The Lancia D50 was designed in 1953/54 by Vittorio Jano for Scuderia Lancia to compete in the 1954 and 1955 Formula 1 seasons. The cars met with some success, but the Lancia company was in severe financial trouble and in the middle of 1955 Gianni Lancia decided to withdraw his team from the Belgian Grand Prix, held on 5 June. However, his driver Castellotti persuaded him to loan him one car to drive in the race and he surprised everyone by taking pole position ahead of the entire Mercedes team. Jano was in the pits and advised Castellotti to take things easy in the race, but he kept close to the Mercedes cars and was in third place when his gearbox broke.
Lancia were taken over by the entrepreneur Carlo Pesenti, who held Lancia until forced to sell it to Fiat in 1969. But Scuderia Lancia was finished, and after the Belgian Grand Prix the six Lancia D50 team cars were languishing in store.
Meanwhile, Ferrari was suffering from the poor showing of its Super Squalo cars and Enzo Ferrari spotted an opportunity. In a deal supposedly bankrolled by Fiat (who had no direct ownership of Ferrari or Lancia at the time), Ferrari took over the cars and the Lancia racing transporter. This was a smart move: in 1956 the Lancia-Ferrari D50s gave Juan Manuel Fangio the world championship.
The specification of the D50 was relatively classic: the engine was a mid-front-mounted longitudinal 90-degree V8, inclined by 12 degrees, oversquare with a capacity of 2486cc (76 x 68.5mm), with small capacity changes for the D50-2 and D50A. 16 valves were actuated by one chain-driven camshaft per bank. Power output was 250bhp at 8,000rpm, up to an eventual 265bhp at 8,500rpm. The drive shaft passed to the left of the cockpit to a 5-speed transverse gearbox. Suspension was independent at the front and de Dion at the rear. The characteristic pannier fuel tanks were adopted for good weight distribution and aerodynamics, smoothing air flow between front and rear wheels. However, for 1956 the Ferrari team moved the fuel tank to the rear, and the pannier tanks were repurposed as purely aerodynamic additions to the bodywork.
Our Snapshot shows a D50 in its Ferrari incarnation, with prominent Prancing Horse insignia – but when was the photo taken? The driver is clearly Mike Hawthorn, but he only started to race for Ferrari in 1957, when the pannier fuel tanks had become aerodynamic aids – the fuel filler here clearly shows the car to be much earlier. The solution comes from a closer look at Mike Hawthorn’s racing history. He raced a Lancia D50 for Scuderia Ferrari on 24 September 1955 in the International Gold Cup at Oulton Park. The photo must date from then.
Image displayed with the kind permission of the Haynes Motor Museum
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