That Time Subaru Crafted a Flat 12-Cylinder Motor for F1 Racing

Subaru’s racing initiatives are renowned by enthusiasts considerably and vast, as the underdog Japanese brand name scored legions of fans—and championships—during the 1990s and 2000s as 1 of the dominant gamers in Entire world Rally Championship (WRC) competition. (Its huge lineup in the Gran Turismo PlayStation video game sequence didn’t damage, either.) In shorter order, 4-wheel drifting glory turned a crucial component of its identity, fostering tons of press and boosting worldwide income of the firm’s all-wheel-travel turbo sedans and wagons.

Much significantly less ink has been spilled about the automaker’s fewer successful bid to shine in the context of a unique motorsports institution. In reality, well right before rally at any time entered the photograph, Subaru was decided to spotlight its engineering prowess and convert the heads of enthusiasts who had mostly written off the quirky brand—by cracking the ranks of System 1.

To get started, all it desired was an engine. Sadly, that powerplant turned out to be the Subaru flat-12, the largest and ultimately minimum-successful design in the company’s record.

The late ’80s were being a increase time for the Japanese financial system, and its automobile business celebrated the island’s financial windfall with all manner of pricey expansions, branding techniques, sports cars and trucks, and racing groups. Eager to get involved, Subaru recognized that even though it could not match Mazda’s upcoming RX-7 or Honda’s nascent NSX in the showroom. However, there was no explanation why it could not underwrite a fledgling F1 team as an engine provider.

Of system, ‘supplier’ arrived with an asterisk. With just about no encounter in the globe of significant-stop competition, Subaru contracted Motori Moderni to serve as its chaperone into the F1 scene. The business came with an open-wheel pedigree established by Alfa Romeo, as Moderni’s proprietor and manager, Carlo Chiti, experienced enjoyed racing success as the Italian marque’s chief engineer ahead of parlaying his popularity into serving as a non-public motor builder for the Minardi and AGS groups.

Despite the fact that new rule modifications experienced Chiti buying a 3.5-liter V-12 to F1 teams at the time, Moderni was all also joyful to change items up and develop a “boxer” motor that would bolster Subaru’s brand name at the pinnacle of racing. With almost nothing but flat-fours and flat-sixes in its portfolio, a flat-12 seemed like the upcoming rational action, as it would embody several of the exact same engineering ideas (particularly a small centre of gravity) that the corporation touted when marketing its avenue lineup.

Sadly, the 3.5-liter flat-12 produced by the Subaru/Motori Moderni partnership ended up emphasizing the boxer engine’s negatives somewhat than the positives when used in a substantial-efficiency setting. The first situation was weight: When completely dressed with its components, the motor was almost 250 pounds heavier than a comparable Formula 1 V-8. That problem was compounded by the actuality Moderni was under no circumstances ready to squeeze more than 550 hp or so out of the device, which intended it was down by as many as 100 horses when compared to some of its rivals on the qualifying grid.

When outfitted to the Subaru will work motor vehicle, a Coloni C3B created by Christian Vanderpleyn, the porky, wheezy 12-cylinder motor posed still a different difficulty. It appears that the proportions of the engine (which had been dubbed the Subaru 1235) ended up these they demanded the use of facet-pod air ducts somewhat than the original airbox the C3 experienced been developed for. Not only did the ponderous motor placement disturb the aerodynamics of the chassis, but it also created it not possible to get edge of venturi tunnels sculpted into the underside of the car or truck, even further minimizing the Coloni’s downforce.

Predictably, a Subaru/Coloni package deal that was over weight, underpowered, and not approximately as sticky as the competitors experienced great issues even making it on to an F1 starting grid. Immediately after a mere 8 races of striving, and failing, to pre-qualify for an event in the course of the 1990 year, Subaru would lower ties with Motori Moderni, leaving Coloni to swap in the preceding year’s Cosworth V-8 for the remainder of the routine. This, as well, would be a failure, ensuing in a lost yr for the staff and a dodged bullet for Minardi, which experienced originally examined the motor ahead of its agreement with Subaru fell by way of.

