The Maestro · 1891 - 1966
Vittorio Jano
Vittorio Jano was born Viktor János in 1891 in San Giorgio Canavese, in the hills above Turin, the son of Hungarian parents who had settled in Piedmont. He never sought the spotlight. Yet for four decades the fastest cars on earth were powered by his ideas.
Entirely self-taught and without an engineering degree, he began as a draftsman at Fiat in 1911 and was chief designer by thirty, his Grand Prix cars winning from the very start. In 1923 Alfa Romeo called, on the advice of a young racing driver named Enzo Ferrari, and Jano answered with the P2: victorious on its debut in 1924, World Champion in 1925.
The P3 followed, and the 8C that ruled Le Mans. In 1937 he moved to Lancia, where he created the Aurelia, the first production car with a V6 engine, and the D50, the Formula 1 machine that carried Juan Manuel Fangio to the 1956 World Championship in Ferrari red. This is the story of the man whose name we carry.
San Giorgio Canavese
Vittorio Jano is born on 22 April 1891 near Turin, christened Viktor János after his Hungarian father, a technical draftsman. He learns to draw before he learns to doubt.
FIAT
At twenty he joins FIAT as a draughtsman and cuts his teeth on the 2-litre 805 Grand Prix car. By 1921 he is head of the design office.
Alfa Romeo
Enzo Ferrari and Giorgio Rimini convince Jano to move to Milan. His first creation, the P2, wins the 1925 Grand Prix World Championship.
The 8C
The 8C 2300, a straight-eight of genius built as two four-cylinder blocks on a single crankcase, conquers Le Mans four years in succession. Then comes the P3 Monoposto, winner of the Italian Grand Prix.
Lancia
At Lancia, Jano designs the Aurelia with the first successful production V6 in history, and the revolutionary D50 Grand Prix car with its fuel carried between the wheels.
Ferrari
When Lancia withdraws from racing, Jano joins Ferrari full-time and fathers the Dino V6 and V8 engines, the beating heart of Maranello for a generation.
The Legacy
Vittorio Jano dies in Turin in 1966, aged 75. His method: lightness, balance, mechanical courage. It becomes our founding charter. Jano Automobili begins where he left off.
“I have never designed an engine to be looked at. But I have never accepted one that was not beautiful.”