FERRARI 158 – year 1964

Ferrari Maranello Car and Racing Company, Modena, Italy.

Year 1964 was successful for Ferrari. Her cars won the world manufacturers' championship, a seven-time motorcycle world champion – John Surtees – scored at Ferrari 158 world championship in motor racing.

A winning Ferrari 158 it looked nothing like the tried and tested model 156 from the early sixties. The new car uses an eight-cylinder V-engine with cylinders arranged at an angle of 90 °. The cylinders were in diameter 67 mm and piston stroke 52,8 mm, which gave capacity 1487 cm3. With compression ratio 10,5: 1 the engine was running 154,6 kW (210 KM) by 11 000 RPM. Carburettors were replaced with fuel injection. Bosch injection pump, located between the cylinders, was driven by a cam via a toothed belt. Bosch also supplied the transistor ignition. The engine also acted as the vehicle's load-bearing part. The dry multi-plate clutch was located just behind the engine, and the gearbox is located behind the rear axle. The car was equipped with a five-speed gearbox, but six boxes could also be used interchangeably- or seven-speed.

Low body, solved as a self-supporting structure, it was riveted from lightweight aluminum sheets. The competitor was driving, for the first time on a Ferrari, almost lying down. Wheels, cast from the electron, were suspended independently on transverse wishbones. The coil springs with half-center shock absorbers are hidden under the body, as do the fuel tanks on both sides of the driver. Some body parts and fuel tanks are made of plastic. Dunlop Racing tires in width 7 all provided good driving characteristics. Dunlop also supplied disc brakes with blank discs with cooling channels next to the differential. The car had a weight 470 kg and reached the top speed 285 km/h.

In the season 1964 at Ferrari 158 John Surtees rode, and from time to time also Lorenzo Bandini and Ricardo Rodriguez. Surtees won the Grand Prix Niirburgring race (155,3 km/h) and the Italian Grand Prix in Monza (205,9 km/h). He also finished second in Zandvoort, in Watkins Glenn and Mexico. Bandini and Ferrari 158 with the Dino six-cylinder engine 156 won the Austrian Grand Prix in Zeltweg.