Specialists car manufacturer and historic Ferrari specialist GTO Engineering has appointed Alexander Aucken as chief technical officer, and received the first blocks for its bespoke V12 from Grainger and Worrall, destined for the Squalo Ferrari 250 GTO reimagination.
Aucken’s responsibilities will include planning and coordinating engineering operations to ensure key development targets are met and production specification is homologated for international markets. The company says that Aucken, alongside an internal team and external consultants, have one strict goal – to make the Squalo both as light and as enjoyable to drive as possible.
Managing director and founder of GTO Engineering Mark Lyon commented, “2022 is a pivotal year for Squalo, to build on the foundations and strict goals we’ve set for our bespoke ground-up build. The engine, which is one of the most integral parts of Squalo, is entering an exciting phase with our new partner, ready for assembly and testing from our facility next year. In order to bring the project together we’ve brought in industry talent in the form of Alexander Aucken, who we are thrilled to have on board as chief technical officer.”
The Squalo is designed, devised and developed as a sub-1,000 kg sports car celebrating the best of sixties motoring combined with modern, motorsport-derived engineering. It will be powered by an all-new 4.0-litre quad-cam V12 engine, which will be designed, developed and assembled in-house and targets an ambitious weight of less than 165kg.
Executive director of Grainger and Worrall James Grainger added, “GTO Engineering’s Squalo engine build is a project that we are very excited to be a part of. It’s not every day that we get the opportunity to build from scratch the lightest V12 engine ever seen in a road car. With our combined experience in castings, engineering, technical and material solutions, we are confident that Squalo’s V12 engine will not only hit the weight target of sub-165 kg, but will also be one of the most engaging and probably last-of-the line naturally aspirated V12 engines ever fitted to a production road car.”
