Dante Giacosa
| Dante Giacosa | |
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Dante Giacosa (1970)
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| Born |
3 January 1905 Rome, Italy |
| Died | 31 March 1996 (aged 91) Turin, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Occupation | Lead Engineer, Fiat, 1946 to 1970 |
| Known for | Industry Standard Front Wheel Drive Layout |
Dante Giacosa (3 January 1905 - 31 March 1996) was an Italian automobile designer and engineer responsible for a range of Italian automobile designs — and for refining the front-wheel drive layout to an industry-standard configuration.
When Fiat began marketing the Fiat 128 in 1969 — with its engine and gearbox situated in an in-line, transverse front-drive layout, combined unequal drive shafts, MacPherson strut suspension and an electrically controlled radiator fan — it became the layout adopted by virtually every other manufacturer in the world for front-wheel drive. The approach of unequal drive shafts was crafted by Dante Giacosa.
This Active Tourer MPV wants to be more stable than a BMW M3, and using the Dante Giacosa-pattern front-wheel-drive layout compacts the mechanicals and saves space for people in the reduced overall length of what will surely become a production 1-series tall-sedan crossover..
– Robert Cumberford, Automobile Magazine, March, 2013
Transverse engine and gearbox front-wheel drive had been introduced to small inexpensive cars with the German DKW F1 in 1931, and made more widely popular with the British Mini. As engineered by Alec Issigonis in the Mini cars, the compact arrangement located the transmission and engine sharing a single oil sump — despite disparate lubricating requirements — and had the engine's radiator mounted to the side of the engine, away from the flow of fresh air and drawing heated rather than cool air over the engine. The layout often required the engine be removed to service the clutch.
I have never considered it necessary to discuss projects in meetings with a number of other people during the phase of conception and design.
– Dante Giacosa
As engineered by Dante Giacosa, the 128 featured a transverse-mounted engine with unequal length drive shafts and an innovative clutch release mechanism — an arrangement which Fiat had strategically tested on a previous production model, the Primula, from its less market-critical subsidiary, Autobianchi.
Ready for production in 1964, the Primula featured the four-cylinder water-cooled 1,221 cc (74.5 cu in) from the Fiat 1100D mounted transversely with the four-speed gearbox located inline with the crankshaft. With a gear train to the offset differential and final drive and unequal length drive shafts. The layout enabled the engine and gearbox to be located side by side without sharing lubricating fluid while orienting the cooling fan toward fresh air flow. By using the Primula as a test-bed, Fiat was able to sufficiently resolve the layout's disadvantages, including uneven side-to-side power transmission, uneven tire wear and potential torque steer, the tendency for the power of the engine alone to steer the car under heavy acceleration.
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