Ferrari Colombo engine

About Ferrari Colombo engine

The Ferrari Colombo engine is a petrol fueled, water cooled, carburetted 60° V12 engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo and produced in numerous iterations by Italian automaker Ferrari 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 Romeos for Enzo Ferrari, placed bore centres at 90 mm apart, allowing for significant expansion. Displacements ranged from the diminutive 1,497 cc (1.5 L; 91.4 cu in) debut that powered the 125S racer to the 4,943 cc (4.9 L; 301.6 cu in) unit in the 1986 412i grand tourer. 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, Auto Union, and Alfa Romeo (where he was long employed), but his first car, the 1940 Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, used a Fiat derived straight-8. Development of the V12 Colombo engine continued long after Colombo had been replaced by Aurelio Lampredi as the company's marquee engine designer.