JANUARY 19, 2005

Another F1 road car!

It seems that the vogue at the moment is for former Formula 1 engineers to design road cars. Hot on the heels of the news that MB Roadcars is to build its EOS, comes word from Italy that legendary Ferrari designer Mauro Forghieri is hard at work designing a road car called Project 1221. Forghieri is working on the design of a super car in league with Emanuele Nicosia, who designed the Jaguar XJS spyder while working at Pininfarina back in 1979 and worked on the Ferrari 288 GTO and Testarossa models. He was also involved with the interior design of the Lamborghini Diablo and of the Bugatti EB110.

Forghieri needs little introduction. Recently turned 70, he began working for Ferrari in 1960 and two years later was put in charge of the racing team. He was 26. He is best known for the 312 series of cars and for his flat 12 engine. Under his guidance Ferrari won World Drivers' title four times with John Surtees (1964), Niki Lauda (1975 & 1977) and Jody Scheckter (1979) and the Constructors' title on seven different occasions. In the 1980s he was pushed out of racing and left the team in 1987 to become technical director of Lamborghini Engineering, where he designed a normally-aspirated V12 engine for the new Grand Prix formula in 1989. Three years later he became technical director of Bugatti Automobili where he remained until the end of 1994 when he established Oral Engineering in Modena.