Identifying racing cars, their drivers and the race in which they ran is fraught with pitfalls – not the least being the cohorts of genuine enthusiasts who can quite rightly trip up the writer who does not do their homework thoroughly. So it is with some trepidation that we identify the car in this Snapshot as a 1949 Ferrari 166 Formula 2 car. The clues are all there: firstly, the photo is captioned with the words “ALBERTO ASCARI: Campeón Italiano de circuito.” The magazine is the January 1950 issue of the Argentinian sporting publication Mundo Deportivo and Ascari first raced for Ferrari in 1949, so the race must have been in 1949.
In 1949, Ferrari ran its 125, 166 FL and 166 F2 cars in various races – and the favourite choice would be the 166 FL (FL standing for ‘Formula Libre’), which was mainly developed for racing in South America, where Formula Libre was extremely popular. It was therefore also known as the 166 C America. The engine of the 166 FL came from the 166 F2 which, to comply with Formula 2 regulations, had a naturally aspirated 60° V12 engine with a single overhead camshaft per bank and a displacement of 1,995cc, designed by Gioacchino Colombo. 166, as with all Ferraris at the time, referred to the capacity in cc of one cylinder. For Formula Libre, Ferrari took the Roots supercharger from the 125 car that ran in Formula 1 to create the powerful and reliable engine in the 166 FL.
So far, so 166 FL. Not only that, but Alberto Ascari won the III. Grand Prix Juan Domingo “Peron” at the Circuito Parco Palermo in Buenos Aires on 18 December 1949 in just such a car. But there is a problem. Although Ascari’s car carried the number 12 at that race, it also sported the words “FERNET-BRANCA” (the Italian brand of bitters) in enormous white letters on the side of the bonnet. But, of course, the magazine could have erased the advertising from the photographic image.
Further digging gave a possible solution. On 26 June 1949 Ascari raced a Ferrari 166C (almost certainly another name for the 166 F2) at Monza in the Formula 2 race, the II Gran Premio dell’Autodromo di Monza, with the racing number 12. He came third behind Juan Manuel Fangio and Felice Bonetto. All five top finishers were driving the same Ferrari 166C cars. For this Formula 2 race they would all have been naturally aspirated.
We are still not certain. The final clue may lie in the police uniforms in the background. Are they from Italy or Argentina? Can any racing enthusiast help us?
Image courtesy of The Richard Roberts Archive: www.richardrobertsarchive.org.uk
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