Carlo Chiti (19 December 1924 – 7 July 1994) was an Italian racing car and engine designer best known for his long association withAlfa Romeo's racing department. He also worked forFerrari and was involved in the design of theFerrari 156 Sharknose car, with whichPhil Hill won the1961 championship.
Born inPistoia,Tuscany, Chiti graduated with a degree inaeronautical engineering from theUniversity of Pisa in Italy in 1953.[1]
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Chiti joined Alfa Romeo in 1952 when still a student. He joined a design and engineering team supervised byOrazio Satta Puliga, and worked in collaboration with senior members such asRudolf Hruska andGiuseppe Busso. His first job was the design of theAlfa Romeo 3000 CM sports car.[1] When Alfa Romeo's competition department was closed down in the mid-1950s, Chiti was invited to replace designer and engineer Andrea Fraschetti atScuderia Ferrari.
At Ferrari, Chiti was involved with the design of the1958 championship winning carFerrari 246 F1 together withVittorio Jano.Mike Hawthorn secured the Drivers' Championship and the team finished second behindVanwall in the newly-bornConstructors' Championship. In 1961, Chiti designed theFerrari 156 Sharknose car, with whichPhil Hill won thechampionship and earned the team its maiden Constructors' Championship. During his tenure at Ferrari, Chiti also mentored a new generation of aspiring designers who had begun a period of apprenticeship at the team, includingMauro Forghieri andGiampaolo Dallara. In 1962, following a disagreement withEnzo Ferrari, Chiti,Giotto Bizzarrini and other senior figures left the company.
Chiti, Bizzarrini and Romolo Tavoni were subsequently invited byGiovanni Volpi to join the breakawayATS Formula One team, which had employed a number of disaffected ex-Ferrari personnel, including drivers Phil Hill andGiancarlo Baghetti. The ATS project was not successful and in 1964 Chiti re-entered competitive motor racing through a new project,Autodelta.
Autodelta enabled Chiti to rekindle his association with Alfa Romeo, for whom he designed aV8 and then aflat-12 engine for theirAlfa Romeo Tipo 33 sportscars. These were eventually successful, winning the1975 World Championship for Makes and1977 World Championship for Sports Cars.[1] At this time, Chiti became involved in Formula One again, through theBrabham team, who signed an agreement with Alfa Romeo to use Chiti's engines. There was some success –Niki Lauda won two races in aBrabham BT46 with the Alfa engine in the1978 Formula One season. Brabham designerGordon Murray persuaded Chiti to produce aV12 engine to allowground effect to be exploited by the team. However, during the1979 Formula One season, mutual dissatisfaction with the partnership prompted Brabham's ownerBernie Ecclestone to return toFord and Chiti to start developing a Formula One Alfa Romeo car. The Alfa Romeo/Brabham partnership was terminated before the end of the season.
The Alfa Romeo Formula One project started with some promise but was never able to recapture the glory days of the marque in the 1950s. The team achieved two pole positions, withBruno Giacomelli leading much of the 1980 United States Grand Prix before retiring with electrical trouble. Tragedy also occurred whenPatrick Depailler was killed testing for the1980 German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring. The team's best season was 1983, when Chiti designed a turbocharged 890T V8 engine, and Alfa Romeo achieved 6th place in the constructors' championship, largely thanks to two second-place finishes forAndrea de Cesaris.
In 1984 Chiti left Alfa Romeo to set up another company,Motori Moderni which concentrated on producing engines for Formula One. Initially, the company produced aV6 turbo design, used briefly byMinardi andAutomobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives. However, the underfunded operation meant the engines were not competitive. When the banning of turbos from Formula One was announced, Chiti designed a new 3.5 litre atmospheric flat-12 engine. This was eventually taken up bySubaru, who badged it for use in their brief and completely unsuccessful entry into Formula One with the tinyColoni team in the1990 Formula One season.
Carlo Chiti died in 1994 inMilan.
In 1999,Koenigsegg bought blueprints, machining tools and the patent for an unused 4-litre Chiti-designed Formula One flat-12 engine.[2][3]
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