Scuderia History

The man that started it all, Enzo Anselmo “the Commendatore” Ferrari was born on the 20th of February 1898 though as claimed, Enzo’s actual date of birth is 18 February 1898, but it was recorded as having occurred on 20 February because his father was unable to register the birth until then, due to bad weather.  Enzo was born into a well to do family that owned a metal foundry making railroad parts.  His family was the first in his town to own a car perhaps triggering Enzo’s early love of cars.

In 1908, when Enzo turned 10 he had the opportunity to attend the Coppa Florio, an Italian car race held in Bologna which started in 1900.  Enzo’s autobiography titled, “My terrible joys” depicts this event in particular as the trigger that pointed Enzo towards his eventual success as first a race car driver, entrepreneur, founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing, and automobile manufacturer.

When WWI broke out in Europe, both Enzo’s father and brother (Dino) were drafted by the Italian army.  Both succumbed to an influenza outbreak in 1916.  Enzo being the sole provider was forced to leave school to run the metal foundry.  Having little success, the company failed and to support his widowed mother, Enzo took a job as a metal turning instructor at the Modena Fire Brigade.

As the war progressed, Enzo was himself drafted by the army and worked as a mule shoer for the Italian mountain artillery.  During this time, Enzo became seriously ill with the flu, that by this time (1918) turned into a pandemic and was discharged from the service.

Not interested in going back to school, against his mother’s wishes, he tried to apply for a job with Fiat, but was turned down. He bounced around a bit but maintained contact with his dream of racing cars.  He first found a job around Turin driving ex-military transport hardware that were later refitted and re-sold to the public.  Later though, with the help of a friend (Ugo Sivocci) whom he met in Turin, Enzo found a job as a test driver at CMN (Construzioni Maccaniche Nazionali) as a driver.

Enzo’s first real racing event was the 1919 Parma-Berceto hill climb.  Later that year after a promising showing, Enzo entered the Targa Florio.

After working with CMN, Enzo was hired by Alfa Rameo, at the time the pinocle of Italian motor sport. Enzo writes in his book, that the climax of his career as a racing driver was a surprise race win with Alfa Voiturette.  At the Coppa Acerbo event in 1924 held in Pescara, Enzo finished ahead of two Mercedes cars that won the prestigious Targa Florio that same year.

Cavallino rampante.  The famous symbol of the Ferrari race team is a black prancing stallion on a yellow shield, usually with the letters S F (for Scuderia Ferrari), with three stripes of green, white and red (the Italian national colors) at the top.

On June 17, 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna ,where he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Count Francesco Baracca, an ace of the Italian air force and national hero of World War I who died young after scoring 34 victories on June 19, 1918 being shot down on Mount Montello.  Francesco used to paint a horse on the side of his planes.  The Countess asked Enzo “why don’t you put my son’s horse on your cars?  It will bring you luck”.  The original “prancing horse” on Baracca’s planes was painted in red on white, but Ferrari chose to have the horse in black the way it had been painted as a sign of grief on Baracca’s squadron planes after the pilot was killed in action.  Enzo added a canary yellow background as this is the official color of Modena, his birthplace.

In 1929 Enzo formed Scuderia Ferrari (the Ferrari Stable) as a race team that would race Alfa Rameos.  The teams sudden success was quickly rewarded by Alfa Rameo with the scuderia becoming the official Alfa Rameo sports branch. Giving rise to Ferrari legends like Tazio Nuvolari, Giussepe Farina, and Achille Varzi.

By 1935, Ferrari was a well established company that could compete on the world stage of motor sport.  In 1935 with Tazio Nuvolari as the driver, despite Germany’s government funded Mercedes and Auto Union cars, Ferrari scored a victory at Nurburgring in 1935.

In 1938 Enzo ended his partnership with Alfa Rameo upon secretly learning of a plan to take over control of the Scuderia by Alfa Rameo.

Though the cars could not be called Ferrari due to certain contractual obligations in the Ferrari/Alfa split-up that prohibited Enzo from entering races as Scuderia Ferrari, in 1939 Enzo enters into races with what many believe to be the first Ferraris.  The cars were called Tipo 815 and ran a 1.5 liter 8 cylinder engine and raced under the Auto Avio Construzioni Ferrari name a company that was producing machine tools and aircraft parts for Piaggio and RIV as Italy was arming for war.  The 815s saw little action however as war broke out.

In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to it’s present day location in Maranello.  In 1944 because of the factories capability in the production of machines for the manufacture of ball bearing the factory was bombed by the allies, but was rebuilt in 1946 and by then, included a road car production facility.  It was during this time 1947 when the first Ferrari road car, the 125 S powered by a V12 engine rolled out of the factory.

