Ernesto Vita was able to convince the retired ex-Ferrari engineer to go back to the drawing board to make the W12 concept come true.

It was the time when turbocharged engines were no longer legal in Formula One and the rules required a naturally aspirated motor.

While not having state of the art facilities, the factory was equipped with a "Borghi e Severi" dyno bench and related AVL datalogging computers, which was used for the development of the W12 motor, standard toolshop machines, and a warehouse.

[citation needed] Several drivers were approached to drive for the team, including Gabriele Tarquini, Pierluigi Martini, Marco Apicella, Roberto Moreno and Gianni Morbidelli.

[4] When Brabham failed to pre-qualify twice he left the team for good, as the car had coasted to a halt after 400 yards with a malfunctioning battery.

[6] After Brabham left, Vita tried to replace the Australian with Bernd Schneider, who had stood in at Arrows at the first race of the season, but the German driver refused.

[citation needed] In the pre-qualifying sessions for that race, Giacomelli apparently finished his run with an almost six-minute gap to the second slowest time, as his car broke down at the end of the pit lane on the out lap, and the car's transponder was left switched on, resulting in it being timed while being towed.

[10] For the Portuguese Grand Prix, the team replaced its original W12 engine with the more conventional Judd CV V8, an enormous undertaking completed in under three weeks by a minuscule and chronically underfunded company.

The car successfully began the pre-qualifying round, however, on its first lap at Estoril, the engine cover came loose and flew off.

The Life L190 which took part in the 1990 Formula One World Championship was fully restored in 2009 by Oliver Piazzi and ran at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed with its original W12 engine back in place.

[2] It made two successful attempts at completing the Goodwood hill climb, driven by Arturo Merzario, and Lorenzo Prandina, who at that time was the owner of the car.