Gioacchino Colombo

Did You Know?

• Colombo designed the 158 engine for the Alfetta in 1937, which caught Enzo Ferrari's attention.
• The Colombo engine was enlarged up to 4.8 L and produced for more than 40 years.
• Colombo oversaw Alfa Romeo's racing efforts that led to Nino Farina's 1950 Formula One World Championship and Juan-Manuel Fangio's in 1951.

Biography

Gioacchino Colombo was born in Legnano in 1903 and got his start as an apprentice under Vittorio Jano at Alfa Romeo. His big break came in 1937 when he designed the 158 engine for the Alfetta, which impressed Enzo Ferrari enough that Ferrari asked him to create a compact V12 for the new Ferrari brand’s race and road cars. That engine, later known as the Ferrari-Colombo or simply the Colombo engine, first appeared on May 11, 1947, as a small 1.5-liter V12. It debuted in the Tipo 125, then the 159, and later the 166 sports cars. Over time, it was enlarged to displacements as high as 4.8 liters and remained in production for Ferrari road cars and endurance racers for more than four decades. The 3.0-liter version powered the famous Ferrari 250 line of racing, sports, and GT cars.

Despite its early success in the 166, the engine struggled in Formula One. After being supercharged for F1 use, it failed to deliver strong results. Dissatisfied, Ferrari brought in designer Aurelio Lampredi, who created a larger naturally aspirated V12 that replaced Colombo’s unit. Colombo left Ferrari in 1950 and went back to Alfa Romeo, where he took charge of the company’s racing program. Under his oversight, Nino Farina won the Formula One World Championship in 1950, and Juan Manuel Fangio did the same in 1951. In late 1952, he moved to Maserati and designed the 250F Grand Prix car. Two years later, he joined the newly revived Bugatti to work on the 251. From 1957 until 1970, he worked for MV Agusta. Colombo died in Milan in 1988.