Friday, September 23, 2011

The Ferrari Short Story ( Part 1)

This special person in fact no need further introduction due to his extra-ordinary achievement and one of the most influence as well as the most famous super brand in luxury sport car history on the planet.
Just ask anyone ,anywhere , any age.Tell me who didn't  know or haven't heard about this fast moving & noisy "Red Devil".
He is the person who created all this fanaticism , madness & so called "Dream Machine" that every guys who want to have it desperately.

Please let me brings you "Enzo Ferrari and his Mighty legacy".


The Young Enzo Ferrari

The late Enzo Ferrari
pictures courtesy of Google


Born                   :  18th February ,1898 in Modena ,Italy 
Pass away          :  14th  August ,1988 in Maranello ,Italy
Founder of  the Ferrari S.p.a. : Established in 1947   
                                                     ( origin formed in 1929 )
Current mother company  : Fiat S.p.a.(consist of Ferrari, 
                                                Maserati ,Fiat & Alfa Romeo)


His Early Involvement In Racing Career , building Sport Cars And Motorsport

Enzo Ferrari was 1st introduced to motor racing by his father , Alfredo ( who ran a modest Modenese metal fabricating business ).He was only 10 when his father took him to Bologna to watch the Coppa Florio motor race and then he was hooked.


He has a short & limited education background but his strong desire & passion in racing that drive him to become what he is today.He could drive at the age of 13.

Alfa Romeo company hired him as a racing driver in 1920 due to his talent & skill.He moved to race team management  9 years later.

By 1940 , Enzo private company  "Auto Avio Costruzioni" was emerged and had built a Fiat based sport car.


He utilize all the sales profit from every ferrari car that sold and funding his racing.

The 1st Ferrari car was "Tipo 125 ", powered by 1.5 litre( V12 ) in 1947.The engine was designed by Giaochino Columbo.
Enzo with his Ferrari Tipo 125
Picture courtesy of  Google 
 

The 1st Ferrari race victory was held in a small event in Rome's Caracalla circuit in 1947 driven by Franco Cortese.

The 1st official grand prix win was in Swiss 1949 GP. The same year Ferrari team also win in the Le mans race including six in a row from 1960 to 1965.

Ferrari achieved  100th wins when Alain Prost won the 1990 French GP. 2 years later in Belgium , Ferrari marked it's 500th championship race.

Most of Ferrari sport car are designed by the world famous & prestigous design consultant  Pininfarina which also from the same home soil and they designed all the ferrari cars from the early day and today.

Ferrari was sold to Fiat  auto maker in 1968 , where Fiat hold 90 % of stake and Ferrari still reserved the 10 %.

Since 1920 , Italian race cars of Alfa Romeo , Maserati , Abarth & ferrari were painted in "Race Red" ( Rossa Corsa ).It was customary as "National Racing Colour" of Italy.

The best selling Ferrari model from 2000 to 2005 were 360 Modena / spider with 17,500 units sold.


F50 was Ferrari half century celebration.Only 349 units were built.Retail price at 340,000 Pound. 0 -100km/h in 3.7 sec.


In 2006 , Ferrari sold 5,671 units of cars ,635 of them in Britain.

Formula One Greatest Achievement & record
 1st F1 win 1951 in British GP.

15 world drivers championship titles.

209 Grand Prix victories , 4,925.27 points ,622 podium finishes , 
203 pole position & 218 fastest laps in 776 GP contested.


Famous drivers lines up ( randomly pick )
Jose froilan Gonzalez , Alberto Ascari ( 1950 - 1955 ) , Phil Hill ( 1958 -1964 ,1966 ) , Peter Collins ( 1952 - 1958 ) , Lorenzo Bandini ( 1961 - 1967 ) , Gerhard Berger ( 1984 - 1997 ) , Nigel Mansell ( 1980 -1992 , 1994 - 1995 ) , Alain Prost ( 1980 -1991 ,1993 ) , Jean Alesi ( 1989 - 2001 ) , Eddie Irvine ( 1993 -2002 ) , Rubens Barrichello ( 1992 to present ) , Michael Schumacher ( 1991 to present ) , Kimi Raikkonen ( 2000 to 2009 ) , Felipe Massa ( 1998 to present ) , Fernando Alonso ( 2001 to present ).




Personal Life 
Enzo in fact had 2 woman in his life.He divided his time between wife Laura and mistress Lina Lardi who had a son ,Piero.


Enzo wife Laura's 1st son name Alfredino or known as "Dino" pass away due to muscular dystrophy sickness at 21 years old in 1956.


"He is a great business man but in person he is zero".Comment by his engineer in the early day.He is a hard man to deal with.


The annoucement only came  2 days later soon after he pass away peacefully in his sleep and this is what he requested from his family members before his last breath.