Mauro Forghieri obituary – Ferrari's inimitable F1 engineering force

F1

F1 engineering genius Mauro Forghieri, who has died at the age of 87, came to Ferrari's rescue in its time of need – then became one of the pillars of its success for years after

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Forghieri speaks to Gilles Villeneuve moments before he goes out for his final fateful practice

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Mauro Forghieri: 1935-2022

Mauro Forghieri, who has died aged 87, was unique in Formula 1, indeed in top-level motor sport. Multi-talented, the Italian was not only a smart team manager but also designed chassis, engines and transmissions. The fact that he did this for that most iconic of teams, Ferrari and from an early age, makes his achievements all the more remarkable. As a man he was respected throughout F1 and his no nonsense approach tinged with Italian flair and love of life made him a popular figure in the world’s paddocks for the best part of thirty years.

While Ferrari and Forghieri are indelibly linked, he hadn’t actually been employed at the Maranello company for thirty-five years. In later life his further engineering achievements came when he worked for Lamborghini., Bugatti and then his own company.

Into his late-eighties he was a willing interviewee on all aspects of Ferrari. Just three months ago he offered an interesting perspective on the tense rivalry between his two 1982 F1 drivers for the upcoming film – ‘Villeneuve/Pironi‘.

Indeed, as is sometimes the case after an unexpected coups had left a void, he found himself thrust into the limelight and with huge responsibility when a group of Enzo Ferrari’s senior engineering staff left to form a breakaway group which ultimately failed. This was at the end of the 1961 season when the shark-nose Ferrari Formula 1 car had provided America with its first world champion – Phil Hill.

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Forghieri in conversation with John Surtees

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At the tender age of 26 Forghieri became the head of Ferrari’s racing division, in charge of all aspects of the racing and testing of both F1 and sports cars. At the time he had very limited experience. But Enzo Ferrari has spotted something in the serious bespectacled young engineer and he was proved correct. It could so easily have been a poisoned chalice, In 1961 the British teams were caught napping by the new 1.5 litre Formula 1 rules, while Ferrari had produced a powerful motor for the sharknose cars which propelled them to success. But for Forghieri’s first season in charge the Brits had caught up in the power race. Winning wasn’t going to be so easy. Indeed Lotus and BRM became the teams to beat and Ferrari slipped down the rankings.

Headed by Forghieri, Ferrari were soon fighting back. In 1964, just two years later, Ferrari regained the constructors’ title and, of course John Surtees – recruited by Forghieri – headed the driver’s rankings. Many successes were to follow.

“It was surely destiny that Mauro Forghieri would work for Ferrari”

It was surely destiny that Mauro Forghieri would work for Ferrari as his father Reclus had worked with Enzo on his Alfa Romeo racing projects before the WWII. After the hostilities ended he went to work at Ferrari as a toolmaker until his retirement in 1973. Mauro was born in Modena in 1935 and graduated from Bologna University in 1959 with a doctorate in engineering, having completed an internship at Ferrari. He harboured an idea to move to California but Enzo Ferrari wanted Reclus’s son to join him at Ferrari. He learned at the feet of technical director Carlo Chiti, the rotund engineer providing him with an excellent insight into the design and construction of all aspects of a racing car.

He was still very much a backroom boy, when Chiti and team manager Romolo Tavoni, plus most of the design staff, handed in their notice at the end of the successful 1961 season. Apparently they were incensed by Enzo’s wife Laura’s constant sniping and criticism. They had garnered backing from three Italian industrialists and set up Automobili Tourismo e Sport – ATS – to build a rival to Ferrari, including an F1 team plus sports cars. World champion Phil Hill later threw his lot in with them, something he was soon to regret.

From the archive

So Ferrari’s racing fortunes were in the hands of this youngster. As mentioned earlier, both Climax and BRM had caught Ferrari in the power race with their little 1500cc engines while Lotus had launched the hugely successful monocoque design leaving Ferrari and the rest struggling with tubular space frames. Ferrari was only to finish fifth in the 1962 world championship. The following year Jim Clark and Lotus dominated but Forghieri’s first world championship victory came in the German GP with Surtees’ impressive win.