When Ferrari mention their racing heritage and the fact the company is built on it, many overlook a little known fact.  A fact that truly engraves Ferrari’s desire to RACE! A fact the explains Ferrari’s stance on many of today’s motor sport agendas. Enzo never wanted to produce road cars and was in fact initially against the idea.  However in order to support and fund the Scuderia racing team he reluctantly built and sold automobiles for profit. Enzo was always reluctant to meet with his customers and as Ferrari became a name synonymous with racing Enzo maintained a well known dislike for his customers, many of whom he felt purchased his cars for nothing more than prestige and not for the purpose of racing for which they were built.

Since 1947 to present day, Ferrari-built cars have scored an overwhelming amount of over 5000 race wins all over the world. A statistic that is untouched by any rivals.

In 1950, Ferrari took it’s previous successes and entered the Formula 1 World Championship but did not score a victory until the 1951 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.  When Ferrari took it’s first Grand Prix win over the Alfa Rameos Enzo cried out “I’ve killed my mother!”  The first Ferrari championship win came in 1952-53 and the rest are famous names, race wins, and history.

In 1969, to meet growing market demand, Enzo sold 50% of the company to the Fiat Group, an investment that has increased to 90% in 1988. However Ferrari has always maintained a high level of autonomy from Fiat thanks to activities and work methods that differed greatly from Fiat.

Enzo Ferrari died on August 14, 1988 in Modena at the age of 90.  His death wasn’t made public until two days later, as by Enzo’s request, to compensate for the late registration of his birth. He died at the beginning of the dominance of the McLaren Honda combination.  The only race which McLaren did NOT win in 1988 was fittingly the Italian Grand Prix (Dubbed the Golden Grand Prix).  It was held just weeks after Ferrari’s death, and, fittingly, the result was a 1-2 finish for Ferrari in his tribute, with Gerhard Berger leading home Michele Alboreto to an emotional win for the Scuderia team and massive numbers of tifosi who made their pilgrimage to pay tribute.

1988 Italian Grand Prix Recap

Prost was lined up on the front-row alongside his teammate Senna both in front of the Ferraris of Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto, in fourth for his final Grand Prix with the Scuderia.

After the start, Prost took the lead from Senna as the field streaked away from the grid, but the Frenchman suffered a misfire as he went for third gear on the run to the Rettifilo chicane and as a result dropped back into second behind the Brazilian.

Back at the front, Berger in the first of the Ferraris was being held up by Prost, who was allowing his championship rival to break away.

Senna continued to pull away with the gap increasing, setting the new fastest lap of the race. A 1m 30.4, before Prost responded and, despite the miss, began chipping away at Senna’s lead as he had many times before.

By lap 15, Senna had a small but solid 3.5-second lead over Prost, who led Berger, Alboreto, Cheever, Boutsen, Patrese, Ivan Capelli and Derek Warwick.

As half the distance was covered, Senna still led from Prost and Berger, although the Frenchman had started to close the gap yet again unwilling to hand over the win.

At the end of lap 30, Prost’s engine started to sound flat and the gap to Senna increased to over nine seconds almost instantly.

Berger in the Ferrari caught Prost’s under-powered McLaren Honda and the Ferrari moved into second place as they rounded the first Lesmo on lap 32- Prost heard the deafening delight of the Tifosi from the car as he passed the start finish line.

It was clear that Prost’s problems were terminal, the McLaren retiring from the grand prix for the first time that season.

There was now just a single McLaren between the Ferraris and an unlikely victory at their home race

The Ferrari drives pushed on hard and as they cleared the start finish for the 43rd time, the gap between first and third had diminished – Alboreto had closed down his team-mate’s advantage to just 2.7 seconds with the fastest lap of the race, a 1m 29.357.

With just four laps still to go, Senna’s lead had been cut to just nine seconds, with Alboreto in the second Ferrari remaining the fastest of the top three drivers.

Berger continued to push to make inroads into Senna’s lead, while the McLaren driver was forced to slow down to ensure that his fuel load would last to the finish.

When Senna crossed the line with three laps to go, he had the to be lapped Williams of Jean-Louis Schlesser ahead of him.

Feeling the Ferraris close behind, Senna barged through at the Rettifilo chicane only to be forced into a spin by Schlesser. The floor of the McLaren stuck on the curb at the exit of the corner, along with his hopes of claiming the win.

The incident allowed the Ferrari pairing through into the lead to the jubilation of the Italian crowd and from that point onwards, Ferrari could cruise home to a one-two at Monza – Berger leading Alboreto through the chequered flag in front of a memorized croud.

After the race, hords of Tofosi and spectators stormed and spilled over onto the track in celebration with talk of ‘Enzo’s ghost’ being present at the track for whom the win was dedicated.

Forza Ferrari!