The Ferrari Tipo 051 V10 is one of the most successful Formula 1 engines of all time, it was introduced in the Ferrari F2002 model which was released in 2002, helping to claim both the Constructors’ Championship and Drivers’ Championship for the Italian team.
The sheer dominance of the Ferrari team in 2002 was something the world hadn’t seen since McLaren’s 1988 season. The F2002 was piloted by Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to a dominant 15 wins from 19 races, with 28 podium places, 11 pole positions, and 15 fastest laps.
The Tipo 051 was designed by a a team at Ferrari led by Paolo Martinelli under technical director Ross Brawn. The engine is a 3000cc 90º V10 with the red line at 19,000 rpm, an aluminum alloy crankcase and heads, double overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, natural aspiration, and between 820 to 900 horsepower depending on whether it was in qualifying mode or race mode.
It’s difficult to know what a person could do with a Ferrari Tipo 51 engine, unless they happen to own an F2002 of course and need a spare power unit.
The engine could form the foundation of the most ambitious engine swap in recent world history if it was transplanted into a different vehicle, but due to the delicate nature of Formula 1 engines and the intensive engineering required to run them, it would require access to the bank account of Cornelius Vanderbilt for funding.
The Tipo 051 you see here is due to be offered by RM Sotheby’s with bidding closing on the 2nd of December. It’s being offered without a reserve, and at the time of writing there is no estimate attached to the lot, if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here.
Images: David Bush ©2019 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
