars with the engine at 120 degree V-angle, according to Chiti’s will. Since the qualifying sessions von Trips and Hill had been marking each other closely by scoring the same time: 1:35:7, with Ginther at the third place with 2/10’s gap. In the race, von Trips held steadily the lead of the race ahead of Hill, who had also to look breathlessly at the rear-view mirrors so as to hold at bay the Lotus of Jim Clark, the author of the fastest lap. On the contrary, Ginther had slipped back, finishing fifth.

By mid-June the circus met at Spa-Francorchamps for the traditional Belgian Grand Prix, the Ferrari lined up one more car with an engine, 65 degree V-angle for Olivier Gendebien and once again had monopolized the first row: on pole Phil Hill, the only one to go down 4 minutes by lap (3:59:3), followed by von Trips and Gendebien. Ginther recorded the fifth time behind the Cooper driven by Surtees. First laps of the race saw the yellow 156 taking the lead with Olivier Gendebien, then the lead was taken by the single-seater driven by Phil Hill, tailed by von Trips. The two drivers struggled for victory on a final spurt, with the American who scored 7/10 over his team mate. Third place was gained by Ferrari with Ginther, who scored the fastest lap, ahead of Gendebien. First of non-Ferrari drivers was still Surtees in a Cooper.

In France, on the high speed circuit of Reims, Ferrari entered again with four cars, one of them for FISA to allow Giancarlo Baghetti’s debut. On paper the circuit was still in favour of the prancing horse and major power of its engines, as revealed by qualifying sessions with the umpteenth first row all red (Hill, von Trips and Ginther in this order, while Baghetti placed twelfth) As a matter of fact Ferrari was one step from a complete disaster, owing to breakable valves and a dirty circuit. Von Trips had to retire after 18 laps due to the engine failure; Ginther was qualified fifteenth at 12 laps, but it was actually a retirement due to an oil pressure drop. Phil Hill finished ninth with a feeling he’d thrown away a chance: “I was very annoyed after the race because it had been the biggest flop of all season. Things might have gone differently. I’ve thrown away nine points. Everyone was in trouble for the stones which went into the radiator and I tried to avoid running after the other cars at high speed so as to avert the problem. I was about passing Stirling’s lap down car when I thought ‘I am forced to arrive close by Moss before reaching the (slow bend) Thillois or I’ll find myself the stones inside the radiator’ I passed Moss but my car spun right round and he bumped against my car side while I was in the spin.” At that time official Ferraris were out of play, but there were still other competitors like Dan Gurney, Jo Bonnier with Porsches 718 and the fourth Ferrari driven by young Baghetti, who took even the lead on lap 41. It started a hard contest with a certain foul play by two “older drivers”. Bonnier was a little delayed for some car problems, whilst Gurney and Baghetti disputed the victory on the last bend, where the Italian driver raced on the Porsche’s trail, exploited all major power of his engine and was the first to cross the finishing line with 1/10’s lead over the American. We would never have thought that Ferrari’s day would have been saved by a debutante. It was all the same difficult, in particular, for the young Italian, to fancy that his bright beginning would have already been the peak of his career: days alike Baghetti would never have lived on. However, he would have been left with the record of the only driver winning at his debut in the first race of Formula One history (obviously, besides Farina).

The next meeting ended up with Ferrari in the lion’s den: the Great Prix of England on the Aintree circuit. Phil Hill scored pole, followed by Ginther. Beside them there was the Porsche driven by Bonnier. On the second row, Ferrari with von Trips, while Baghetti was qualifying with the tenth time.

From the sky the rain was poring down on the circuit: I hated Aintree – later on Phil Hill remembered – because it was pouring down so much as to find it difficult to see where puddles were located. I had a real critical moment when I bumped against some stakes at Melling Crossing, and I lost my enthusiasm. I was happy to leave Aintree with six points and being alive.” Hill finished, however, second, behind von Trips and before Ginther. On the contrary, Baghetti had hold up to lap 29, for then to retire because of an accident.

