15 Facts About Nicola Materazzi

Nicola Materazzi was an Italian mechanical engineer who developed several sports and racing cars, including the Ferrari 288 GTO, Ferrari F40, Bugatti EB110, and B Engineering Edonis.

Nicola Materazzi was the main engineer responsible for the adoption of turbo engines at Ferrari.

Nicola Materazzi was then directed by Enzo Ferrari, shortly before his death, to lead the development and creation of the F40, which is probably the project Materazzi is most associated with by Ferrari owners.

Nicola Materazzi designed various engines such as the type 268 used by the Lancia LC2 in endurance races.

Nicola Materazzi was notified of Enzo Ferrari's interest in hiring him by a friend who was working for Ferrari.

Enzo Ferrari asked to anticipate the introduction of the turbo on the 126 car, while Nicola Materazzi argued that some additional time was required to prove on the dynamometers that the engine would run for the required race distances.

Nicola Materazzi felt that Materazzi could look into the powertrain designs and breathe new life into them, bringing the racing know-how into the hands of the gentleman customer.

Ferrari took this bold statement as an opportunity to delegate the responsibility to him, something Nicola Materazzi initially declined due to other racing commitments but reluctantly accepted after the insistence of the old man.

The work on the engine then led to more work on the general layout of the GTO vehicle, where Nicola Materazzi chose to install the engine longitudinally to allow better space and equal exhaust lengths for the turbocharging.

Nicola Materazzi pointed out to Ferrari that it would be very tricky to develop a car in a very short space of time, but that it could be possible if he did not have interference from people and politics.

Nicola Materazzi confirmed that this was not possible since the Porsche Gruppe B prototype was initiated by Porsche's management in 1981 and manufactured from 1986 after delays in development related to the high technological content.

Nicola Materazzi always maintained that, logically, only the 288 GTO was the competitor to the 959 due to its development from 1983 to 1984, with the brief to bring more performance to the road cars which Ferrari felt were underpowered.

Nicola Materazzi played a key role in the specification of the SS lightweight version.

In 1994, Nicola Materazzi assumed the technical direction of Laverda to work on the new 750cc engine.

Nicola Materazzi designed the Edonis supercar, which was presented in Modena in 2001.