Carlo Chiti
Encyclopedia
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
's racing department.
Born in Pistoia
Pistoia
Pistoia is a city and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno.-History:...
, he graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Pisa
University of Pisa
The University of Pisa , located in Pisa, Tuscany, is one of the oldest universities in Italy. It was formally founded on September 3, 1343 by an edict of Pope Clement VI, although there had been lectures on law in Pisa since the 11th century...
in Italy in 1953. He joined Alfa Romeo in 1952 and designed the Alfa Romeo 3000 CM sports car, moving on to Ferrari when Alfa's competition department was closed down in the late 1950s.
At Ferrari he was involved with the design of the famous Ferrari 156 Sharknose
Ferrari 156 Sharknose
The Ferrari 156 was a racecar made by Ferrari in 1961 to comply with then-new F1 regulations that lowered engine displacement from 2.5 to 1.5 litres, similar to the pre-1961 F2 class for which Ferrari had developed a mid-engined car also called 156...
cars, with which Phil Hill
Phil Hill
Philip Toll Hill, Jr., was a United States automobile racer and the only American-born driver to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. Hill was described as a "thoughtful, gentle man" and once said, "I'm in the wrong business. I don't want to beat anybody, I don't want to be the big hero...
won the 1961 championship
1961 Formula One season
The 1961 Formula One season was the 12th season of FIA 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 May 14 to October 8 over an eight race series...
. Shortly afterwards Chiti was part of the breakaway ATS
Automobili Turismo e Sport
ATS was an Italian automotive constructor and racing team that operated between 1963 and 1965, formed after the famous "Palace Revolution" at Ferrari....
Formula One team formed by a number of disaffected ex-Ferrari personnel. The ATS project was not a success and did not last long.
Through a new project, Autodelta
Autodelta
Autodelta SpA was the name of Alfa Romeo's competition department. Established in 1961 as Auto-Delta, the company was started by Carlo Chiti, a former Alfa Romeo and Ferrari engineer, and Ludovico Chizzola, an official Alfa Romeo dealer. The team was officially made a department of Alfa Romeo on...
, Chiti re-entered competitive motor racing in 1963. He rekindled his association with Alfa Romeo, for whom he designed a V8 and then a flat-12
Flat-12
A flat-12 is an internal combustion engine in a flat configuration, having 12 cylinders.The flat-12 is wider than a V12...
engine for their Alfa Romeo Tipo 33
Alfa Romeo T33
The Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 was a sports racing prototype raced by the Alfa Romeo factory-backed team between 1967 and 1977. These cars took part for Sport Cars World Championship, Nordic Challenge Cup, Interserie and CanAm series...
sportscars. These were eventually successful, winning the world championship for makes in 1975. At this time Chiti became involved in Formula One again, through the Brabham team, who signed an agreement with Alfa Romeo to use Chiti's engines. There was some success - Niki Lauda
Niki Lauda
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion. More recently an aviation entrepreneur, he has founded and run two airlines and was manager of the Jaguar Formula One racing team for two years.- Early years in racing :Born in Vienna,...
won two races in a Brabham BT46
Brabham BT46
The Brabham BT46 was a Formula One racing car, designed by Gordon Murray for the Brabham team, owned by Bernie Ecclestone, for the 1978 Formula One season. The car featured several radical design elements, the most obvious of which was the use of flat panel heat exchangers on the bodywork of the...
with the Alfa engine in the 1978 Formula One season
1978 Formula One season
The 1978 Formula One season included the 29th FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on January 15, 1978, and ended on October 8 after sixteen races. Mario Andretti was the season Champion and the last American to date to win a Formula One race...
. Brabham designer Gordon Murray
Gordon Murray
Prof. Gordon Murray , is a renowned designer of Formula One race cars and the McLaren F1 road car.-Early life:...
persuaded Chiti to produce a V-12
V12 engine
A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....
engine to allow ground effect
Ground effect in cars
Ground effect is term applied to a series of aerodynamic effects used in car design, which has been exploited to create downforce, particularly in racing cars. This has been the successor to the earlier dominant aerodynamic theory of streamlining...
to be exploited by the team. During the 1979 Formula One season
1979 Formula One season
The 1979 Formula One season was the 30th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors which were contested concurrently over a fifteen round series which commenced on January 21, 1979, and ended on...
, and after some persuasion by Chiti, Alfa Romeo gave Autodelta
Autodelta
Autodelta SpA was the name of Alfa Romeo's competition department. Established in 1961 as Auto-Delta, the company was started by Carlo Chiti, a former Alfa Romeo and Ferrari engineer, and Ludovico Chizzola, an official Alfa Romeo dealer. The team was officially made a department of Alfa Romeo on...
permission to start developing a Formula One car on their behalf. The partnership with Brabham finished before the end of the season.
The Alfa Formula One project was never truly successful. In 1984, Chiti left the project to set up another company, Motori Moderni
Motori Moderni
Motori Moderni was a Formula One engine manufacturer from 1985 through 1987. It was established by the experienced Italian engine designer Carlo Chiti....
which concentrated on producing engines, again for Formula One. Initially the company produced a V6 turbo design, used briefly by the small Italian Minardi
Minardi
Minardi was an automobile racing team and constructor founded in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal following of fans...
team. When the banning of turbos from Formula One was announced Chiti designed a new 3.5 litre atmospheric flat-12 engine. This was eventually taken up by Subaru
Subaru
; is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate Fuji Heavy Industries .Subaru is internationally known for their use of the boxer engine layout popularized in cars by the Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as...
, who badged it for use in their brief and completely unsuccessful entry into Formula One with the tiny Coloni
Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems
Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems, commonly referred to simply as Coloni, is an Italian motor racing team and former Formula One racing car constructor. While it has been successful in Formula Three and Formula 3000, the team was one of the least successful in Formula One history...
team in the 1990 Formula One season
1990 Formula One season
The 1990 Formula One season was the 41st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1990 FIA Formula One World Championship which commenced on March 11, 1990 and ended on November 4 after sixteen races...
. This was abandoned midway through the season.
Carlo Chiti died in 1994 in Milan.
In 1999, Koenigsegg
Koenigsegg
Koenigsegg Automotive AB is a Swedish manufacturer of high-performance sports cars based in Ängelholm.-Company:The company was founded in 1994 in Sweden by Christian von Koenigsegg, with the intention of producing a world-class supercar...
bought blueprints, machining tools and the patent for an unused 4 litre Chiti designed Formula One flat-12 engine.