Formula One 1957 Season

1957 saw the significant introduction by Ferrari of a V6 1½-liter, Formula Two car, rumoured to develop no less than 190 bhp, on petrol, at 9200 rpm. It was a pointer to future Ferrari F1 plans. Then there came the most radical departure of all, the move to put the engine behind the driver, as would become the norm on all GP cars. This happened when Rob Walker entered Jack Brabham in a Cooper, with the sting in its tail represented by a Coventry Climax engine enlarged from its customary Formula Two size. This far-reaching trend was continued first when the Cooper Car Company itself installed a 1.9-Iitre Coventry Climax power pack into the back of such a car, with disc brakes, and subsequently when Bob Gerard contrived a six-port, 69 x 100 mm, Bristol engine of 2250cc for the back end of his Cooper chassis.

The 1954-57 Formula went out on some technically interesting and important notes. Ferrari had introduced the famous Dino Ferrari, its type name being that of Enzo Ferrari's son; the car's Formula Two V6 power unit was gradually enlarged, the first stage taking it to 1860cc, with megaphone exhausts. Maserati had more power than anyone else in the field, their 2½-liter, 68t x 66mm, engine giving over 4½ bhp for every square inch of its piston-area, which measured an aggregate of 67 square inches, while the gallant Vanwalls were now giving 310 bhp and were safe up to a top crankshaft speed of 10,000 rpm.

In due course the Dino Ferrari unit was opened out to the full 2½ liters, or more precisely, two versions were run in 1957, one having a capacity of 2417cc and the other being of 2200cc.