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I remember a thread about this once before.
apparently Minardi tried the Subaru engine in late 1989 , they said it was terrible and decided to pass on the deal.
Coloni on the other hand wanted manufacturer involvment so they took the deal but the car and engine were way to heavy and unreliable.
The engine was built by Carlo Chitti of Motori Moderni fame and was a V12 boxer engine.
There is quite a story behind the engine. Dubbed the '1235' model, it was in the flat-12 style. This style had been seen in the 1970s, and had an advantage in that it provided a low centre of gravity. But it was also a bulky style of engine, and the Subaru weighed in at 159kg. With five valves per cylinder, it was reputed to produce 417kW (just under 600bhp), which was not great.
I dont know what the actual problem was but it was just simply to slow and never pre qualified for a race , Coloni ended up scrapping the idea (maybe their decision maybe Subaru's) and they returned to using the Ford DFR V8 which wasnt much better for them.
the Driver was Bertrand Gachot and he quickly jumped ship at the end of 1990 to the brand new Jordan team.
Coloni slipped into oblivion failing to qualify for a race in 1991 as well and then selling to Andrea Sassetti who ran the even worse Andrea Moda team who were eventually banned during 1992 , neither have been heard of in F1 circles again.
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