The Rise of Lampredi’s Long-Block V-12 As the 1949 Grand Prix season approached, Ferrari found itself challenged by a growing trend in the competition: the use of supercharged small-displacement engines.

While these high-revving blown motors had proven to be successful, they required such constant maintenance and were so susceptible to failure that Enzo Ferrari was not convinced of the design’s viability in endurance events.

Gioacchino Colombo, Maranello’s chief engineer, was in favour of following this trend, and suggested a supercharged version of his tried-and-true V-12.

But junior engineer Aurelio Lampredi had a different idea.

He proposed taking advantage of the racing formula by using a naturally aspirated large-displacement engine, and he drew up plans for a completely different architecture that utilised a longer and taller block, single intake porting, and twin ignition.

Initially displacing 3.3 litres, this engine found great success in Formula 1 racing, catalysing Colom...