Ferrari 637: Strumento di Contrattazione #blogpost

In the early 1980s, things were very simple in Formula One. You design a chassis but, if you can’t, you buy one from someone else. You design an engine, but if you can’t, you use the de facto Cosworth DFV V8. It was that simple. However, in the middle of the decade, there was something called the Concorde Agreement, the place where Formula 1 gets very political. In said agreement, there were talks about engine configuration regulations which hindered Scuderia Ferrari’s progress. It was presumed that there were plans to restrict the engine configurations to a 1.5 turbo engine formula.

Of course, if you are familiar with Ferrari, it needs no questions that Ferrari have always been a hugger to the 12 cylinder layout and if this new regulation is set in place, Ferrari would have to go back to the drawing board, something that Enzo Ferrari — then 87 years old — didn’t want to do.

So to threaten F1, l’Commendatore commissioned the Ferrari 637, designed and built to compete in America’s CART World Series, which at that time included the famed Indy 500.

To do so Ferrari had got in touch with the future Indy 500-winning CART team TrueSports, and a March IndyCar was delivered to Ferrari for the design team to dissect how it worked and what was needed for their new venture. Bobby Rahal, 1986 Indy 500 winner for TrueSports, was also sent to Fiorano mid-season for a two-day test of the March for Ferrari to gather data.

On the designing, Gustav Brunner was picked up for the job. Predictably the outcome was a gorgeous, scarlet IndyCar, adorned with the Cavallino Rampante.

The powerplant chosen for this car is not the then de facto CART engine from Cosworth, the DFX. Instead, Ferrari would produce its own CART spec engine, codenamed the Tipo 034, a 2.6l turbocharged V8. Very little to none information was available for this engine, I could not even find a picture of said engine. But, basing on the specs of the DFX V8 turbo, it is presumed to produce somewhere in the 800-850 hp territory.

Brunner’s IndyCar came to fruition. Side by side, it was as pretty as the F187/88 F1 car that Brunner later produced for Ferrari. Welcome to the world, the type 034. No six wheels on this type 034, but just as much of a surprise.

Alboreto tested the car at Ferrari’s legendary test track Fiorano, where it is said that it was as competitive as the March 85C that Ferrari still retained.

But just when it was looking good for one of the most emotive names in racing to arrive in IndyCar, in stepped Ferrari’s John Barnard. He decided that the IndyCar project was hurting the F1 programme, and should stop. And it did.

Not before the politics started again, however. l’Commendatore was not going to walk away quietly. Enzo wanted an end to the 1.5-litre turbo formula in F1, so suggested a new idea to Ecclestone. If F1 would switch to a 3.5-litre normally aspirated formula for 1989, allowing his beloved 12-cylinder engines to compete again, Ferrari would cease work on the IndyCar project.

Questa è un’auto ben sviluppata per uno strumento di contrattazione. The Ferrari 637 is a perfect example of how passionate and political Ferrari can be. It was an example of how far they’ll go in order to keep what they like. But in the end, the 637 was just a Bargaining Tool.