Chiti was born in Pistoia, Tuscany, and pursued a degree in aeronautical engineering at the University of Pisa, graduating in 1953. His aeronautical background informed a technically rigorous approach to automotive design that he would carry throughout his career.
Chiti joined Alfa Romeo in 1952 while still completing his studies, working within a design and engineering team supervised by Orazio Satta Puliga alongside colleagues including Rudolf Hruska and Giuseppe Busso. His first significant assignment was the design of the Alfa Romeo 3000 CM sports car. When Alfa Romeo closed its competition department in the mid-1950s, Chiti accepted an invitation to move to Scuderia Ferrari, filling the position vacated by the designer and engineer Andrea Fraschetti.
At Ferrari, Chiti contributed to the 1958 championship-winning Ferrari 246 F1 alongside Vittorio Jano. That car secured Mike Hawthorn the Drivers' Championship, with the team finishing second behind Vanwall in the Constructors' standings.
His most celebrated achievement came in 1961 with the design of the Ferrari 156, nicknamed the Sharknose for its distinctive twin-nostril front bodywork. Phil Hill drove it to the Drivers' Championship, and Ferrari took its maiden Constructors' Championship that season. During his time at Maranello, Chiti also mentored young designers including Mauro Forghieri and Giampaolo Dallara, both of whom went on to distinguished careers.
In 1962, following a serious disagreement with Enzo Ferrari, Chiti was among a group of senior figures — including Giotto Bizzarrini and team manager Romolo Tavoni — who left the company in what became known as the "Palace Revolt."
The departed group were recruited by Count Giovanni Volpi to form the breakaway Automobili Turismo e Sport Formula One team, which also engaged drivers Phil Hill and Giancarlo Baghetti. The ATS project failed to achieve competitive results.
In 1964 Chiti established Autodelta, a competition and development operation that effectively served as Alfa Romeo's racing arm. Through Autodelta he designed a V8 and later a flat-12 engine for the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 sports car programme. The Tipo 33 programme matured into genuine success, winning the 1975 World Championship for Makes and the 1977 World Championship for Sports Cars.
Chiti's engines re-entered Formula One through an agreement with the Brabham team. Niki Lauda won two races in 1978 driving a Brabham BT46 powered by the Alfa Romeo engine. Brabham designer Gordon Murray then persuaded Chiti to produce a V12 unit to exploit ground effect aerodynamics, but the partnership was troubled by mutual dissatisfaction and was terminated before the end of the 1979 season.
Alfa Romeo subsequently developed its own Formula One constructor programme. The team showed flashes of potential — Bruno Giacomelli led much of the 1980 United States Grand Prix before a retirement with electrical failure — but the project was overshadowed by tragedy when Patrick Depailler was killed during testing for the 1980 German Grand Prix at Hockenheimring. The team's best result came in 1983, when Chiti's turbocharged 890T V8 engine powered Andrea de Cesaris to two second-place finishes, giving Alfa Romeo sixth place in the Constructors' Championship.
Chiti left Alfa Romeo in 1984 to found Motori Moderni, an independent engine-building company aimed at Formula One supply. An initial V6 turbocharged design was used by Minardi and Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives, though the limited resources of the operation prevented the engines from becoming competitive. When turbo engines were banned from Formula One, Chiti designed a new 3.5-litre atmospheric flat-12, which was taken up by Subaru for a brief and unsuccessful Formula One partnership with the small Coloni team in 1990.
Carlo Chiti died in Milan on 7 July 1994. His design work bridged the transition from the front-engined era to the sophisticated mid-engined machines of the 1960s and the turbocharged era of the 1980s, with a consistent thread of aeronautical engineering thinking applied to racing car design. In 1999, Koenigsegg purchased blueprints, machining tools, and the patent for an unused 4-litre flat-12 engine Chiti had designed but never brought to production. His role in nurturing Forghieri and Dallara places him among the most influential figures in the development of Italian motorsport engineering talent.