As the Formula 1 turbo era came to an end in the late 1980s Subaru decided that they would benefit from participating in the sport with a newly designed normally aspirated engine. The powerplant was designed and constructed by Carlo Chiti’s Motori Moderni company in Italy. From start to finish the project was an unmitigated disaster.
Chiti Designed Flat-12 Tested in a Minardi
1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg was linked to the project in its early days but the rumours came to nothing. The new engine, a 3.5 litre flat-12, was unveiled during the 1988 Italian Grand Prix weekend. Subaru’s plan was to test the unit in a Minardi the following year.
Early test of the flat-12 took place at Misano, where the large engine was squeezed into a modified Minardi M188. Driving duties were undertaken by Pierluigi Martini, Gianni Morbidelli (in his first Formula 1 test) and Paolo Barilla. They provided mixed feedback about the performance of the engine but, despite Subaru being taken over by Nissan, the project continued.
Subaru and Coloni Enter F1
Despite being one of the smaller Formula teams Minardi realised that the Subaru engine was not going to be competitive and finished their relationship, forfeiting a free supply of flat-12’s for 1990. Subaru lost little time in finding a new partner, Enzo Coloni’s eponymous team. The Japanese manufacturer bought 51% of the team and entered the 1990 Formula 1 World Championship.
The new partnership was ill prepared for the start of the season. The flat-12 was finally installed into a modified Coloni, known as the C3B, at the opening round in Phoenix. The team was focussing all of its attention on a single car entry for Bertrand Gachot. At Phoenix he had barely left his pit box before a gear linkage broke.
The next few races were equally as disappointing. In Brazil Gachot was almost 17 seconds slower than the pole position time and failed to pre-qualify. At Imola a lighter version of the car proved quicker, but Gachot was still 10 seconds a lap slower than pole.
Subaru Sell Coloni and Leave F1
The car never did manage to escape from pre-qualifying, suffering from appalling reliability and a fundamental lack of pace. Their blushes were spared somewhat by the even more pedestrian performances of the woeful Life effort that season. In May Enzo Coloni was sacked and Subaru took full control of the team. They lasted until July, when they withdrew from Formula 1 altogether. After buying the team back from Subaru Enzo Coloni went on to secure Cosworth engines, which at least allowed Gachot to make it into qualifying proper, although he never actually made it to the grid on raceday.
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