Mauro Forghieri

Forghieri was born in Modena, Emilia-Romagna, on 13 January 1935, the only child of Reclus and Afra Forghieri. His father Reclus, a turner, did war work during World War II for the Ansaldo mechanical workshops of Naples; Mauro lived primarily with his mother during this period, spending time in Naples, Milan, Modena and Abbiategrasso. After the war the family reunited and returned to Modena, where Reclus began working in the Ferrari workshop in Maranello. Forghieri completed the liceo scientifico and in 1959 obtained a laurea in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bologna.

Despite an initial interest in aviation design, Forghieri accepted an internship offer from Ferrari, introduced through his father. Beginning in spring 1960 he started an apprenticeship in the engine department, working alongside engineers including Vittorio Jano, Carlo Chiti and Luigi Bazzi, as well as race director Romolo Tavoni. Giampaolo Dallara joined Ferrari shortly after Forghieri in 1960 and the two worked alongside each other.

In 1961 several key figures — including chief designer Carlo Chiti — left to join the breakaway ATS Formula One team in what became known as "the great walkout." Forghieri remained as the only credentialed engineer on staff. Enzo Ferrari personally asked him to begin studying the "full technical questions of the Factory." With guidance from Franco Rocchi, Walter Salvarani and Angelo Bellei, Forghieri was appointed technical director for racing cars — a position he held until 1984.

Forghieri was involved in the development of every racing car produced by Ferrari between his hiring and his departure in 1987. Sports racing cars designed under his supervision included the GT-class 250 GTO, development of which he continued after Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini left during the walkout. Further GT-class work included competition versions of the 275 GTB and the 330 LMB. Sports prototypes included the P series and later iterations of the Dino series, starting with the 1965 Dino 166 P. Forghieri stated that the 1967 330 P4 was his favourite of all the cars he designed.

In 1964 he designed the V8-powered Ferrari 158, in which John Surtees won the 1964 Formula One World Championship. The 158 and the Ferrari 1512 shared a Forghieri-designed aluminium monocoque chassis — the first use of this technology in a Ferrari F1 car.

Beginning in 1966 he designed the Ferrari 312 series, comprising the 312, 312B and 312T Formula One cars and the 312P and 312PB sportscars. In 1979 he designed a semi-automatic transmission for the 312T, tested by Gilles Villeneuve but never used in competition. That same year he began work on Ferrari's first turbocharged engine, which debuted in the Ferrari 126 C in 1981.

Under his guidance Ferrari won the drivers' F1 world championship with John Surtees (1964), Niki Lauda (1975 and 1977), and Jody Scheckter (1979), and the constructors' championship seven times. Forghieri left his position as technical director in 1984; in January 1985 he began work on the Ferrari 408 4RM concept car, completing the project in spring 1987, after which he departed Ferrari.

In September 1987 Forghieri joined Lamborghini Engineering, a department created by Lee Iacocca, then CEO of Chrysler, which had acquired Lamborghini. The organisation included ex-Ferrari Daniele Audetto as sports director. Forghieri designed the naturally aspirated Lamborghini 3512 V12 engine, which made its Formula One debut at the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix, used by the Larrousse/Lola team during the 1989 F1 season. The engine also powered the 1990 Lotus 102 F1 car.

Following the engine's performance, a project to design a complete F1 car was conceived with financing from Mexican businessman Fernando Gonzalez Luna. The newly formed team was named GLAS F1 — an abbreviation of Gonzalez Luna Associates — with former journalist Leopoldo Canettoli chosen to run it. Forghieri designed the suspension and gearbox; bodywork was by Mario Tolentino. The completed car, the GLAS 001, was due to debut at the 1990 Mexican Grand Prix, but the day before its press presentation Gonzalez Luna disappeared with a substantial sum of sponsor money. The car and team remained in financial limbo until purchased by Carlo Patrucco in July 1990, who created Modena Team; the car debuted as the Lambo 291 at the 1991 United States Grand Prix.

In 1991 Lamborghini Engineering was reorganised by Chrysler and Forghieri was replaced by Mike Royce. In 1992 he became technical director of the re-emerging Bugatti, remaining until 1994, where he was involved in development of the EB 110 and the EB 112.

In 1994 he was called as an expert witness in the trial relating to the death of Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

On 1 January 1995 Forghieri co-founded the Oral Engineering Group with Franco Antoniazzi and Sergio Lugli — a mechanical design company active in design, research and development of automobile, motorcycle, marine and go-kart engines and components. Clients included BMW, Bugatti and Aprilia. Oral Engineering was also commissioned to convert the Ferrari Pinin concept car from a static display into a driveable vehicle.

Around 2005 Forghieri joined Project 1221, an Italian automobile company developing the MF1 sports car, as chief engineer.

Forghieri was critical of the drag reduction system introduced to Formula One in the 2010s. He was declared an honorary citizen of Modena in 2021.

Forghieri died on 2 November 2022, aged 87. Scuderia Ferrari commemorated his passing with decals reading "ciao Furia" — meaning "goodbye Fury," his nickname during his time at Ferrari — applied to the Scuderia Ferrari F1-75 at the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix and to 488 GTE cars at the 2022 8 Hours of Bahrain FIA World Endurance Championship race.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.