Ferrari 121LM

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The third Ferrari 121LM (0546LM)

The Ferrari 121LM was a racing car that Ferrari built in 1955 and that Scuderia used in sports car races that same year.

technology

Like the Ferrari 118LM , the 121LM was one of Ferrari's early six-cylinder racing cars before the Dino era. The 121LM had an in- line engine that developed 330 hp with a displacement of 4412 cm³. The engine, still developed by Aurelio Lampredi , was originally designed as a four-cylinder, the conversion was carried out in order to be able to withstand the dominant competition from Mercedes-Benz . In 1955, four pieces of the racing sports car with a speed of 260 km / h on the straight were given a body by Scaglietti.

Races

The 121LM was driven in a race for the first time at the Mille Miglia in 1955 . The rarely tested car - chassis number 0558LM with a Scaglietti body - was driven by Eugenio Castellotti , who did not finish. The reason for the failure was not a lack of technical maturity, but a tire damage that forced the Italian to give up. When 24-hour race at Le Mans this year, the second insert followed. In the long-distance race overshadowed by a serious accident , three works cars were registered. Phil Hill and Umberto Maglioli drove the 0558LM chassis, which was already used at the Mille Miglia. The two new vehicles - 0532LM and 0546LM - were driven by Eugenio Castellotti, Paolo Marzotto , Maurice Trintignant and Harry Schell . All three cars failed due to technical defects, with Harry Schell and Maurice Trintignant's car going the furthest with 107 laps.

At the 1000 km race in Kristianstad , which was not yet part of the sports car world championship in 1955 , there was the first finish for a works 121LM. Behind the two Mercedes-Benz drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss , Eugenio Castellotti came third overall. There was only one more factory assignment; Umberto Maglioli retired from the Venezuela Grand Prix with an overheated engine.

After that, all four cars - Maglioli drove in Venezuela chassis 0484LM, a converted 118LM - were sold to US private teams, who were quite successful with the 121LM. Ernie McAfee won the two SCCA races in Santa Barbara in 1956 with the 0546LM chassis. With the same vehicle, however, he had a fatal accident at the Pebble Beach National Championship Sports Car Road Race in 1956 . Even Carroll Shelby , Rory Chery Holmes and Phil Hill won SCCA race with privately reported 121LM. This Ferrari racing car was last used in racing in 1959 at the 200-mile race in Riverside ; at the wheel Rodger Ward , who was unable to compete in the second race after an accident in the first race.

Technical specifications

Parameters Ferrari 121LM
Engine:  Four-stroke 6-cylinder in-line engine (installed in front) Type 121
Cooling:  water
Displacement :  4412 cc
Bore × stroke:  102 × 90 mm
Compression:  8.5: 1
Valve control: 
Carburetor:  3 Weber double carburetors 50 DCO A / 3
Power:  330 hp (246 kW) at 6000 rpm
Maximum torque: 
Power transmission:  5-speed gearbox (not synchronized), limited-slip differential
rear-wheel drive
Frame and body:  Steel tubular ladder frame, aluminum body
Steering:  Worm steering
Front suspension:  Double wishbones, coil springs, lever shock absorbers
Rear suspension:  De-Dion axle, transverse leaf spring, lever shock absorber
Brakes:  hydraulically operated duplex drum brakes
Track width front / rear:  1278/1284 mm
Wheelbase :  2400 mm
Tire size front / rear: 
Length × width × height: 
Empty weight (without driver):  850 kg
Top speed:  up to 290 km / h

literature

  • Pino Casamassima: Storia della Scuderia Ferrari. Nada Editore, Vimodrome 1998, ISBN 88-7911-179-5 .
  • Peter Braun / Gregor Schulz: The great Ferrari manual. Heel, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-89880-501-8 .

Web links

Commons : Ferrari 121LM  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ history and race results of 0546LM
  2. ↑ Race results of the 121LM
  3. ↑ Technical data