Ferrari 126CK

**Ferrari 126CK**
Constructor:	Scuderia Ferrari
Designer:	Antonio Tomaini
Predecessor:	Ferrari 312T5
Successor:	Ferrari 126C2
Technical specifications
Chassis:	Aluminum monocoque
Engine:	Ferrari Tipo 021, V6 turbo engine, 1500 cm³
Length:	4468 mm
Width:	2110 mm
Height:	1025 mm
Wheelbase:	2718 mm
Weight:	611 kg
Tires:	Goodyear
Petrol:	Agip
statistics
Driver:	Gilles Villeneuve Didier Pironi;
First start:	US Grand Prix West 1981
Last start:	1981 Las Vegas Grand Prix
World Cup points:	34
Podiums:	3
Leadership laps:	k. A. / tba

The Ferrari Tipo 021 V6 turbo engine

The Ferrari 126CK was a Formula 1 racing car that Scuderia Ferrari used in the 1981 Formula 1 World Championship .

development

As early as the middle of the 1980 season, the decision was made in Maranello to design a completely new car to replace the very successful but now outdated Type 312T and its development stages T2 , T3 , T4 and T5 , which had been in use since 1975 . Initially, it was decided not to use the previous 12-cylinder naturally aspirated engine (with 3 liter displacement), but instead to construct a turbo engine in 6-cylinder V design with 1.5 liter displacement.

Ferrari then developed the 126C series: the basic chassis, an aluminum-paneled tubular frame, was almost the same as the previous car. The newly developed, smaller and narrower, V6 turbo engine harmonized much better with the ground effect aerodynamics (the so-called ground effect ), which at the time was a basic requirement for being competitive. The previous Type 15, a conventional 180 ° V12 engine, due to its wider design, obstructed the airflow that was necessary to create an efficient ground effect.

During the engine development, Ferrari experimented with a Comprex loader and a mechanical "pressure wave" compressor from Brown Boveri, but these could not be optimally integrated into the chassis. Ultimately, two classic turbochargers from Kühnle, Kopp & Kausch were used. In this configuration, the engine developed around 600 PS (447 kW; / 608 PS) in qualifying, which was throttled to 550 PS (410 kW / 558 PS) for the actual races.

commitment

A 126CK was first tested in free practice during the 1980 Italian Grand Prix. Based on the results, it turned out to be far faster than the 312T5 the team was using at the time. Gilles Villeneuve preferred the car despite having concerns about driving behavior.

The 126CK was used from the start of the 1981 season . The initial unreliability of the turbo engine dashed Villeneuve's hopes for the 1981 championship, but he scored two wins in Monaco and Spain, as well as several podiums. Because of the problematic driving behavior, the 126CK was best suited for fast routes with long straights such as Hockenheim, Monza and Buenos Aires. The car turned out to be very fast, but Gilles Villeneuve found it difficult to handle and called the car "a big red Cadillac". His team-mate Didier Pironi got along much less well with the car, he achieved a 4th and two 5th places and the fastest lap at the Las Vegas Grand Prix . Villeneuve finished the season in seventh place with 25 points, Pironi reached 13th with 9 points. Scuderia took fifth place in the constructors' championship.

rating

According to Villeneuve's team-mate Didier Pironi and the English designer and constructor Harvey Postlethwaite , who joined Ferrari at the beginning of the 1981 season, the main cause of the car's handling problems was not the chassis, but the very poor aerodynamics of the car. Postlethwaite later said that the 126CK had "a quarter of the downforce that the Williams or Brabham had that year". The poor aerodynamics of the car combined with the hard suspension of the chassis caused the car to slide around corners before the ground effect sucked it back onto the track.

This had the undesirable effect that the drivers were exposed to far higher G-forces than, for example, the pilots of the Williams FW07 or the Brabham BT49 . In addition, the car tended to overuse the tires. The engine had massive turbo lag followed by a steep power curve; this had a negative effect on the balance of the chassis. The engine was indeed the most powerful in the field, but the problems with the coordination of the individual components prevented greater success.

At the Österreichring , a larger group of cars formed behind Didier Pironi for several laps with weaker naturally aspirated engines but better handling: however, due to the performance advantage of the Ferrari engine, none of them was able to overtake Pironi on the straights (and when accelerating out of corners), although his car drove much more slowly through the fast, sweeping corners. The same picture was presented at the race in Jarama this year : 4 cars were stuck behind Villeneuve on the narrow and winding track, but he was able to keep them behind him to the finish thanks to the performance advantage and the purely mechanical brains of his Ferrari. Monaco, where Villeneuve also won, and Jarama were slow tracks on which the aerodynamic effect of the ground-effect vehicles was not as effective as the purely “mechanical” grip. Combined with Villeneuve's well-known driving skills, the 126CK performed better than expected in these two races.

Built copies

6 copies of this type were built.

Chassis no.	information
126 C / 047	first test configuration, essentially the chassis of the 312 T5 with revised aerodynamics
This was followed by the line of cars that started the season, built in Configuration A according to the construction scheme of the 312T5 with an aluminum-paneled tubular frame and then redesigned in Configuration C to be used for Grand Prix racing.
126 C / 049 (later CK / 049B)	Driven by Villeneuve in the tests of the 1980 Italian Grand Prix , in 6 races by Pironi in 1981.
126 CK / 050	5 races with Pironi, 4 with Villeneuve, who destroyed it in the tests of the 1981 Canadian Grand Prix .
126 CK / 051	6 races with Villeneuve and 2 with Pironi.
From the Imola race onwards, vehicles 052-053-054 were used in configuration B with a modified front section and modified suspension, while the 049-050-051 were completely redesigned. They were then also converted into configuration C.
126 CK / 052	6 races with Villeneuve and 2 with Pironi. Now on display in the Ferrari gallery in Modena, it is the car with which Villeneuve won two Grand Prix.
126 CK / 053	3 races with Pironi and one with Villeneuve
126 CK / 054	It contested only one race with Villeneuve and served as a replacement car; it was destroyed by Villeneuve in the tests of the 1981 Italian Grand Prix .