Life was founded by Ernesto Vita — "Vita" being Italian for "life," hence the team's English name. The unorthodox W12 engine at the car's heart had been designed by Franco Rocchi, a former Ferrari engineer who had been responsible for Ferrari's 3-litre V8 used in the 1970s 308 GTB and GTS. Rocchi's W12 concept dated back to a 1967 prototype, envisioning a three-bank, four-cylinder-per-bank DOHC configuration — essentially short like a V8 but taller than a conventional V-banked engine. After his dismissal from Ferrari in 1980, Rocchi worked privately on the design. Vita convinced him to realise it for the 1990 regulations, which required naturally aspirated engines following the turbo ban.
Vita sought a well-funded partner for the engine but failed to secure one, and ultimately decided to run the project himself. Unable to build a chassis from scratch, Life purchased a still-born Formula One monocoque from First Racing that had been designed by Richard Divila. This chassis was originally intended for an abortive team run by Lamberto Leoni. The car was fitted with the W12 engine and dubbed the Life L190, completing brief pre-season tests at Vallelunga and Monza in early 1990.
The L190 was chronically outmatched from the first pre-qualifying attempt. The W12 engine was reported to produce around 470 bhp, while rival units in the field were generating between 600 and 700 bhp. The car itself weighed approximately 530 kilograms, making it one of the heaviest in the field. Handling was poor and reliability abysmal, leaving the L190 no faster than a contemporary Formula 3 car. Some accounts suggest the engine produced considerably less than even the team's own figure, with Bruno Giacomelli later indicating it may have generated barely 300 bhp.
Gary Brabham, son of triple world champion Jack Brabham, was the team's first driver. He twice failed to pre-qualify, reporting that the car coasted to a halt after just 400 yards from a malfunctioning battery at one attempt. Brabham also revealed that the car lacked a functioning tachometer during either of his pre-qualifying sessions, and that the team did not even own a tyre pressure gauge, borrowing one from the EuroBrun outfit. He made efforts to persuade the team to switch to a Judd CV V8 engine but was unsuccessful, and left the team. Designer Gianni Marelli also departed at this stage following a disagreement with Vita.
Bruno Giacomelli, an Italian veteran who had last raced in Formula One in 1983 and had since served as a test driver for Leyton House Racing, replaced Brabham. The situation improved marginally under Giacomelli, who managed a maximum of twenty-two laps during a single pre-qualifying session at Silverstone. At the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix, Giacomelli admitted he feared being struck from behind, his car was so slow relative to the rest of the field. During one pre-qualifying session the car's transponder remained active while the L190 was being towed after breaking down at the end of the pit lane, resulting in a recorded time that showed an almost six-minute gap to the second-slowest car.
For the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril, the team undertook the enormous task of replacing the W12 with a more conventional Judd CV V8 engine, completed in under three weeks by the small, chronically underfunded squad. The car successfully began its pre-qualifying run, but on the first lap the engine cover came loose and flew off. The final appearance of the L190 was at Jerez for the Spanish Grand Prix. The team withdrew before the season's last two races.
The race team typically consisted of just nine people: the driver, team manager Sergio Barbasio, test driver Franco Scapini, Vita's wife Francesca Papa, engineer Maurizio Ferrari, truckie and mechanic Emilio Gabrielli, and three mechanics — chief mechanic Oliver Piazzi, Heinz Willi Mueller, and Luca Cassoni. It was a team operating at an extreme frontier of undercapitalisation, yet attempting to compete at the highest level of the sport.
The Life L190 became a symbol of motorsport ambition vastly outstripping resources, and is regularly cited as one of the worst Formula One cars ever built. The story of the W12 engine — an imaginative but unworkable concept pursued with dedication by men who simply lacked the means to make it competitive — passed into folklore. In 2009, chief mechanic Oliver Piazzi fully restored the original L190 chassis with its W12 engine reinstated, and the car ran at the Goodwood Festival of Speed driven by Arturo Merzario and Lorenzo Prandina, completing the hill climb successfully on both attempts.