Tuesday, 19 March 2024
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Lancia D50 1955 Monaco GP Alberto Ascari

A bit of history

 

In 1953, Ingegnere Vittorio Jano planned a very innovative project for the first apparition of Lancia in Formula 1, but he soon had to drop the idea of fitting the disk brakes, the disk brakes and the sequential gearbox for lack of finance.
Still the car was quite advanced for the time; the engine was an integral part of the chassis, adding to the overall stiffness of the car. It joined the main frame surrounding the driver and extending backwards for the rear-mounted gearbox and suspension to the front smaller frame carrying the radiator and part of the front suspension. The other very modern concept was to keep most of the mass within the wheelbase of the car and make it far more agile and smaller than the more conventional other formula one. One result of this concept was the so characteristic fuel tanks position between the front and rear wheels. One other interesting point was the driver’s position, seated very low in the cockpit, this thanks to the engine being set at an angle to the mid-line and the propeller shaft running diagonally beside the driver.
Ascari quickly proved the qualities of the D50 only during qualifying but without any success on race day, as in Monaco, when he shared pole position with Fangio only to end up in the harbour waters. Sadly, four days later, Ascari dies at Monza in a practice crash and Lancia, extremely depressed by Alberto’s death and facing a very difficult financial crisis, gives up racing.
The cars, bought by FIAT, were given to the Scuderia Ferrari after the Belgian Grand Prix by the Italian Automobile Club and Fangio became the 1956 World Champion the following year driving one of them.

The 1/6 scale model

 

The 1/6th scale Lancia D50 is a project that took about three year and a half to develop. This was possible with the help of Mr Rossani who gave us 1/1 factory plans for the chassis and countless pictures, drawings and information about the original D50 and of Jim Stokes of Waterlooville UK, who built the  famous replicas of the car and allowed us to come and squat his workshop for hours to take pictures and measurements. Robin Lodge gave us access to his car. This model has a complete chassis, engine and gearbox, suspension, ...
The car we are modelling is the 1955 Ascari Monaco GP.

Eight samples have been made, each are numbered and signed by Patrice De Conto.

 

 

 

 

 

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