The Subaru 1235 story did not conclusion in F1 ignominy. As with any unique powerplant abandoned by the upper echelon of motorsports, there was no scarcity of suitors activity to leverage the automaker’s massive expense to their have acquire.

The initially was Alba Engineering’s Giorgio Stirano, who counted himself fortunate to stumble across a viable 3.5-liter powerplant for his Team C prototype software in a 12 months in which recent rule alterations from the FIA had compelled out quite a few makers and groups. The same troubles that had plagued Coloni would also haunt Alba throughout 1990, with weak aero and a awful electricity-to-pounds ratio rendering the Alba Components Workforce entry routinely 20 to 30 seconds off the tempo prior to imploding at Spa.

Group C would be the final nail in the competitors coffin for the Subaru 1235, but there were nevertheless opportunity clients out there in the world of bespoke luxurious automobiles. Both of those Dome (famed builders of the Zero, as properly as various Toyota race automobiles) and Christian von Koenigsegg would give the flat-12 a test-out in the Jiotto Caspita and the initial Koenigsegg prototype, respectively.

Built for Jiotto Design and style Studio, Dome’s mid-engined marvel really pre-dated the Subaru engine’s F1 look, with initial versions equipped with the 3.5-liter engine proven off at the Tokyo Vehicle Demonstrate in 1989. Subaru axing its F1 system rapidly set an finish to Dome’s interest in repurposing the flat-12 for the Caspita, with Jiotto manager Kunihisa Ito turning to a additional common V-10 electric power plant.

Divorced from its disastrous on-track returns, the motor had a much greater likelihood in Sweden, in which it caught Koenigsegg’s awareness thanks to a likelihood come upon with a pal of Carlo Chiti. Bored out to 3.8 liters, the motor was now pushing out 580 hp at 9,000 rpm. Just after placing a deal with Motori Moderni, the unit replaced the Audi V-8 that experienced enthusiastic the original Koenigsegg prototype in 1996. The dying of Carlo Chiti shortly soon after the flat-12 was mounted in the auto spelled an conclusion to Motori Moderni and Koenigsegg’s offer of engines. While Koenigsegg purchased patterns and tooling for the Subaru 1235 at auction, he in the end deemed it as well difficult to create in-residence.

For Subaru, remaining on-model intended sacrificing any opportunity to be competitive in F1. The issues surrounding the 1235’s weight and hard placement in the F1 monocoque of the period could have conveniently been predicted, not to point out the actuality it experienced been approximately a ten years because any other group experienced effectively fronted a flat-12 engine. Ignoring all of these facts and picking to govern the Coloni team by decree alternatively than the realities of the activity assured a weak demonstrating for Subaru and made its boxer design and style the laughing inventory of the circuit—the internet opposite of what had been hoped for by business executives.

Despite the fact that the 1235 flat-12 stays a sore place in Subaru’s historical past, it could be argued that the firm acquired off straightforward when compared to some of its in-state rivals throughout the bubble period. Subaru would never once again commission a bespoke motor or compete in anything resembling the higher echelons of open-wheel racing. Then again, the business did not have to deal with the drop-out from acquiring luxurious brands that in no way observed the light-weight of working day, or dump massive sums into large-tech sporting activities cars and trucks that have been quickly crushed by the mounting yen and then hollowed out by the crashing economy.

3 yrs immediately after the F1 disaster, Subaru would debut its Impreza-centered rally team and find that showroom-dependent cars provided a a great deal far more productive outreach into motorsports. Specifically, rally racing tied the business instantly to buyers who could exhibit up at a vendor next the latest victory and generate residence in just about the exact motor vehicle they had observed on Television the weekend just before. Embracing this prosperous philosophy guided the future two many years of Subaru’s merchandise organizing and competitors, and took a bit of sting out of the flat-12 debacle.

Coloni C3B photo by using Pascal Rondeau/Getty Photographs.