The Story of Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari was born on 18th February 1898 in Modena, Italy. His childhood years were spent dreaming of becoming a racing driver and opera singer. His father, a music lover, was the proprietor of an ironworks and automobile shop in their hometown, and the impressionable young Enzo heard the bass roar of engines emitting from his fathers workshop. The magnificent voice of Operatic supremeo Enrico Curuso was powerful influence, but so to were the racing exploits of Nazarro and Lancia.
His dual ambition did not survive long. The music from the engines gradually replaced the music of the opera stage, and the staccato roar and screaming crescendo became the accompaniant to his life. For the noise that is screeching tyres, wailing gears and howling exhausts all blended into the great drama that is a Grand Prix race.
After being forced to leave school after the death of his father Enzo Ferrari went to work in the Modeno Fire Brigade workshop as a turning instructor, where he remained until the outbreak of the First World War when he served his country as a mechanic, and became fascinated with the exploits of the Italian flying ace Francesco Baracca who despatched thirty five enemy opponents before his death. He became a symbol of courage and daring to Ferrari and this hero worship led to and important moment later in his life.
Upon his return in 1918 the 20 year old Enzo started work as a test driver in Turin. He soon moved to Milan to work for CMN (Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali) as a racing and test driver, and in the following year he made his debut in the Parma-Berceto race, later entering the legendary Targa Florio event. 1920 saw Enzo Ferrari move to the Alfa Romeo racing team and a crucial victory at Ravenna where upon the Baracca family presented him with a small charred plaque. This was one of the surviving remnants of their son's plane and it contained the family crest.
"One day his mother said to me "Ferrari, why don't you put my son's prancing horse on your cars; it would bring you luck."
"I then added the canary yellow background because it is the colour of Modena."
Enzo Ferrari
With that the now unmistakable Ferrari emblem, adorns all cars that leave the Modena factory, with the exception of the Dino, which was produced much later with no Ferrari insignia anywhere on it's sculptured lines in memory of Dino Ferrari, Enzo's son who died tragically young at the age of 25.
As a driver for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari soon became a steady winner and began to assist in the design of the racing machinery. He was a natural leader and master of delegation, and when Alfa Romeo retired of racing in 1929 they subsidized a racing company to be headed by Ferrari. This was the start of the famous Scuderia Ferrari. This company, which inherited all of Alfa Romeo's racing equipment, was soon to establish Alfa Romeo as one of the foremost racing cars in the world. Under Ferraris strict guidance a team of drivers headed by Nuvolari, Varzi and Chiron began to win the most important races in Europe. In addition Ferrari's excellent designing led the parent firm to construct faster and finer cars. Enzo Ferrari's philosophy always remained the same “Racing comes first.”
The 1930's were an era of great success for the Scuderia Ferrari team, but the tremendous Hitler supported drive for racing supremacy gradually led Mercedes and Auto-Union to dominance on the race tracks of Europe. The directors of Alfa Romeo decided to tackle the Germans directly, and in 1938 they returned to the business of fielding factory teams, and all of the Scuderia racing equipment was returned to the factory where Alfa-Corse, the new racing stable was formed.
For the first time in many years Enzo Ferrari was without a race team to manage. This was just the necessary impetus for the fiercely independent man from Modena. He immediately began work on preparing his own racing team. The first car to be called a Ferrari was designed by Nardi, powered by two small FIAT power plants bolted together to form an eight-cylinder block. Whilst the rest of the car was made up of various other automobile components. It was a sports-racing car and ran in the 1940 Mille Miglia. Although it wasn't competitive, it was the beginning of a long line of inspired cars to carry the famous Ferrari shield.
For seven years, due in most part to the Second World War, nothing was heard of the Ferrari name, and then in 1947 the 125 Ferrari appeared in sports, competition and Grand Prix versions. It was designed by Giacchino Columbo, the designer of the famous 158 Alfa Romeo. Ferrari was back in racing with a vengeance. He was aiming to beat his old sponsor, and had started by recruiting there best designer. He then added the best team of driver's money could buy including Ascari, Farina and Sommer. But much to Enzo Ferrari's disappointment, his cars were always in second or third place.
The determined ‘Commendatore' (Ferrari now sporting a title) shook up his organisation and hired Aurielio Lampredi as his engine designer. The brief to his team was to design a car that could run a race distance without refuelling. In 1951 all his efforts paid off and at Silverstone, Gonzales in a new Ferrari trounced Fangio in the Alfa Romeo. The championship that year was won by Alfa Romeo, but Ferrari had proved a point that it was a team not to be underestimated.
In 1952 and 1953 Scuderia Ferrari dominated on almost every track, winning the championship each year. But Mercedes and Maserati now began to compete in earnest. It was cleat that Ferrari needed new machinery. So Lampredi designed a radical new car with fuel tanks located on each side of the driver. This racer was named the Squalo, meaning Shark. Its balance was superb with the cars balance remaining steady as the fuel level lowered. But its first appearance was a disaster. At Syracuse in 1954, Gonzales was lapping at excellent speed when he noticed another car in flames; Mike Hawthorn, in another car had crashed into a wall, and had burst into flames. He managed to extricate himself from the burning wreck and jumped over the wall for safety. Gonzales stopped and ran to the burning wreck, with great danger to himself hoping to save the driver involved but could not find anyone in the burning wreckage. Unfortunately his Squalo rolled gently into the fire and became a burning mess of gasoline and metal.
Ferrari was not happy with the Squalo model. It was fast but unreliable. A new Supersqualo was produced, but Mercedes who had rejoined racing in 1955 had moved the game on with its new design ideas and dominated everything. Ferrari knew that it needed new blood once again. It was forthcoming.
Lancia retired from racing and handed all of its material to Ferrari and FIAT donated funds. This was not a charity. It was Italian national pride. It was unthinkable that any other country could beat their beloved red sports cars, and Ferrari offered the best chance they had. Results came quickly with the hiring of Argentinean driver Juan Manuel Fangio as number one driver, and in 1956 Ferrari won the World Championship once again.
Enzo Ferrari passed away at his family home in Modena on 14th August 1988, but the lessons that Enzo Ferrari learned from racing still applies to the construction of his road cars. The car's are still assembled by hand and the production line at the Modena factory works at a antiquated pace but using the most modern technology and materials possible, purchased by the parent company FIAT who took a 50% holding in 1969 and another 40% in 1988, and have overseen the development of some the most unmistakable cars ever produced.