Ferrari 125 F1 Car

Builder	Ferrari
Class	Race Car
Category	Formula 1
Production	1948-1950
Designed by	Gioachino Colombo
Chassis	tubular spars and crosspieces
Motor	V-12 (front)
Transmission	4 or 5 speed gearboxes + non-synchronized reverse in block with the ZF differential (1950), rear-wheel drive.
Length	3 685 mm
Length	1 400 mm
Height	1 025 mm
Step	2 160 mm
Weight	710 kg
Fuel	Shell
Tyres	Pirelli
Debut	Monaco Grand Prix 1950

The Ferrari 125 F1 (initially called GPC,  (Gran Premio Compressore) was the first single-seater built by the Maranello from the late 40s to 1950.

History

Designed according to the specifications of the Formula Grand Prix, it served as the basis for the development of future Formula 1 also taking part in three world championship GPs in the 1950 Formula 1 world championship.

In 1938 Alfa Romeo withdrew Scuderia Ferrari's sanction to run their racing operations from their remote base at Modena, and brought their racing activities back home to Portello, Milan.

The yellow shield and black prancing Horse badge of Ferrari was removed from the cars, and replaced by the green quadrifoglio (four-leaf clover) on a white triangle to identify the new works Alfa team. Enzo Ferrari was taken on to direct operations, but he disliked close control from the Alfa Romeo management and disputes reached a head in his resignation. Part of his severance agreement was that he should not enter racing with any car other than an Alfa Romeo, and when his new Auto Avio Costruzione company did build a couple of 1.5-litre straight-eight sports cars for the 1948 Mille Miglia they were entered simply as '815s' with no marque designation whatsoever. One was driven by Alberto Ascari, son of the late Antonio Ascari of Alfa Romeo P2 fame, and when Ferrari began building cars under his own name in 1946 to 1947 Ascari was again listed to drive them. Ferrari used Alfetta draughtsman Gioacchino Colombo to design his first cars, choosing the power potential and low internal stress offered by a V 12 engine layout.

Unfortunately, the first Tipo 125 V 12 was not as powerful as had been hoped, so it was installed in a tiny, abbreviated little chassis which proved to handle diabolically badly. Then, when Alfa Romeo withdrew for the season Of 1949 and the Ferrari 125 chassis was lengthened to tame its handling, Ferrari soared to fame. The ubiquitous Farina had scored Ferrari's first Formula 1 victory with a 125 at Lago di Garda in 1948 and during 1949 Alberto Ascari developed his driving under the tute- lage of team-mate Luigi Villoresi (brother of the late Emilio of Alfa 158 fame) ; Ascari won the Swiss and Italian Grands Prix while 'Gigi' (as Villoresi was known) won the Dutch event. In 1950 Ferrari turned his attention to un-supercharged engines, designed by his new chief engineer Ing. Aurelio Lampredi.

The first sketches for a Formula 1 Ferrari (then Formula Grand Prix) date back to the post-war period and were the work of Giuseppe Busso. But when Gioachino Colombo moved from Alfa Romeo to auto. This difference of opinion pushed Busso to abandon Ferrari to return to Alfa. Pre-war Union Type C, who often visited Maranello, speaking of the great merits of the Ponte de Dion which he had experienced on the Nuvolari at the rear in Favor of a pendulum scheme that already at the time it was starting to be obsolete. Ferrari accepted this choice despite De Dion bridge, scrapped Busso's project and started from scratch. In particular, perhaps because it was tied to outdated schemes, he rejected the idea of ​​adopting the Ferrari

The engine, also designed by Colombo, was a 12-cylinder1500 cm³, supercharged with single-stage compressor Roots (the maximum formula in force at the time was 1,500 cm³ for supercharged engines and 4,500 cm³ for naturally aspirated engines). The frame with side members and crosspieces, made by Gilco, had a wheelbase very short which gave it excellent agility. The engine was closely related to the one that equipped the 125 S.

The development of the 12-cylinder, a split desired by Ferrari himself, was extremely complicated from the beginning. In fact, especially in the supercharged version, it proved to be bulky, heavy, penalized by excessive fuel consumption and by a chronic loss of power at high rpm due to the compressor drag. In theory the V12 would have been able to reach a maximum of 10,000 rpm , but in practice it never exceeded 7,500 also due to the lack of adequate ignition. About a year after its first appearance, an updated version of the 125 F1 appeared equipped with two Roots compressors and two controlled camshafts per bank. by gears to try to counter Alfa Romeo and Maserati which had engines significantly more powerful. The wheelbase was also modified and the fuel tank was now larger.

For 1950 further changes were introduced by the engineer. Aurelio Lampredi who finally abandoned the pendulum scheme in Favor of a De Dion rear bridge and fixed the gearbox, now with 4 gears, together with the differential. The engine was increased to a power of 280 HPHP and the wheelbase was modified again. Even from an aesthetic point of view there were many changes that led it to resemble the future 375 F1.

The first appearance of the 125 F1 took place in Turin, on 5 September 1948 , on the Valentino Circuit in the XIX Italian Grand Prix, with three examples entrusted to Nino Farina, Raymond Sommer and Bira del Siam of a> built by Ferrari. Formula 1 car, won by Farina, who obtained the first victory by a Circuito del Garda to continue the development of the Grand Prix category cars that the "Drake" he was inclined to abandon due to the expenses to be incurred, which were already exorbitant at the time. The first success of the 125 F1 came two races later, at the Enzo Ferrari, convinced Gigi Villoresi by Maserati and Jean-Pierre Wimille Alfa Romeo 158. Despite the retirements of Farina, damaged radiator, and Bira, transmission, the surprising third place achieved by Sommer, behind the victorious

1949 saw the move to Ferrari of Ascari and Villoresi and the sale of two examples of 125 F1s to the drivers Peter Whitehead and Tony Vandervell, future patron of Vanwall. By renaming his 125 Thinwall Special, Vanderwell made it one of the first examples of a sponsored car. That name, in fact, advertised his bushing factory from which Ferrari itself obtained its supplies. In that same year Monza saw the first victory of the season by Ascari thanks to the new 125 with dual-stage compressor which also won in Switzerland and  Leading for most of the race, Villoresi was forced to stop in the pits for refuelling; on the contrary, the Frenchman's Talbot, which did not have a compressor and therefore consumed less, did not have to stop until after having crossed the finish line victorious. This event later led Ferrari to abandon supercharged engines. Belgian Grand Prix at the Louis Rosier Louis Rosier of Talbot. But the most important event was the defeat that Villoresi suffered at the hands of Netherlands

In the inaugural season of the Formula 1 World Championship, Ferrari missed the inaugural race at Silverstone but he showed up with the 125 F1 in Monaco with Ascari, second at the finish line, and Villoresi, who retired due to problems to transmission. The Formula 1 career of the 125 F1 within the Scuderia Ferrari ended in Monaco but continued thanks to the private team of Peter Whitehead who finished third in France and seventh in Italy. The following year Whitehead would drive the 125 F1 again without however achieving significant results. Here also ends his competitive career in the top 125 F1 formula which continued to appear in minor races by private drivers.