Guide: Return of the Prancing Horse - a Historical & Technical Appraisal of the Ferrari 125 Sport
BACKGROUND
Despite some notable success, perhaps best demonstrated by four Grand Prix wins between 1923 and ‘24, Enzo Ferrari felt he did not have what it took to become a top flight racing driver and instead turned his attention to team management.
Thanks to financial backing from textile heirs Augusto and Alfredo Caniato and wealthy amateur racer Mario Tadini, Scuderia Ferrari was established in 1929. Unsurprisingly, the outfit came to be closely associated with Alfa Romeo for whom Enzo Ferrari had raced since 1920.
In 1933 (a year after Enzo Ferrari had decided to quit driving following the birth of his son, Alfredino), Scuderia Ferrari was made the official Alfa Romeo racing division, in part as a consequence of Alfa’s financial woes.
Despite Scuderia Ferrari’s considerable success, once Alfa Romeo was back on a sound financial footing, a desire to bring the firm’s competition department back in-house resulted in the creation of Alfa Corse for 1938. Alfa Corse was born from the existing Scuderia Ferrari operation which Alfa Romeo had acquired in 1937 and, over the winter of 1937-1938, the entire operation was relocated from Ferrari’s HQ in Modena to a new facility in Portello, Milan.
Unsurprisingly, Enzo Ferrari did not agree with Alfa Romeo’s policy and, following one too many outspoken comments, the man dubbed il Commendatore was dismissed in 1939. As part of the termination agreement, Alfa Romeo insisted the Scuderia Ferrari name was not to re-appear for at least four years.
Enzo Ferrari subsequently went on to establish Auto Avio Costruzione with the intention of manufacturing motor cars and machine tools.
The Auto Avio Costruzione 815 racing car that emerged in 1940 used neither the Ferrari name or emblem, but unfortunately the proliferation of hostilities in Europe put a stop to any further activities and, after two examples had been built, the Auto Avio Costruzione name disappeared.
During World War 2, Enzo Ferrari’s factory was forced to undertake tool production for Benito Mussolini’s fascist government and repeated Allied bombing saw the company relocate from Modena to Maranello.
Following the conclusion of World War 2, Enzo Ferrari re-focused on his first love: motor racing. He put together an exceptional team of engineers with the aim to build the fastest single seat and sports racing cars on the planet.
The first car manufactured under the Ferrari moniker was the 125 Sport of 1947. It used a 1.5-litre V12 engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo and took its name from the 125cc capacity of each individual cylinder (a system Ferrari would use for many years to come).
Two 125 Sports were built up to contest the 1947 season. They raced against other early post-World War 2 machinery from the likes of Maserati, Stanguellini, Cisitalia and Alfa Romeo.
Bereft of any bodywork, the first 125 Sport (chassis 01 C) daperted Maranello for its inaugural test on March 12th 1947. Both chassis 01 C and 02 C were then present for Ferrari's competition debut at the Circuito di Piacenza on May 11th.
CHASSIS
The 125 Sport was based around a conventional tubular steel ladder-type frame manufactured by Gilco Autotelai in Milan. For this first application, Ferrari adopted a 2420mm wheelbase. A 72-litre fuel tank was installed behind the rear axle underneath the spare wheel.
Independent front suspension was via double wishbones with a single transverse leaf spring. The back end used a live axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs and an anti-roll bar.
Hydraulic Houdaille shock absorbers were fitted all round along with single-circuit drum brakes.
15-inch diameter wire wheels were supplied by Rudge Whitworth in England. They measured 5-inches wide at the front, 6-inches wide at the rear and were originally shod with Pirelli tyres.
Track was 1240mm at both ends.
ENGINE / TRANSMISSION
The brand new Ferrari 60° V12 engine was designed by Gioacchino Colombo with contributions from Giuseppe Busso and Luigi Bazzi. It comprised a light alloy block and head with hemispherical combustion chambers and a single chain-driven overhead camshaft for each bank of cylinders.
Ignition was by a single spark plug per cylinder and two Marelli magnetos. Displacement was 1496cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 55mm and 52.5mm respectively.
Two alternative versions of the engine were initially proposed: Sport and Touring. Another version was to be developed for Grand Prix racing, but at this stage was still several months away from completion.
The Sport variant was intended for competition use. With a compression ratio of 9.5:1 and three downdraught Weber 32 DCF carburettors, it produced 118bhp at 6800prm.
