The Auto Avio Construzioni 815 made its racing debut in the same year 1940, participating in the Mille Miglia. The pilots in charge were the legendary Alberto Ascari and the Marquis Lotario Rangoni. This car was not successful, but it marked the beginning of Enzo Ferrari as a builder of his own racing cars.
While the emblem with the Rampant Cavallino was present, the car was not yet called Ferrari.
This first Enzo Ferrari car mounted an 8-cylinder in-line engine located longitudinally to the front. The block was made of aluminum and the cylinder caps were adaptations to the original ones of the Fiat 508C.
The engine of this vehicle is naturally-aspirated and has an engine displacement of 1.500 cm3, 8 cylinders with 2 valves per cylinder and double overhead camshaft (DOHC). It was as standard as any contemporary car. The feed had three Weber carburetors. This 8-cylinder engine delivered 75 horsepower at 5,500 rpm.
The Auto Avio Construzioni 815 had rear-wheel drive and the transmission was made via a 4-speed manual gearbox.
As far as the body of the vehicle is concerned, it had a girder chassis with cross links. Suspensions were the weakest point, with the independent front and the rear being rigid bridge. The Auto Avio Construzioni had drum brakes to stop its 650 kilograms of weight. Thanks to this low weight, the car accelerated to a maximum speed estimated at 160 km/h.
The body type Touring was designed by the Italian Alberto Massimino.
© Adrián Blanco 2005 — Prohibited the total or partial reproduction of text and/or images without explicit written consent of the author. —
Ferrari G50 Ferrari 599 GTB Ferrari FXX Ferrari 575 GT Zagato Ferrari 125 S Ferrari 159 S Ferrari 512 M Ferrari 166 Inter Ferrari 195 Ferrari 212 Export Ferrari 212 Inter Ferrari 288 GTO Ferrari F40 Ferrari 225 S Ferrari 340 America