r/F1Technical • u/arunphilip • Dec 04 '20

Historic F1/Analysis Cutaway of the 1957 Maserati 250F car with the V12 engine

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9

u/arunphilip Dec 04 '20

The V12-powered Maserati 250F:

In 1956 three 250F T2 cars first appeared for the works drivers. Developed by Giulio Alfieri using lighter steel tubes they sported a slimmer, stiffer body and sometimes the new 315 bhp (235 kW) V12 engine, although it offered little or no real advantage over the older straight 6.

In 1957 Juan Manuel Fangio drove to four more championship victories, including his legendary final win at German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring (Aug. 4, 1957), where he overcame a 48-second deficit in 22 laps, passing the race leader, Mike Hawthorn, on the final lap to take the win. In doing so he broke the lap record at the Nürburgring, 10 times.

By the 1958 season, the 250F was totally outclassed by the new rear engined F1 cars. However, the car remained a favourite with the privateers, including Maria Teresa de Filippis, and was used by back markers through the 1960 F1 season, the last for the 2.5 litre formula.

9

u/marvinheckler Dec 04 '20

Seems like your feet may get a bit warm under that engine.

8

u/Gr3nz3n Dec 05 '20

What a interesting design! “Where do you want me to out your v12? In the drivers lap?” Pause...”wait you can do that? Yes in his lap!”

5

u/imdavidnotdave Dec 05 '20

I assume whoever drew this picture did it while smoking a pipe...

3

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '20

F1 used to have engines in the front?

3

u/arunphilip Dec 05 '20

Yep, although teams started shifting to cars with engines behind the drivers (technically mid-engined cars, although colloquially also referred to as rear-engined cars) in the 50s and 60s.

For instance, Ferrari ran their first mid-engine F1 car in the 1961 championship, and won it.

1

u/wikipedia_text_bot Dec 05 '20

1961 Formula One season

The 1961 Formula One season was the 15th season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, which were contested concurrently from 14 May to 8 October over an eight race series. The season also included numerous non-championship races for Formula One cars. Phil Hill of Ferrari won his only Drivers' Championship after his teammate and rival Wolfgang von Trips was killed at the Italian Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season.

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1

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '20

These mid-engined cars, are they FWD or RWD?

2

u/arunphilip Dec 05 '20

RWD, never FWD (although I'm not sure if there were any 4WD cars, those early decades had very open regulations).

1

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '20

Oh so even the Front-engined cars are RWD?

1

u/arunphilip Dec 05 '20

Yes, like conventional road cars of the time, they had the engine in front driving the rear axle.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 05 '20

Would the FWD cars oversteer? Is that the reason why they always had RED cars?

3

u/arunphilip Dec 05 '20

One of the main reasons is power transfer. Under acceleration, the rear of the car squats down more than the front, irrespective of FWD/RWD, or where the engine is placed.

Now, putting the power down by RWD will mean that the power transfer is more effective, since the tyres are forced onto the road with better grip.

Rear-engine with FWD would mean the car squats more on the rear due to both engine weight and acceleration, and putting power through the front wheels which are now lightly loaded can lead to wheelspin, which is wasted energy.

2

u/rhino2348 Dec 05 '20

This is the type of drawing I could get lost in for hours when I was a kid.