Vittorio Jano (Hungarian:János Viktor; 22 April 1891 – 13 March 1965) was anItalianautomobile designer ofHungarian descent, active in European racing car engine design from the 1920s through 1960s.
Jano was bornViktor János inSan Giorgio Canavese, inPiedmont, to Hungarian immigrants, who had arrived there several years earlier. He began at the car and truck companySocietà Torinese Automobili Rapid owned byG.B. Ceirano.[1] In 1911 he moved toFiat under Luigi Bazzi.
Jano moved with Bazzi toAlfa Romeo in 1923 to replaceGiuseppe Merosi as chief engineer. At Alfa Romeo his first design was the 8-cylinder in-line mountedAlfa Romeo P2 Grand Prix car, which won Alfa Romeo the inaugural world championship for Grand Prix cars in 1925. In 1932, he produced the sensationalAlfa Romeo P3 model, which later was raced with great success byEnzo Ferrari and hisScuderia Ferrari in 1933.
For Alfa road cars Jano developed a series of small-to-medium-displacement 4-, 6-, and 8-cylinder inline power plants based on the P2 unit that established the classic architecture of Alfa engines, with light alloy construction,hemispherical combustion chambers, centrally located plugs, two rows of overhead valves per cylinder bank, and dual overhead cams. In 1936 he designed theAlfa Romeo 12C using aV12. The car's lack of success is given as the reason for Jano's resignation from Alfa Romeo at the end of 1937.
In late 1937 Jano moved toLancia. Among his designs there were theLancia Aurelia, and efforts in theGrand Prix effort. The innovativeLancia D50 was introduced in 1954, but 1955's loss ofAlberto Ascari and the1955 Le Mans disaster soured the company on GP racing. Ferrari took over the effort that same year, inheriting Jano with it.
Jano's contribution to Ferrari was significant. Immediately he began work on a new V12 engine to replace the existing inline-4-engined sports cars. In 1956 his newJano V12 engine was introduced in theFerrari 290 MM.[2] The new series of the Jano-engined sports cars helped secure twoWorld Sportscar Championship titles. With the encouragement of Enzo's son,Alfredo, the Jano'sV6 engines pushed the biggerLampredi andColombo engines aside in some races. After Dino's death, Jano's "Dino" V6 became the basis for the company'sFormula Two andTasman Series efforts. Later, with experience in both Ferrari and Dino mid-engine sports prototypes it laid the groundwork for their firstmid-engined road car, the 1967Dino 206 GT.[3] The V6 and V8 went on to displace Ferrari'sV12 focus and their descendants continue to be used today.
Like Enzo Ferrari, Jano lost his own son in 1965. He became gravely ill that same year and committed suicide in Turin.
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