Ferrari
Ferrari is an Italian manufacturer of racing cars and high-performance sports cars formed by Enzo Ferrari in 1929. At first, Scuderia Ferrari sponsored drivers and manufactured racecars; the company went into independent car production in 1946, eventually became Ferrari S.p.A., and is now owned by the Fiat group. The company is based in Maranello, near Modena, Italy.
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2 Racing 3 Road cars 4 The "Cavallino Rampante" 5 List of models 6 See also 7 External links |
Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari never intended to produce road cars when he formed Scuderia Ferrari in 1929 as a sponsor for amateur drivers headquartered in Modena. Ferrari prepared and successfully raced various drivers in Alfa Romeo cars until 1938, when he was officially hired by Alfa as head of their racing department.
In 1940, upon learning of the company's plan to absorb his beloved Scuderia and take control of his racing efforts, he quit Alfa. Because he was prohibited by contract from racing for several years, the Scuderia briefly became Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which ostensibly produced machine tools and aircraft accessories. Ferrari did in fact produce one racecar, the Tipo 815, in the non-competition period; it was thus the first actual Ferrari car, but due to World War II it saw little competition. In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, where it has remained ever since. The factory was bombed in 1944 and rebuilt in 1946 to include a works for road car production.
"Scuderia Ferrari" literally means "Ferrari Stable" in keeping with the prancing horse emblem; the name is figuratively translated as "Team Ferrari."
The first Ferrari road car was the 1947 125 S, powered by a 1.5-litre V12 engine; Enzo reluctantly built and sold his automobiles to fund the Scuderia. While his beautiful and blazingly fast cars quickly gained a reputation for excellence, Enzo maintained a famous distaste for his customers, most of whom he felt were buying his cars for the prestige and not the performance value.
Ferrari road cars, noted for their exquisite styling by design houses such as Pininfarina, have long been one of the ultimate accessories for the rich and young (or young-at-heart). Other design houses that have done work for Ferrari over the years include Scaglietti, Bertone, and Vignale.
Ferrari cars feature highly-tuned small V8 and V12 engines, often in a mid-engined configuration; until the introduction of fuel injection in the 1980s, they were quite temperamental. Until the mid-1990s they carried a reputation for unreliability and bad engineering, though these were written off by enthusiasts as "character." Ferrari and Porsche owners have famously and religiously defended the respective merits of their cars while virulently criticizing other brands.
The Scuderia celebrate another Schumacher win
Main article: Scuderia Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari's true passion, despite his extensive road car business, was always auto racing. His Scuderia started as an independent sponsor for drivers in various cars, but soon became the Alfa Romeo in-house racing team. After his departure from Alfa he began to design and produce cars of his own; the Ferrari team first appeared on the European grand prix scene after the end of World War II.
The Scuderia joined the Formula One championship in the first year of its existence, 1950; Froilan Gonzalez gave the team its first victory at the 1951 British Grand Prix. Ferrari is the oldest team left in the championship, not to mention the most successful: as of 2003, the team has won the World Constructor's Championship a record 13 times.
Famous drivers include Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Gilles Villeneuve, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher.
Count Francesco Baracca
The famous symbol of Ferrari is a black prancing horse on yellow background, usually with the letters S F for Scuderia Ferrari.
The horse was originally the symbol of Count Francesco Baracca, a legendary "asso" (ace) of the Italian air force during World War I, who painted it on the side of his planes. Baracca died very young on June 19, 1918, shot down after 34 victorious duels and many team victories; he soon became a national hero.
The Scuderia logo
Baracca had wanted the prancing horse on his planes because his squad, the "Battaglione Aviatori", was enrolled in a Cavalry regiment (air forces were at their first years of life and had no separate administration), and also because he himself was reputed to be the best cavaliere of his team.
It has been supposed that the choice of a horse was perhaps partly due to the fact that his noble family was known for having plenty of horses in their estates at Lugo di Romagna. Another unproven theory suggests Baracca copied the rampant horse design from a German pilot having the emblem of the city of Stuttgart on his plane. Interestingly, German car manufacturer Porsche, from Stuttgart, borrowed its prancing horse logo from the city's emblem.
On June 17, 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna, and there he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Baracca. The Countess asked that he use the horse on his cars, suggesting that it would grant him good luck, but it the first race at which Alfa would let him use the horse on Scuderia cars was eleven years later, at Spa 24 Hours in 1932. Ferrari won.
Ferrari left the horse black as it had been on Baracca's plane; however, he added a yellow background because it was the symbolic color of his birthplace, Modena.
The prancing horse has not always identified the Ferrari brand only: Fabio Taglioni used it on his Ducati motorbikes. Taglioni's father was in fact a companion of Baracca's and fought with him in the 91st Air Squad, but as Ferrari's fame grew, Ducati abandoned the horse; this may have been the result of a private agreement between the two brands.
The prancing horse is now a trademark of Ferrari.
The Enzo Ferrari
8 cylinders:
History
1929-1946
See Scuderia Ferrari for further history of the Ferrari racing team.1946-present
Racing
Road cars
The "Cavallino Rampante"
List of models
Road models
Current
Past
Competition models
Current
Past
See also
External links