Enzo Ferrari The Fast Life

Born in Emilia-Romagna, and raised in Modena, Italy, Enzo Ferrari grew up with little formal education but an intense desire to race cars. During World War I he used to be a mule-skinner in the Italian Army. His grandfather, Alfredo, died in 1916 as a consequence of a widespread Italian flu outbreak. Enzo became sick himself and was therefore discharged from Italian service. On coming back home he revealed that the family business had collapsed. Having no other job prospects he sought unsuccessfully to find employment at Fiat and at last settled for a smaller automobile company called CMN redesigning used truck bodies into tiny, passenger autos. He took up racing in 1919 on the CMN team, but had tiny 1st success.

He left CMN in 1920 to work at Alfa Romeo and racing their autos in local races he had more success. In 1923, racing in Ravenna, he acquired the Prancing Pony badge which decorated the fuselage of Francesco Baracca's (Italy's leading ace of WWI) SPAD fighter, given from his mother, taken from the remains of the airplane after his mysterious death. This icon would need to wait until 1932 to be plastered on a racing auto. In 1924 he won the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara. His successes in local races inspired Alfa to supply him an opportunity of much more celebrated competition and he was lauded by Mussolini. Ferrari turned this opportunity down and in a funk he didn't race again until 1927 and even then his racing career was often over. He continued to work at once for Alfa Romeo till 1929 before beginning Scuderia Ferrari as the racing team for Alfa.

Ferrari managed the development of the factory Alfa automobiles, and built up a gang of over forty drivers, including Giuseppe Campari and Tazio Nuvolari. Ferrari himself continued racing till the birth of his first son in 1932 (Alfredo Ferrari, known as Dino, who died in 1956 ) .

The support of Alfa Romeo lasted till 1933 when money limits made Alfa withdraw. Only at the intervention of Pirelli did Ferrari receive any autos at all. In spite of the standard of the Scuderia drivers the company won few victories (1935 in Germany by Nuvolari was a prominent exception ). Vehicle Union and Mercedes controlled the era.

In 1937 Alfa took command of its racing efforts again, reducing Ferrari to Director of Sports under Alfa's engineering director. Ferrari shortly left, but a contract clause restricted him from racing or designing for four years.

He set up Auto-Avio Costruzioni, a company supplying parts to other racing groups. But in the Mille Miglia of 1940 the company manufactured two cars cars to challenge, driven by Alberto Ascari and Lotario Rangoni. During WWII his firm was concerned in war production and following bombing moved from Modena to Maranello. It wasn't until after World War Two that Ferrari tried to lose his nazi reputation and make autos bearing his name, founding today's Ferrari S.p. A. in 1945.

The first open-wheeled race was in Turin in 1948 and the first victory came later in the year in Lago di Garda. Ferrari participated in the Formula 1 World Championship since its introduction in 1950 but the 1st victory wasn't till the British Grand Prix of 1951. The first championship came in 1952-53, when the Formula One season was raced with Formula Two cars. The company also sold production sports automobiles to finance the racing endeavours not only in Grand Prix but also in events like the Mille Miglia and Le Mans. Indeed many of the firm's greatest victories came at Le Mans (14 victories, including six in a row 1960-65 ) instead of in Grand Prix, actually the company was more involved there than in Formula One during the 1950s and 1960s despite the successes of Juan-Manuel Fangio (1956), Mike Hawthorn ( 1958 ), Phil Hill (1961) and John Surtees ( 1964 ) .

In the 1960s the issues of reduced demand and insufficient financing forced Ferrari to allow Fiat to take a position in the company. Ford had attempted to buy the firm in 1963 for US$18 million but had been defied. The company became joint-stock and Fiat took a little share in 1965 and then in 1969 they increased their holding to 50% of the company. ( In 1988 Fiat's holding was increased to 90%).

Ferrari remained managing director until 1971. Despite stepping down he remained an influence over the firm till his passing. The input of Fiat took some time to have effect. It was not until 1975 with Niki Lauda that the firm won any championships with Niki Lauda that the skill of the driver and the ability of the driver and the deficiencies of the chassis and aerodynamics. But after those successes and the promise of Jody Scheckter title and the corporation's Formula One championship hopes fell in 1979, the doldrums. 1982 opened with a robust vehicle, the 126C2, world-class drivers, and promising results robust vehicle, the early races.

However, Gilles Villeneuve was killed results in the 126C2 in May, and colleague Didier Pironi had his career cut short in a violent end over end flip on the misty backstraight at Hockenheim in August. Pironi was leading the driver's championship at the time ; he would lose the lead as he sat out the remaining races. the time ; he would not see championship glory again during Ferrari's lifetime.

Enzo Ferrari died in Modena in 1988 at the age of 90 at the start of the dominance of the McLaren Honda mixture. The sole race which McLaren did the start of the Italian Grand Prix - this was held just weeks after Enzo's death, and, suitably, the result was a 1-2 finish for Ferrari, with Gerhard Berger leading home Michele Alboreto. After Enzo's death, thee Scuderia Ferrari team has had further success, notably with Michael Schumacher from 1996-2005.

Made a Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1952, to add to his honours of Cavaliere and Commendatore in the 1920s, Enzo also received a number of honorary degrees, the Hammarskjld Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1962, the Columbus Prize in 1965, and the De Gasperi Award in 1987. In 1994, he was posthumously inducted into the Global Motorsports Hall-Of-Fame. Enzo the De Gasperi Award in his fountain pen, although the reason posthumously inducted into this remains unclear.

After the death of his son, Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari, Enzo wore shades virtually each day to laud his son.


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