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The Father of the Ferrari F40 and Bugatti EB110, Nicola Materazzi Has Died
The Father of the Ferrari F40 and Bugatti EB110, Nicola Materazzi Has Died
Materazzi was an expert in turbocharging and had a hand in developing some of the world's greatest racing machines and supercars.
By Bob Sorokanich
Today 9:00AM
Nicola Materazzi, the engineer behind such legendary vehicles as the Ferrari 288 GTO and F40, the Bugatti EB110, and Lancia Stratos, has died this week. He was 83.
Materazzi witnessed and participated in the most revolutionary era in the history of sports cars and motorsports. Born in Cilento in southern Italy in 1939, Materazzi started his automotive engineering career with Lancia in Turin.
After a few years working on mainstream Lancia models, beginning in 1970 Materazzi got involved in Lancia’s outrageously ambitious World Rally Championship contender, the Stratos. Soon, Materazzi became a preeminent expert in turbocharging, engineering powerplants for Ferrari’s Formula 1 team in the early 1980s.
Soon, Materazzi would apply his turbocharging knowledge to roadgoing vehicles. He developed the 2.9-liter twin-turbo V8 that powered the Ferrari 288 GTO, and refined the architecture and layout of that vehicle, shifting it from a transverse to a longitudinal drivetrain layout. By 1984, Materazzi was named chief engineer at Ferrari, overseeing the development of the GTO Evoluzione and the last vehicle ever built under the supervision of founder Enzo Ferrari, the legendary F40.
{snip}
Materazzi was an expert in turbocharging and had a hand in developing some of the world's greatest racing machines and supercars.
By Bob Sorokanich
Today 9:00AM
Nicola Materazzi, the engineer behind such legendary vehicles as the Ferrari 288 GTO and F40, the Bugatti EB110, and Lancia Stratos, has died this week. He was 83.
Materazzi witnessed and participated in the most revolutionary era in the history of sports cars and motorsports. Born in Cilento in southern Italy in 1939, Materazzi started his automotive engineering career with Lancia in Turin.
After a few years working on mainstream Lancia models, beginning in 1970 Materazzi got involved in Lancia’s outrageously ambitious World Rally Championship contender, the Stratos. Soon, Materazzi became a preeminent expert in turbocharging, engineering powerplants for Ferrari’s Formula 1 team in the early 1980s.
Soon, Materazzi would apply his turbocharging knowledge to roadgoing vehicles. He developed the 2.9-liter twin-turbo V8 that powered the Ferrari 288 GTO, and refined the architecture and layout of that vehicle, shifting it from a transverse to a longitudinal drivetrain layout. By 1984, Materazzi was named chief engineer at Ferrari, overseeing the development of the GTO Evoluzione and the last vehicle ever built under the supervision of founder Enzo Ferrari, the legendary F40.
{snip}