The History Of Ferrari
Ferrari has been an integral part of the racing and sports car industry since it was founded in 1947. The founder, Enzo Ferrari, was born in Modena Italy on February 18, 1898. Enzo began his career as a test and race driver for Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali, which was a small sports car maker, after being turned down by Fiat. In 1920 at the age of twenty one, Enzo was named the director of the racing division of Alfa Romeo until 1939. He formed Scuderia Ferrari, a racing team, in 1929 that dominated until 1933. He quit Alfa Romeo in 1939 after learning that Alfa Romeo was attempting to take over his team.
In 1940, Enzo Ferrari designed and produced a racing car called the Auto Avia Tipo 815, which used Fiat mechanics. This vehicle was not very successful. Eventually he began to see success when his friend, Colombo, built the Ferrari 60° V12 engine that was first used in the Ferrari 125S. The Ferrari workshop moved from Modena to Maranello in 1943 as a ball bearing plant. However, it was bombed during the World War and was rebuilt in 1946, where the first Ferrari was designed, built, and placed on the market in late 1947 to early 1948. This was known as the Tipo 166. In 1963, Enzo created Istituto Professionale per l’Industria e l’Artigianatoa, a training school for racing. Almost ten years later in 1972, he built the Fiorano test track for Ferrari automobiles that is located just outside of Ferrari’s Maranello plant.
Each Ferrari is adorned with the famous prancing horse symbol. Ferrari states that the original horse had been painted on a fighter plane of the Italian pilot, Francesco Baracca, who died in 1918. Ferrari won the first Savio circuit in 1923 and met Baracca’s father, Count Enrico Baracca and his mother, Countess Paolina. She told Ferrari that painting the prancing horse on his cars would “bring him luck”. The original horse was and still is black. Enzo chose yellow for the background color because it was the color of Modena, his home town. He put so much work and passion into his vehicles that it is interesting to note that he “maintained a famous distaste for his customers”. This is because he felt that people were not buying his cars for racing, which is what he intended them for. Ferrari cars became a symbol of prestige and wealth.
Between 1947 and 1988, Ferrari won more than 5000 races worldwide. In 1950, they won their first British Grand Prix. Argentine Froilan Gonzalez was the driver for this race. In 1952, Alberton Ascari won the World Championship for Ferrari. However, on August 14, 1988 Ferrari passed away but it unspecified how he died. The Ferrari name still lived on after Enzo’s death, but the cars are produced in limited quantities. It is also interesting to note that Ferrari’s are seldom advertised which just goes to show what kind of name the brand has made for itself. Ferrari has produced some extremely famous cars such as the 250 GT, 250 GTO, and the 275 GTB, which were all produced in the 1950’s and 1960’s. In 1970-1990, models like the 365 GTB Daytona, 308 GTS, Testarossa, and the 246 Dino were produced. Several of the cars were offered as either a Spider convertible or a Berlinetta coupe. To celebrate Ferrari’s fortieth anniversary, the F40 was made in 1988. Currently, Ferrari is owned by Fiat, who had become a 50/50 partner in 1969.
In more recent years, Ferrari has come out with the F2002 (produced in 2002) that made quite a mark in the racing industry. The car was such a successful racing vehicle that the FIA worried racing would become boring with the same car winning each year if they did not attempt to slow Ferrari down. The following year Ferrari did not win all of the titles but still made out very well in competition. In 2004 with the F2004, Ferrari was able to win all of their titles back again and dominate the racing circuit. In order to make the competition a little bit more fair, Ferrari stopped the development of their chassis to begin the next year’s model. This way, others could attempt to catch up to them.
The newest Ferrari’s have been designed using similar research as those in the racing division. The V8-engine coupes, such as the F430, show off the new technologies. These cars have even greater aerodynamics and power than before. The same car is also available in a Spider. The 430 Scuderia was designed with the help Michael Schumacher, who had years of experience in the F1 field. This car is very powerful and very light, due to the use of carbon fibers and aluminum floors. A couple of the other new models are the 599 GTB Fiorano and the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. Ferrari has also created newer F1 models of the Berlinettas and the 575M Maranello.
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