Ferrari ran their 2006 spec 2.4 litre V8 engine for the first time at Fiorano on Tuesday, fitted into the back of an F2004 driven by Marc Gené. He completed 38 laps laps on Tuesday and another 58 on Wednesday without any problems. His best time was a 59.305, some 3.3 seconds slower than Michael Schumacher's lap record, which is of academic interest only as the car is a test mule.

It'll be interesting to see how soon they are back to '05 lap times when a proper chassis is engineered around these engines, which are bound to be tiny, though individual cylinder capacity is probably a bit too large to resurrect the "jewel-like" cliché. These highly specialised engines, revving in excess of 20,000 rpm, make a mockery of the FIA's intention to reduce costs.

The V8 has not been a configuration favoured by Ferrari for racing and this is only the third such unit to appear in a Ferrari F1 car.

The first was a not a pure Ferrari design, being a modified 2.5 litre Lancia unit which was fitted to the Ferrari developed D50s handed over to the Scuderia at the end of 1955 when Lancia went bust, eventuall ending up as part of the Fiat empire. So for 1956 Ferrari was gifted a competitive GP car to replace the obsolescent and uncompetitive 625 and 555 tipos.

In another stroke of luck, the dominant Mercedes GP team (cars actually designed, manufactured and run by the works in Stuttgart!) withdrew at the end of the 1955 season and Ferrari acquired the services of reigning World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio. It was not a happy relationship but he went on to win the 1956 Drivers' title for the Scuderia (there was no Constructors' title at the time). He never drove for them again, returning to Maserati in 1957.

The second F1 V8, and first true Ferrari design, was the 1.5 litre 158 unit of 1963 produced in response to the dominant British Coventry Climax and BRM V8s. It won first time out at Syracuse in April 1964 with John Surtees at the wheel of a Tipo 158 (s/n 0005). He went on to win the Drivers' title that year, Ferrari taking the Constructors'. Surtees later said that the V8 was not much better than the V6 which preceded it and it was replaced by a flat 12 the following season. He also said that he believed Ferrari's interest in the V8 was encouraged by Fiat.

The lessons learned with this unit must have helped in the development of the first Ferrari road V8, the 3 litre unit which first appeared in 308GT4 in 1974; Tanner and Nye certainly have it that the engine evolved from the F1 unit.

This engine went on to become one of the most successful and numerous in Ferrari's history, being developed through quattrovalvole versions and increasing in capacity through 3.2 to 3.4 litres, being installed in the 308, 328, Mondial and 348 tipos and the legendary 288GTO and F40 tipos. It was also used by Lancia in the LC2 sports racer and (much) more mundane Thema saloon.

The next major change came with the five valve 355 unit, which was further developed for the 360. This tipo truly spelled the end of the line, because the 430 engine is essentially a Maserati design.

There are certain happy precedents for the new F1 unit: both those before came after difficult periods for the Scuderia, as does this one and both went on to win world championships in their first season - let's hope that history repeats itself.

Interestingly, the first and latest F1 units give us an almost direct measure of half a century of progress in F1, since they are the same capacity to within 100cc. The Lancia-based engine gave 231bhp @ 8,600rpm and the latest unit is expected to give over 800bhp @ 20,000rpm!

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Gené tested the latest Ferrari F1 V8 this week

First was Lancia-derived unit...

...next the 158 F1 of 1964

The 2001 360 unit was the end of that evolutionary line

pics by Ferrari Media, Sutton, the Geoff Goddard Collection & George Monkhouse