Abarth T140 Update

It's taken longer to get here than I had expected, but I now have an update to the December 2021 post about the Abarth T140.  

The car offers a great deal of intrigue, all the more so since we can only 'glimpse' it as a concept - no functional example ever having been constructed, let alone run on-track.  Tantalising too, since the 12 cylinder engine had been completed/tested and a full size body model made.  And with many hours and lire spent on the project, it was cancelled unceremoniously, in response to the FIA's abrupt revision in June 1967 of the International Sporting Code, Appendix J definition of racing classes for the 1968 season.

Writing about the engine up to now has mostly included opinion that it was heavy and not especially powerful.  But development had only just got underway and I believe that given Abarth's proven expertise with the highly successful upgrading of Fiat and Simca engines for the little GTs, it could have made the Tipo 240 V12 a fully competitive proposition for endurance racing.

There also seemed to be some misunderstandings/conflicting summaries about the engine's architecture.  In order to better understand this I have recently been in touch with Gianfranco Bossu - colleague at Corso Marche of Luciano Fochi, designer of the T240.  Gianfranco not only most kindly shared with me his recollections of the engine's design and initial running, but also provided me with copies of his contemporary drawings, clarifying the basic layout and several points of detail.

I have completed a write-up on my findings covering both the car itself and the sporting/technical/commercial context.  The intention is to complement this with some new photography of the stunning T140 replica created by Hansi Maerz as a Scuderia Gemini project in collaboration with Udo Siekmann.  It's hoped that a photoshoot can be arranged shortly, and publication made before the end of the year.

Stay tuned!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Nearly Alfa - Part 2

Image
Once again, the control of Alfa Romeo by the state organisation, Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale – IRI – through its finanziaria, (financial entity), Finmeccanica, would be highly influential.  Not for the first time, the managements of Alfa Romeo and Autodelta were compelled to make decisions constrained by directives formulated on the basis of political expediency rather than engineering savvy.  Responding to recurrent government diktaks seeking to promote the use/consumption of Italian-made products, Finmeccanica ‘s nose intruded into the 890 engine project, stipulating that its turbochargers must be locally-sourced.  Accordingly, the KKKs were soon replaced by units made by the Alfa Romeo aeronautical manufacturing subsidiary, Avio.  Unfortunately, the performance and reliability of these was clearly inferior to the German blowers.  At this stage of the 890’s development, the induction characteristics were rendered furthermore problematic by the di...
Read more

The Zeltweg Solution

Image
Young, single minded, supremely confident and abrasive – such a character often makes waves but is usually defeated by the authority and inertia possessed of an elder generation of management.  But Ferdinand Piëch was a bit different.  Joining the ‘family firm’ – Porsche – in 1963, Piëch was already in charge of testing in 1966 at the age of 24.  As the son of Ferry Porsche’s sister, Louise, some may have thought there was a touch of nepotism about this – but Piëch would rapidly show that it was actually all about his ability and character.  Piëch (right) at the 1965 Targa Florio with Fritz Huschke Piëch soon became deeply involved in the creation and evolution of the Group 4/6 Porsche 906.  This was a ground-breaking project for Porsche as the car embodied the adoption of key, pure-race features, primarily, 200+ bhp, lightweight 6 cylinder engine, glass fibre body, super-light tubular space frame chassis and high focus on aerodynamics, (the 906 was the first P...
Read more

A Lack of Horsepower for the CART

Image
It’s generally accepted today that Ferrari did not create its F637 Indycar and F034 engine with a burning desire to actually race it, (though there are a few differing theories about this).   Rather, it was a tangible expression of the marque’s resistance to the proposal  for new Formula 1 technical regulations  being ventilated  in the mid-80s  by the FIA. Planned for the post-turbo era, these would exclude V12 engines.   The existence of an Indycar, ready to go, with the implied threat that this would become the focus at Maranello rather than Formula 1, was seen as effort and expense well worth expending.   In collaboration with the Indycar team, Truesports, run by Jim Trueman, a familiarisation/feasibility study began in ’85.   That autumn, Trueman took his driver, Bobby Rahal, to Italy and at Fiorano they showed what their car – a March 85C – could do.   Impressed with this, Ferrari delegated a small team, led by Harvey Postlethwaite, to ...
Read more