Enzo Ferrari From Birth To Exotic Car Empire

Born in Emilia-Romagna, and raised in Modena, Italy,championship came in 1952-53, when the Formula One
Enzo Ferrari grew up with little formal education but anseason was raced with Formula 2 autos. The
irresistible desire to race vehicles. During World War Icompany also sold production sports cars to to
he was a mule-skinner in the Italian military. Hisfinance the racing endeavours not only in Grand Prix
granddad, Alfredo, died in 1916 as a result of abut also in events like the Mille Miglia and Le Mans.
widespread Italian influenza outbreak. Enzo becameIndeed plenty of the firm's greatest victories came at
sick himself and was therefore discharged from ItalianLe Mans ( fourteen victories, including 6 in a row
service. On coming back home he discovered that the1960-65) rather than in Grand Prix, actually the
family business had fell down. Having no other jobcompany was more concerned there than in Formula
prospects he sought unsuccessfully to findOne in the 1950s and 1960s despite the successes of
employment at Fiat and at last settled for a job at aJuan-Manuel Fangio ( 1956 ), Mike Hawthorn (1958), Phil
smaller car company called CMN redesigning usedHill (1961) and John Surtees ( 1964 ) .
truck bodies into tiny, passenger autos. He took upIn the 1960s the issues of reduced demand and
racing in 1919 on the CMN team, but had tiny firstinadequate financing forced Ferrari to permit Fiat to
success.take a position in the company. Ford had tried to buy
He left CMN in 1920 to work at Alfa Romeo andthe firm in 1963 for US$18 million but had been rejected.
racing their autos in local races he had more success.The company became joint-stock and Fiat took a little
In 1923, racing in Ravenna, he purchased the Prancingshare in 1965 and then in 1969 they increased their
Horse badge which decorated the fuselage ofholding to half of the company. ( In 1988 Fiat's holding
Francesco Baracca's (Italy's leading ace of WWI )was increased to 90%).
SPAD fighter, given from his mother, taken from theFerrari remained managing director until 1971. Despite
wreckage of the aeroplane after his puzzling death.stepping down he stayed a power over the firm until
This icon would wait till 1932 to be plastered on ahis remained a power over The input of Fiat took
racing vehicle. In 1924 he won the Coppa Acerbo atsome time to have effect. It was not till 1975 with Niki
Pescara. His successes in local races encouragedLauda that the firm won any championships with Niki
Alfa to offer him a chance of much more celebratedLauda that the skill of the driver and the capability of
competition and he was praised by Mussolini. Ferrarithe driver and the deficiencies of the framework and
turned this opportunity down and in a funk he did notaerodynamics. But after those the framework and the
race again till 1927 and even then his racing careerguarantee of Jody Scheckter title in 1979, the
was often over. He continued to work without delaycompany's Formula One championship hopes fell into
for Alfa Romeo till 1929 before beginning Scuderiathe doldrums. 1982 opened with a strong fell into the
Ferrari as the racing team for Alfa.126C2, world-class drivers, and promising results robust
Ferrari managed the development of the factory Alfavehicle, the early races.
autos, and built up a gang of over forty drivers,However, Gilles Villeneuve was finished leads to the
including Giuseppe Campari and Tazio Nuvolari. Ferrari126C2 in May, and colleague Didier Pironi had his
himself continued racing till the birth of his first son incareer cut short in a violent end over end flip on the
1932 (Alfredo Ferrari, known as Dino, who died in 1956misty backstraight at Hockenheim in August. Pironi was
) .leading the driver's flip on the time; he would lose the
The support of Alfa Romeo lasted until 1933 whenlead Aug. Pironi was leading the driver's championship
finance restrictions made Alfa withdraw. Only at theat the time ; he would not see championship glory
intervention of Pirelli did Ferrari receive any automobilesagain during Ferrari's lifetime.
at all. In spite of the quality of the Scuderia drivers theEnzo Ferrari died in Modena in 1988 at the age of 90
company won few victories ( 1935 in Germany byat the beginning of the dominance of the McLaren
Nuvolari was a prominent exception ). Vehicle UnionHonda mixture. The sole race which McLaren did the
and Mercedes ruled the era.start of the Italian Grand Prix - this was held just
In 1937 Alfa took control of its racing efforts again,weeks after Enzo's death, and, fittingly, the result was
reducing Ferrari to Director of Sports under Alfa'sa 1-2 finish for Ferrari, with Gerhard Berger leading
engineering director. Ferrari shortly left, but a contracthome Michele Alboreto. After Enzo's death, thee
clause restricted him from racing or planning for fourScuderia Ferrari team has had further success, notably
years.with Michael Schumacher from 1996-2005.
He set up Auto-Avio Costruzioni, a company supplyingMade a Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1952, to add to his
parts to other racing teams. But in the Mille Miglia ofhonours of Cavaliere and Commendatore in the 1920s,
1940 the company manufactured two cars toEnzo also received a number of honorary degrees,
compete, driven by Alberto Ascari and Lotariothe Hammarskjöld Prize in 1962, the Columbus Prize
Rangoni. During WWII his firm was concerned in warin 1965, and the De Gasperi Award in 1987. In 1994, he
production and following bombing relocated fromwas posthumously inducted into the International
Modena to Maranello. It was not until after World War IIMotorsports Hall-Of-Fame. Enzo the De Gasperi
that Ferrari tried to lose his fascist reputation andAward in his fountain pen, though the reason
make cars bearing his name, founding today's Ferrariposthumously inducted into this remains unclear.
S.p. A. In 1945.After the death of his child, Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari, Enzo
The 1st open-wheeled race was in Turin in 1948 andwore sunglasses just about every day to honor his
the first victory came later in the year in Lago dison.
Garda. Ferrari took part in the Formula 1 WorldFor more reviews about sports cars, visit
Championship since its introduction in 1950 but the 1stthesupercars.org and while you are at it, you might also
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