Ferrari Lampredi engine

Ferrari Lampredi Inline-4
Overview
Manufacturer	Ferrari
Production	1951–1957
Combustion chamber
Configuration	DOHC 2-valve Inline-4
Chronology
Predecessor	Colombo V12
Successor	Dino V6

Aurelio Lampredi designed a number of racing engines for Ferrari. He was brought on to hedge the company's bets with a different engine family than the small V12s designed by Gioacchino Colombo. Lampredi went on to design a number of different Inline-4, Inline-6, and V12 engines through the 1950s, and it was these that would power the company's string of world championships that decade. All were quickly abandoned, however, with the Dino V6 and V8 taking the place of the fours and sixes and evolution of the older Colombo V12 continuing as the company's preeminent V12.

Enzo Ferrari and Lampredi were interested in creating extremely reliable engines for racing use. In 1955, after seeing the success of Lampredi's Inline-4 engines, the pair considered an Inline-two engine for the slowest racing courses. Lampredi built a prototype with 4 valves per cylinder and 2.5 L (2493 cc) of displacement. It produced 175 hp (130 kW) on the test bench, but broke the crankshaft due to poor balance. The project was shortly abandoned in favor of more-conventional I4 engines.

Lampredi designed an Inline-4 engine for Formula Two use. This was later adopted for Formula One and sports car racing cars through the 1950s. The original 2.0 L engine of 1951 would prove to be the longest-lived, continuing through 1957 in various cars.

The initial engine was a 2.0 L (1985 cc) unit with a 90 mm (3.5 in) bore and 78 mm (3.1 in) stroke. This engine was the first Ferrari four-cylinder, appearing in 1951 in the Ferrari 500 F2 entrant in Formula Two. The aluminium engine produced 165 hp (123 kW) with two Weber 45DOE carburettors, with power growing in 1953 to 185 hp (138 kW) with two 50DCOA carbs. It was a high-tech marvel for the time with dual overhead camshafts pushing 2 valves per cylinder and twin-plug ignition.

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