The Forghieri/Surtees relationship blossomed and, of course, led to the driver and manufacturer world championships in 1964, although it was a close run thing – just a handful of points left Graham Hill and BRM in second place. The switch to 3-litre engines saw Ferrari initially use a sports car-based V12 motor but for 1970 Franco Rocchi collaborated with Mauro to build a stunning flat-12 engine which married beautifully with his 312B chassis, as well as in world championship-winning sports cars.

Ferrari had been on the back foot for a while as Lotus, Matra, Tyrrell, McLaren and many others benefited from the superb Cosworth DFV V8 engine. By 1974 Ferrari were back knocking at the door under Mauro’s leadership and the energising force that was Niki Lauda, but it was Clay Regazzoni who fell just four points shy of the world title that year. However the Austrian went on to give Ferrari world titles in ’75 and ’77 and the manufacturers’ title was claimed by Ferrari in ’76, ’77 and ’78. Jody Scheckter took up the mantle and won the ’79 title for Ferrari – and owns his winning Forghieri-designed “tea-tray” car. In the new ’80s turbo era Forghieri hired British designer Harvey Postlethwaite to pen the 126C.

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With Scheckter – the last man to win a drivers’ title in a Forghieri-designed car

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In the turbulent year of 1982 when team mates Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi fell out, Ferrari still won the constructors’ championship, despite the former perishing at Zolder and the latter destroying his legs in the Hockenheim practice crash. Of that fateful day at the San Marino GP Forghieri commented for the upcoming film on the duo “I don’t think that overtake would have happened if I had been there”. He was still attending most races but that weekend he had been absent due to family commitments. The following year Ferrari again just missed out on the drivers’ title but took the constructors’ honours.

The team won but one race in 1984 and Mauro, who for years had deftly navigated the byzantine Ferrari politics, found himself moved sideways into an advanced research office. For a while he worked on a concept car but when it was finished in the spring of 1987 he left the Scuderia .

Ferrari’s early faith in Forghieri had not only led to the F1 successes already described but everything from the nimble Dino F2 cars of the late sixties, to the mighty 612 Can-Am car built for one of his favourite drivers Chris Amon to race in the States. There were also ground-breaking transverse gearboxes and the first wings in Formula 1.

With his Ferrari days behind him, Mauro Forghieri joined the newly formed Lamborghini Engineering – the Ferrari rival having fallen under the ownership of Chrysler. They wanted a V12 F1 engine designed for the upcoming 3.5-litre Formula which was coming into force in 1989. So Mauro set to work at the drawing board and the engine went on, not very successfully, to power Larrousse Lola and Lotus cars. However it found much more success in powerboat racing.

Later projects included an F1 car – the GLAS001 – for Mexican entrepreneur Fernando Gonzalez Luna. But he mysteriously disappeared before the car could make its debut in the 1990 Mexican GP. Mauro returned to Lamborghini and further developed the V12 F1 engine Ayrton Senna tested in the back of a McLaren. He was, apparently, impressed, but nothing came of the possible combination.

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Forghieri says Villeneuve/Pironi feud wouldn’t have happened under his watch

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In 1992 Forgieri’s fertile engineering brain produced an electric minivan and he then joined Bugatti Automobili where he was technical director during the development of the super-fast EB110 and 112 models. In early 1995 he founded Oral Engineering with two Italian friends and embraced motorcycle, marine and go-kart projects for clients including Aprilia and BMW. More recently he headed a project for former F1 racer and pasta boss Paulo Barilla to re-build a 1970 Ferrari 312B.

Forghieri was an inspirational, talented and, at times, outspoken engineer. He was always happy to talk to the British press although sometimes his answers needed to be taken with a degree of scepticism. After a Ferrari F1 engine blew up on one occasion in South Africa , he told this writer the reason for the car’s retirement was electrical failure. In a way it was – the departing con-rod had knocked off a vital electrical component!

Motor racing has changed in many ways and the likes of a Mauro Forghieri will not be seen again. He was a towering force in the sport.

Motor Sport sends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mauro Forghieri.