The 166 FL was an open-wheel single-seater racing car of which Scuderia Ferrari built only three units starting in 1949. "FL" stands for Formula Libre, a racing category with very broad regulations that was extremely popular in South America at the time; hence the car was also called the 166 C America. It was powered by a V12 displacing just under 2 liters with a Roots-type supercharger, with the cylinder head and block cast in light alloy. The 166 in the name refers to the rounded displacement of an individual cylinder.
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Learn morePurpose and regulations · Technical details
Purpose and regulations
The 166 FL was developed for the Formula Libre racing series, which was exceptionally popular in South America at the time. The regulations allowed ample leeway, which is why Ferrari was able to run a supercharged engine displacing just under 2 liters. In Europe during the same period, Formula 2 had a 2-liter limit. The new Formula 1 starting in 1950 permitted only 1.5 liters for supercharged engines and 4.5 liters for naturally aspirated units.
Technical details
The 60° V12 was longitudinally mounted in front, displaced 1995 cm³, and was boosted by a Roots-type supercharger. The cylinder head and engine block were made of light alloy. Each cylinder bank had a single overhead camshaft operating two valves per cylinder. The Weber 40 DO3C carburetors were positioned upstream of the supercharger. Ignition was provided by two magnetos, lubrication was dry sump, and power was transferred via a multi-plate clutch.
Summarized from the cited sources; every figure was automatically verified against the sources.
