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At
the age of 10 Enzo Ferrari attended Coppa Florio, a car race held in Bologna, Italy. That
was in1908 and according to his autobiography "My terrible joys" after that
event he was pretty much sure of his life occupation. Next crucial moment in times before
Scuderia comes after WW I, when Enzo got turned down by Fiat and was only with the help of
a friend Ugo Sivocci that he managed to find employment. The company’s name was
CMN, and Enzo was working as a test driver. In those days that meant, that you were
supposed to enter as many road races as possible, and of course try and win some of them
without getting killed. After several years at CMN Enzo switched to mother of Italian
autosport, the fabulous Alfa Romeo. According to his recollection, the pinnacle of his
racing driver career was a stunning win with Alfa voiturette at Coppa Acerbo race in
Pescara, when he took 1st place in front of two Mercedes cars that have won that years
prestigious Targa Florio race (1924).
In 1929 Enzo formed Scuderia Ferrari, a private enterprise to race Alfa Romeos. The
Scuderia (roughly translated - a stable, but in such a context-team) quickly started
winning races and became the sports branch of Alfa with legends such as Tazio Nuvolari,
Giussepe Farina, Achille Varzi behind the wheel of little Alfas. The late 30ties saw an
onslaught of government backed Mercedes and Auto Union but Scuderia Ferrari managed a
memorable victory in German backyard at Nurburgring in 1935 with Nuvolari behind the
wheel.1938 saw Enzos break up with Alfa, and in 1939 Enzo puts to racing first 2 Ferraris,
Tipo’s 815(8 cylinder, 1.5liter eng.).
They couldn’t have been called Ferrari cars officially because of contract clauses
in break up agreement with Alfa Romeo. The upcoming war ceased sporting events, but in
1946 a small enthusiastic Scuderia from Modena started its journey into autosports legend,
and for starters with nothing less then a 1.5 litre aluminium block V12, the Tipo 125.125
meant the displacement of one cylinder in ccm a designation method Enzo will keep for
quite a while. Soon the 125 engine (also called Colombo small-block, after the designer)
got its sibling in GP racing, a supercharged version.1948 saw the first Ferrari racer sold
to "general public". At that time Scuderia already had a 24hrs Le Mans won, and
after the first GP win over Alfa Romeos Alfettas Enzo Ferrari cried out.." I’ve
killed my mother". The name was made on the glorious song of twelve cylinders hand
crafted from a shed in Modena, that took on the giants of auto-production industry, and
won over the hearts and minds of people addicted to speed, romance and a mixture of
gasoline and adrenaline.
After a stunning kick start Scuderia Ferrari founds itself at the start of the road
racing battle that would rage across the road and race tracks from the early 50ties up to
today’s times. Mind you F1 racing was not that popular at least not until the late
60ties,early 70ties,the real mustard was cut on road races, sort of rally predecessors
such as Tour d France, Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, Mexican Carrera and track events that
hosted sportscars, prototypes and later GT class racers (Daytona, Sebring and THE
motorsport event 24hrs of Le Mans). The workhorse until the late 60ties was that tiny
Colombo small-block engine which has seen displacement increases from original 1.5liter of
the Tipo 125 and 166 racers to 4.1 litre road rocket 375 MM (named after 4th consecutive
Mille Miglia win).
All those racers were V12, engine front, rear drive cars. One of the invincible ones
was the 212 Inter, which grew to the 250 Testa Rossa a World Sports car Championship
winner in 58,60 and 61.
The aforementioned 375MM was an epytomus of Enzo s stubbornness. When almost all of
Ferraris opposition switched to mid-engined cars and all independent suspension, Ferrari
drivers were stuck with a front engined, rear drive rigid axle car, with a power output
from a 4.1 litre of 340 odd or so HP.
That car on the Le Mans straight clocked 180mph,and drivers usually went to drive the
lesser engined 350 type whenever they could invent an excuse, cause 375MM was probably the
most evil handling car of that times. Timeframe is switching to the early 60ties and
perhaps the shiniest and proudest moments in Scuderia's history, and also one of the
fiercest battles in the motor-racing history. Ford and Carrol Shelby introduced the AC
Cobra, and Ford GT40 a state of the art mid engined racer, Mercedes and Porsche were
trying to follow into Fords new kind of Big-Bucks racing theory. Mind you Cobra and Ford
GT40 were raced in prototypes and sports car classes, with full-fledged corporate backing,
and with engines of displacement from 7.0-9.0 litre.
In the other corner was the most beautiful car of all times, Ferrari 250 GTO (gran
turismo omologato) which Enzo managed to homologate as a continued development of the
250SWB without having to meet FIA production quotas. The 250 GTO of 1962 embarked on to
win sports cars manufacturers titles for Scuderia and Tour de France races in 62, 63 and
64. The engine, a 3.0 litre Colombo aluminium small block, with such goodies as magnesium
alloy cam covers, and twin cam shafts feeded through 6 twin throat Webers revved in race
tune up to 9000 rpm, and screamed out close to 400 lovely horses. The car was a
homolagtion scam, but still managed to destroy its class opposition with front engine and
rigid rear axle assembly (this time for homlogation purposes only). On complaints from
designers and drivers Enzo just waved of his hand while mumbling..."The horse
doesn’t push the cart, it pulls it". That meant that Ferrari drivers had to
soldier on with opposition in modern mid engined cars, with rear drive-front engine
Cavallinos. The attention in racing shifts to Prototype class, and the most coveted event
of the 60ties Le Mans 24hrs and now I will try and introduce my esteemed audience into the
first mid engined Ferrari prototype the legendary 250 LM (LM you re guessing, stands for
Le Mans race win, hehe).....
:: Part Two |
