Subaru 1235
Subaru 1235 was a racing engine built by Motori Moderni for Subaru’s 1990 Formula One program. It was a 3.5-liter flat-12 boxer engine with 60 valves (DOHC, 5 valves per cylinder), weighing about 159 kg when dry. It produced roughly 425–560 horsepower (317–418 kW) and about 298–332 Nm of torque. The engine used Magneti Marelli electronics and a Minardi gearbox.
Subaru planned to supply the engine to Minardi, but ended up partnering with Coloni for the 1990 season. The 1235 first appeared in the Coloni C3B at the 1990 United States Grand Prix with Bertrand Gachot. It proved to be underpowered and unreliable, and the car was very slow in pre-qualifying, suffering gear-linkage problems and other issues. The engine was heavy due to its ancillaries, making the overall package much heavier than rivals like the Cosworth DFR. Subaru pulled out after the British Grand Prix in 1990, Coloni switched back to the DFR, and the team folded in 1991.
The 1235 was also used in the World Sportscar Championship by Alba in 1990 with their AR20, but it was similarly unsuccessful. Alba failed to qualify for most races, and after a poor Spa performance they switched to a Buick V6 for the Nürburgring race, finishing 16th in the season’s last event.
Development background: Subaru joined F1 after seeing Yamaha and Honda enter as engine suppliers. Motori Moderni had built a turbo V6 for Minardi in the mid-1980s. The 1235 was a bold, low-centered, flat-12 design inspired by Ferrari’s 312T era, but flat-12s fell out of favor with the advent of ground-effect cars. In tests at Misano in 1989, the engine was rated around 559 horsepower, but it still trailed behind the best rivals of the time.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:55 (CET).