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VINTAGE: F2 Rules Spawned Winning Ferrari
Written by: Wouter Melissen
UltimateCarPage.com   http://www.ultimatecarpage.com
06/29/2009
Paris (FRA)
 
With the imminent departure of Alfa Romeo from Grand Prix racing, Formula 1 looked set to be desperately short of entrants in 1952. Except for Ferrari, no other manufacturer could or wanted to field a competitive Formula 1 racer.

One of five 500 F2 chassis built for customers, this car was raced by owner Bobby Baird of Northern Ireland. The car is seen here in the Galleria Ferrari in 2007 when the Biscaretti Museum was undergoing renovation. (Photo: Wouter Melisssen) » More Photos
They were understandably preoccupied with rebuilding their road car business before considering entering the highly expensive Grand Prix World Championship.

As a stop-gap, the sport's governing body decided to run the World Championship under the Formula 2 regulations. There was much larger market potential for these smaller-engine and less-expensive single seaters, and accordingly far more specialist manufacturers were engaged in F2.

This 500 F2 was built for Scuderia Ferrari and, driven by Alberto Ascariwas, was very successful throughout the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Part of the Donnington Collection, it is shown at the 2009 Retromobile show in Paris. (Photo: Wouter Melissen) » More Photos
Ferrari's original F2 car, introduced in 1949, was the two-liter V-12 166 F2. It struggled against the more straightforward British cars that featured twin-cam, four-cylinder engines. Enzo Ferrari was very impressed with these engines and asked his lead engineer, Aurelio Lampredi, to develop a similar unit.

Lampredi initially focused on a multi-purpose 2.5-liter version, but once the change of formula for the World Championship was announced, all attention was diverted to the 2-liter. He closely followed the British example and created an alloy unit with chain-driven, twin-overhead camshafts. Breathing through two Weber carburetors, the new Ferrari engine was good for 165 bhp at the start of the season.

Dubbed the 500 F2 (in reference to the engine's unitary displacement), Ferrari's new Formula 2 car was virtually identical to the company's earlier single seaters. The ladder-type chassis was constructed from two oval-tube members with considerable cross-bracing. The front suspension was by double wishbones with
a single transversely mounted leaf-spring.

A DeDion axle was installed at the rear, but here Lampredi broke with convention by employing two trailing arms to keep the axle in check. Hydraulically operated drum brakes and a four-speed gearbox completed the mechanical package. The rolling 500 F2 chassis was clothed in a simple but elegant single-seat body. Unlike Ferrari's earlier single seaters, the new Formula 2 car featured an open nose.

Facing strong competition from the likes of HWM, Gordini, Maserati, Cooper and Connaught, the Scuderia Ferrari kicked off the season very well with Piero Taruffi winning the first of eight World Championship rounds.

Although part of the championship, the subsequent Indy 500 was run under different regulations. Ferrari did send a team of V-12 cars derived from the 1951 F1 machine to the United States, but they stood no chance against the purpose built “Roadsters.”



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