<< Prev Page 2 of 2 Ferrari's performance and Alfa Romeo's policy changes were the main reasons for the Milanese firm's withdrawal from Grand Prix racing. With Ferrari being the only team with a competitive F1 racer, the sport's governing body decided to run the 1952 and 1953 championship under Formula Two regulations. This left the Lampredi engine obsolete for Grand Prix racing, but its career was far from over. The large V12 found its way into a limited series of Ferrari sports racers, the 375 MMs constructed in 1953 and 1954.
The first cars constructed were equipped with engine Tipo 102 of the exact configuration as the Grand Prix engine. For reliability reasons, most cars featured engine Tipo 108 with a slightly different bore/stroke and displacement. Some of the large amount of torque available was sacrificed by the bigger bore, but the higher revving engine yielded a similar amount of horsepower. Pinin Farina supplied most of the bodies for the 26 375 MMs. Most common were the featured Spyder and Berlinetta bodies. The other five 375 MMs constructed were fitted with custom coachwork for some of Ferrari's wealthiest customers.
The finest hour of the Lampredi V12 would come at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans race, where a 375 Plus with a 4.9 litre version of the engine took the overall victory. In the next years the Lampredi engine was only used sparsely, predominantly to power the most exclusive of Ferrari road cars. Ironically the long block V12's career was ultimately overshadowed by the successes of the Colombo engine, Lampredi had originally been tasked to replace. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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Ferrari's performance and Alfa Romeo's policy changes were the main reasons for the Milanese firm's withdrawal from Grand Prix racing. With Ferrari being the only team with a competitive F1 racer, the sport's governing body decided to run the 1952 and 1953 championship under Formula Two regulations. This left the Lampredi engine obsolete for Grand Prix racing, but its career was far from over. The large V12 found its way into a limited series of Ferrari sports racers, the 375 MMs constructed in 1953 and 1954.