Car companies used to have an obsession with the number 12, especially in Formula 1. The siren song of a duodecimal engine has ensnared many an automaker, resulting in shrieking double sixes with pistons moving faster than the particles in the Large Hadron Collider. Plenty of Formula 1 teams have gone on to victory, or at least podium occupation, with Honda, Ferrari, Matra, Maserati, Weslake, BRM, and Alfa Romeo’s 12s.
But perhaps the “siren song” comparison is apt. 12-cylinder engines have also lured a few manufacturers to some measure of doom, though discussing “failed F1 12-bangers” could continue for around a month. Life’s bizarre Rocchi W12 was low on power and had the durability of a balsa wood pogo stick, while Porsche’s V12 proved that even Hans Mezger can produce mediocrity. One of the sadder tales is that of the Subaru 1235 flat-12 (or possibly boxer, we’ll get into it.) Subaru’s flat-12 engine proved that automakers sometimes stick to their guns to their own detriment. Subaru loves boxers, which is why its time in F1 was brief.
Motori Moderni: Pleasing Subaru or building what it was already building?
A boxer engine’s flattened profile lowers the center of gravity, and its crank design minimizes a four-cylinder’s inherent vibrations. Yes, there’s a fundamental difference between engines that are simply “flat” and true “boxers.” In flat engines, directly opposing pistons move on a single crankpin, which means that while one piston is at top dead center, the piston sharing its crankpin is at bottom dead center. In a boxer engine, all pistons get their own crankpin, and opposing pistons will both be at top dead center or bottom dead center at the same time.
It seems logical that Subaru would retain the same formula in its Formula 1 12-cylinder. However, Subaru didn’t build that engine. The 1235 12-cylinder was designed and built by Motori Moderni, which was founded by ex-Ferrari and Alfa Romeo engine designer Carlo Chiti. In one version of the story, Chiti and Motori Moderni had developed a 3.5-liter V12 to comply with the new 1989 FIA engine rules, and were hoping it would get picked up by an F1 team. When Subaru came knocking, Motori Moderni was happy to flatten the engine design.
Another version of the story says that Chiti had already designed a flat-12 in 1988, and Minardi was testing it. Minardi passed on the engine, but Subaru was happy to purchase it since the engine already aligned with Subaru’s affinity for the boxer engine design.
The Subaru 1235 was only marginally better than a literal boat anchor
The 1235 parasite got around. Enzo “The Wolf” Coloni retired from driving in 1982 and formed the “Enzo Coloni Racing Car System” team. In 1987, Coloni moved the team up from Formula 3 to Formula 1, fitted Cosworth V8s in its FC187, FC188, and C3 cars, but the team lost in spectacular fashion. Coloni made our list of worst Formula 1 Teams for a reason.
Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru’s parent company, came along in 1990 and bought Coloni, and Subaru-Coloni was born. The team retrofitted the C3 with the 1235, which had the effect of thoroughly ruining the car. Dubbed the C3B, the engine weighed some 250 pounds more than contemporary V8s while making 500-ish horsepower (about 100 less than its opponents). The car itself was rear-heavy and wide, destroying its aerodynamics. It never qualified for a race, and Subaru left F1 entirely after a string of failures, selling the company back to Coloni.
The subsequent C3C went back to Cosworth V8 power. After the F1 catastrophe, Alba Engineering attempted to use the flat-12 in its Group C AR20 car, but it consistently fell 20 to 30 seconds behind the other cars.
The boxer falls flat, if it even is a boxer
There’s still the question of whether the Subaru 1235 is a “boxer” engine or not. Forums love arguing this point, and since there aren’t decent close-up pictures of a disassembled engine or the crankshaft online, each side digs in its heels. Jean-Michel Boileau posted an old Koenigsegg video to YouTube titled “The Dream,” which passes by a photo of all the engine parts laid out, but it is incredibly hard to make out any definitive details.
Evidence that the engine is just a flat-12 is fairly convincing and is based on two points. First, an actual 12-cylinder boxer crank would be quite complex, as each piston would require its own crankpin. Plus, boxer engines usually display an obvious “offset” between the two cylinder banks since opposing pistons can’t really be directly opposite one another, and the Subaru 1235 certainly appears to have the symmetry of a flat engine rather than a boxer. Regardless of the exact engine layout, the Subaru/Motori Moderni 12-cylinder was a failure on the racetrack, and Subaru was out after a single season in Formula 1.
Maybe Christian Von Koenigsegg has the answer
If the engine is a bona fide boxer, the most important evidence comes from hypercar legend Christian Von Koenigsegg, who previously spoke with Jalopnik about his CC850’s transmission. Koenigsegg nearly used the 1235 in his first production car.
In the mid-’90s, Koenigsegg was in need of a powertrain, and met Carlo Chiti through mutual friends, who was pumped to provide a powertrain. The 1235 was particularly interesting to Koenigsegg. Chiti stroked it to 3.8 liters, changed cam profiles, lengthened the intake tracks, and reduced max rpm from 12,000 to 9,000. You can see a video of it dyno-testing on YouTube.
On Koenigsegg’s blog (which has since been removed from his site), he wrote, “I met a guy who knew Carlo Chiti via a chain of friends. Chiti ran an engine company called Motori Moderni. They were in a bit of trouble but they used to do Formula 1 engines for Minardi. They had this boxer-12 engine, made in cooperation with Subaru, that had hardly ever raced.” If Christian Von Koenigsegg calls it a “boxer-12,” it just might be.
Chiti passes away, as does the boxer-12
Christian Von Koenigsegg was set to use the engine in his roadgoing supercars, but Carlo Chiti suddenly passed away, and Motori Moderni went bankrupt. Koenigsegg tried to press on and purchased the company’s tooling, drawings, and castings, but Chiti’s old-school methodology meant there were no computerized drawings, and much of Motori Moderni’s tooling was old, beaten, and made of wood. There was no choice but to search for a new powertrain, and Koenigsegg settled on a twin-supercharged V8 based on Ford’s Modular design.
Astoundingly, the 1235 survives. Australian aubaru fanatic Anthony Parle purchased one of Subaru-Colini’s F1 cars and posted a video about it on YouTube in 2021. In the video, he discusses the car’s history, noting that, at one point, the engine was installed in a racing boat and fitted with superchargers. If you think a depreciated Aston Martin or Jaguar V12 is a nightmare, imagine fixing a 35-year-old failed Formula 1 12-cylinder punished with forced induction and saltwater.
Unfortunately, the story ends here for now. Anthony last posted on his YouTube channel two years ago and hasn’t been active on other forums he once frequented since late 2021/early 2022. Perhaps if he resurfaces, he can share whether or not his Subaru 1235 is actually a boxer.