For the Touring motor, compression was dropped to 8.0:1 and a single Weber 32 DCF carburettor was installed. In this configuration, output was quoted as 72bhp at 5600rpm. However, the two 125 Sports built by Ferrari were both out-and-out competition cars so no Touring version ever saw use.
The 1.5-litre V12 engine was mounted in unit with a Ferrari-designed five-speed manual gearbox coupled to a single dry-plate clutch and open differential.
BODYWORK
Chassis 01 C and 02 C received two different types of body, both of which were designed by Giuseppe Busso.
The first car (01 C) wore a fully-enveloped Spyder body manufactured by Peiretti.
The second (02 C) was fitted with cycle-winged Spyder bodywork fabricated by Ansoloni.
Giuseppe Peiretti was a Modenese coachbuilder. His body for 01 C featured integrated front wings, a soft profile and short rounded tail.
The front half of the car was dominated by cooling solutions. A primary nose intake was flanked by brake ducts located under the semi-faired-in headlights. The small horseshoe-shaped intake above the main grille fed fresh air to the carburettors via an aluminium snorkel.
To assist with engine cooling, louvres were cut from the hood and flanks.
A detachable panel on the rear deck enabled access to the spare wheel, fuel tank and back axle.
The body for 02 C was fabricated by another Modenese coachbuilder, Carrozzeria Ansaloni.
This car had a lightweight cigar-type body with cycle wings. The nose was similarly dominated by a large primary intake. Like 01 C, a smaller duct above directed cool air to the carburettors.
Deliberately minimalistic, 02 C was designed to be as light as possible. The cycle wings, headlights and spare wheel could easily be removed so the car could enter formula-type races for single seat machinery. To this end, a detachable body-coloured tonneau was designed to cover the passenger side of the cockpit.
INTERIOR
Interiors on both cars were extremely basic.
Gauges and a variety of toggle switches were housed in a simple aluminium dash fronted by a wood-rimmed three-spoke Nardi steering wheel.
Bucket seats were trimmed in black leather but there was no sound insulation, carpet or other upholstery and space was pretty limited.
WEIGHT / PERFORMANCE
Dry weight for the 125 Sport was officially quoted at 650kg.
Ferrari also claimed a 130mph top speed while 0-62mph likely required in the region of seven seconds.
COMPETITION HISTORY
Scuderia Ferrari went on to have a spectacularly successful 1947 campaign, initially with the 125 Sport and then its effective replacement, the 159 Sport, which came on stream towards the end of that summer.
The 125 Sports made their debut at the 30 lap Circuito di Piacenza on May 11th where Franco Cortese took pole and looked set for victory in 01 C until a seized fuel pump forced the car to retire three laps from the end. Team-mate Giuseppe Farina failed to start having demanded to switch cars after qualifying and Enzo Ferrari opted not to recall him to the team for twelve months.
Franco Cortese then collected back-to-back victories in 01 C at the Rome GP (May 25th) and Circuito delle Terme di Vercelli (June 1st). He subsequently switched to 02 C for the Circuito di Caracalla event on June 8th (the last of three consecutive weekends racing at the Caracalla street circuit) but failed to finish.
A frantic six weeks then followed that saw Cortese win at Vigevano (02 C, June 15th) and then retire from the Mille Miglia (01 C, June 22nd). Scuderia Ferrari then baged a hat-trick of wins with 02 C at Varese (Cortese, June 29th), Forli Tazio Nuvolari, (July 6th) and Parma (Nuvolari again, July 13th).
Following an outing at Cascine (where Ferdinando Rigehetti was best placed 125 Sport driver in third), Scuderia Ferrari went on to debut the 159 Sport with its enlarged 1.9-litre V12 at the Pescara Coppa Acerbo event on August 15th.
The 125 Sport subsequently only made one further appearance when Tazio Nuvolari failed to finish the Livorno GP in Montenero on August 24th.
SUBSEQUENT HISTORY
In the weeks that followed, both 01 C and 02 C were uprated with 159 specification engines and new bodies.
Over the winter of 1947-1948, 01 C (which had been crashed in practice for the Circuito di Modena in late September) was rebuilt to the latest 166 Spyder Corsa specification complete with two-litre engine and new cycle-winged bodywork. It was simultaneously re-numbered 010 I.
During the same period, chassis 02 C (which had already been fitted with a 159 Sport engine and new Peiretti Spyder body ahead of the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara in mid August) was also given a two-litre 166 motor and re-numbered 020 I.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ferrari - https://www.ferrari.com
