Mauro Forghieri 1935-2022: RIP

Known for his major contributions to Ferrari’s racing cars from the 1960s to 1980s, engineer Mauro Forghieri died on 2 November 2022, aged 87. Born on 13 January 1935 in Modena, he was hired by Ferrari in 1960. When the famous walk-out around Christmas 1961 saw chief engineer Carlo Chiti, Giotto Bizzarrini and Romolo Tavoni amongst others resigned en masse, Forghieri was thrust into the spotlight.

He produced a semi-monocoque chassis for 1963, when new recruit John Surtees took two F1 victories, while his next chassis in 1964 resulted in a Surtees/Ferrari World Championship. 1967 brought joy as the iconic P4 took a 1-2-3 result in the Daytona 24 Hours; the 330 P4 was always Mauro’s favourite design, he maintained.

Forghieri’s F1 car of 1970 was mapped out with a flat-12 power unit and became what is arguably the best-looking mid-engined Formula 1 car ever made: the 312 B. The engine formed the basis of F1 and sportscar racing right through to 1980, helping Ferrari to a World Sportscar Championship in 1972 and F1 titles in 1975 and 1977 with Niki Lauda. The ‘T’ model F1 cars with transverse gearboxes won everywhere, most notably with Jody Scheckter who took the F1 title in 1979.

Mauro Forghieri finally left Ferrari’s racing department in 1984 to create an all-wheel drive road-going prototype, the 408. After this, he left Ferrari for Lamborghini, designing a 3.0-litre V12 for F1. In 1992, he joined Bugatti to help develop the EB110 before co-founding Oral Engineering and joining Project 1221 to develop a sportscar, the MF1. He was awarded the honorary citizenship of Modena in 2021.