On the rough 22 km track of Nürburgring, the traditional seat of the German Grand Prix, the first row of the line up gave the impression of a margin much less wide for Ferrari in comparison with the other tracks: on pole, Phil Hill who shared the first row with Brabham in his Cooper, with Moss in his Lotus and Bonnier in his Porsche. Von Trips was fifth, Ginther fourteenth, ahead of the other 156 which was on that occasion given to Mairesse. Jack Brabham brought to the debut a new eight cylinder Coventry Climax: with 1496 cc displacement: the new engine produced 185 bhp at 8500 rpm. It was quite a step forward in comparison with a bloodless FPF.

The victory was scored by the Lotus with Stirling Moss, who made use of his talent in variable weather conditions: in fact, all along the endless track there were some stretches dried out and others soaked by rain. Von Trips and Phil Hill qualified behind the English driver, with Ginther finished eighth. The fourth 156 driven by Mairesse was forced to retire.

The next appointment seemed to be still in favour of Ferrari cars: on the fast circuit of Monza powerful DINO 6 cylinder engine could yet make difference. Von Trips took pole, ahead of Ricardo Rodriguez, on that occasion hired by the Scuderia of Maranello. On the second row there were the Ferraris with Ginther and Hill, with the latter faced by problems to the springs of valves In fact, his car had been used for a testing session in view of the Grand Prix. Hill had a clear feeling that the engine had been forced: “ My car had obviously come back to Monza without any change of the engine, thus I supposed that some valves were broken. – reported Hill – Once the small inner valves had been damaged, the breakdown could not be noticed when you increased the number of revolutions but it was only a question of time, until the engine failure.”

During the night between Saturday and Sunday, Hill obtained the replacement of the engine and at 7 a.m. the American was already on the track to verify the technicians’ job and make some practice performance.

At the start Rodriguez took the lead, but by the end of first lap the cars appeared on the finishing line in the following order: Ferrari with Phil Hill, Lotus with Taylor, then Ginther, von Trips, Rodriguez, Clark, Brabham and Baghetti. During lap 2, at 200 meters from the Parabolica, according to some witnesses the green Lotus driven by Clark touched von Trips’ Ferrari that spun off. The Lotus halted aside, but von Trips’ 156 hurtled up the banking and went twice into the guardrail along the inside of the track and then plunged back on to the track. Besides the death of the driver, that accident caused the killing of fifteen spectators who were behind the protection wire. The public of fans spread over the remaining part of the autodromo didn’t appear to realize the gravity of the accident and the race went on undisturbed. Hill held his lead easily. The most difficult moment was when Moss, decided to play his last chance to be competing in the running for the championship, launched a hard attack on the American, before being slowed by an engine droop. Moss had decided to use the old FPF engine instead of a new V8 Coventry Climax, but the traditional choice hadn’t, however, paid it back.

Therefore, the victory was scored by Phil Hill ahead of the Porsche with Gurney and the Cooper with McLaren. Baghetti’s and Rodriguez’s Ferraris were forced to retire almost at the same time because of the engine failure. Hill ran up to the last lap being afraid of the same end: “I was treading warily, trying to win at the lowest possible speed and be kind with the engine. When the race was over I went to the stalls, and the first thing I asked Chiti was: “How is Trips?” I immediately understood, only from Carlo’s look, that Trips was dead, even if he didn’t say it to me, he only wanted to lead me to the winner’s step of podium to rejoice at the victory.”

The 1961 rules provided that five best results were needed to win the championship: the exciting challenge between Phil Hill and von Trips ended in favour of the former by 34 score against 33. “It may be crazy now, but somehow I felt much involved with Trips’ death. Obviously, I wasn’t, I was only another driver of another car.” The United States had their first world champion of Formula One.

The conclusive race of the championship was the Grand Prix of the US at Watkins Glen, but obviously Ferrari Company, still affected by von Trips’ death and busy with the drivers’ championship as well as the constructors’ cup in its pocket, did not participate. Phil was upset by that forced absence from home Grand Prix, just in the moment of his major success. It wasn’t the only disappointment of that period: shortly after, in fact, Ferrari would have lowered all drivers’ hiring. An order that Ginther didn’t agree, he left Ferrari and joined BRM.

In spite of the tragedy which had happened, successful races should have brought serenity to Maranello. On the contrary, there was a period of serious frictions between its management and ownership that later on every protagonist lived on and reported according to his own way of thinking, by making it still more complicated for its understanding. The poisonous season ended with the separation between Ferrari Company and all eight directors, Chiti included. He was replaced by a young engineer, Mauro Forghieri. However, the change in the technical direction caused some slack on the design activities, just when the English teams had made a substantial effort to recover the delays accumulated in the change of regulations.

For instance, BRM had a new car, the P578 and a new engine, the 8 cylinder engine with 90 degree V-angle that had been designed to go up to 11000 rpm and produce a power upper than 190 bhp. On the contrary, Lotus appeared with a new revolutionary single-seater, the 25 one with a monocoque chassis in pressed steel, more rigid and lighter than the traditional tube chassis, which was given to Jim Clark and Trevor Taylor.

Cooper was no longer the armoured car of the 59s and 60s, but it could be still a danger, in spite of its less ability to be innovating in comparison with the two major British rivals.

Porsche had also decided to change step by lining up, late in the season, the 804 designed by Hans Honich and Hans Mezger, and fitted with a new 8 cylinder boxer engine. Its drivers were still Gurney and Bonnier.

In Ferrari there was some talk about the new 6 cylinder engine, 120 degree V angle, 4 valves per cylinder, matched with a new six-speed gearbox, that BRM and Lotus already possessed. In the end they only built the new gearbox and in 1962 they started with the old version car. The Formula One official drivers were Hill, Baghetti and Ricard Rodriguez, sometimes with another young promising driver of the Italian motor racing and Baghetti’s historic rival, Lorenzo Bandini, together with Belgian Willy Mairesse. The best results were scored by the world champion in charge, third at the Dutch Grand Prix, second at Monaco, thanks to the main protagonists who were forced to retire, and again third in Belgium. The situation got worse with the strikes of metal-workers in Italy that stopped the preparation of the cars for the French Grand Prix and prevented the other two last appointments of the season: a long mission around US and South Africa.

At the German Grand Prix the first results of Forghieri’s new technical direction could be seen: the 156/62P was an evolution of the “Sharknose” with some changes in the chassis, narrower section, a cockpit which allowed the driver to be lying more down and drive with outstretched arms, by the fashion launched by Jim Clark’s Lotus 25. The famous nose, which had featured the 156 in such a remarkably way, was abandoned in favour of a nose with a tapered air intake.

The car made its debut at Nürburgring with Bandini, who was only eighteenth in the qualifying session, but in the race he was forced to retire on lap 4 because of spin. The car joined the fight again at Monza, this time with Willy Mairesse, who qualified tenth and crossed the finishing line fourth: a ray of hope at the end of tunnel. Later on the 156/62P was used as a basis for the 156/63 of the next year by raising Ferrari’s good reputation.

Some further satisfactions came from hors championship races: in April Mairesse won the IV Grand Prix of Bruxelles; at Pau Rodriguez was second behind the Lotus driven by an old Maurice Trintignant. Phil Hill was third at Aintree 200 ahead of Baghetti. Once again the Great Prix of Naples smiled at Ferrari with Mairesse winner ahead of more and more talented Lorenzo Bandini, who hit the target at the first Mediterranean Grand Prix, ahead of Baghetti.

It would be easy to say that the 156 opened Ferrari’s new cycle, if we consider the mid-engine innovation, but at a closer look the 156 may have concluded the old cycle, born in the second half of the Fiftieths, when a technical management started with the win of two world championships and the passage from the rear engine to the new layout location.

The eight directors had left Ferrari in November 1961, and the last “misprints” of that management left the “prancing horse” by the end of the 62’s season: Hill and Baghetti were wrecked by the disastrous experience of ATS, where Chiti had taken them. The 156, with its special rims Borrani, which reminded the past irresistibly, by that time, had become an old fashioned single-seater.

Somebody new knocked at the door: a young technical director with fresh ideas, Mauro Forghieri, some young drivers like Lorenzo Bandini and the “ Son of the wind”, John Surtees, the motorcycle racer who had to write the first and real Ferrari’s historical cycle of the Sixtieths.

Stefano Costantino