Ferrari: A Story Of Success. Part One. From Enzo To Luca

Silverstone racing circuit, England, 1951. The Ferrari 375 F1 cruises to victory in the new racing series known as Formula One. It was Ferrari’s first ever win in Grand Prix racing.

This success helped the fledgling team from Maranello, Italy, turn itself into the force to be reckoned with, within Formula One.

Victories brought Championships, and Championships bought publicity. In the early days of Scuderia Ferrari, the road car division was there solely to provide financial support for the race team.

Enzo Ferrari used the road car sales to fund his insatiable racing habit.

Enzo Ferrari tried to hire only the very best drivers, such as Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Nikki Lauda, Tazio Nuvolari, and Gilles Villeneuve.

He often saw many of them die in his cars, as the sport itself was very dangerous and had a near complete lack of safety features.

Ferrari was often seen as a privateer team, due to their lack of adequate funding, and so, were in talks with the automotive giant, Ford, about the sale of the company.

In 1964, Enzo Ferrari backed out of the deal at the last minute because Henry Ford would not allow him full control of the racing department. Ford was furious and swore to hit Ferrari where it would hurt the most.

On the race track.

Two years later, Ford rolled out the mighty Ford GT40 and vanquished Ferrari four times in a row at Le Mans.

Ferrari decided he was in need of assistance to help keep his company going. Approached by the powerful Boss of Fiat, Giovanni Agnelli, Enzo agreed to a handsome deal that allowed him to keep control of his company until he passed away.

With Ferrari now secure, he set about winning again, taking Nikki Lauda to two world championship in 1975 and 1977. Both of these were under the watchful eye of a young man named Luca Di Montezemolo, the team manager.

They won again in 1979, but it was their last driver’s championship for 21 years.

Enzo Ferrari died in 1988, months after unveiling the Ferrari F40, built to celebrate the company’s fortieth anniversary. He was 90 years old and had been ill for a while. The company feared it would lose value and slowly go out of business.

However, quite the opposite happened. Their value soared and the F40 became one of their most legendary cars.

Late in 1990, fresh from having been head of Italy’s Olympic committee, Luca Di Montezemolo was named president of Ferrari. He immediately vowed to improve quality and usability, and set a revolution in motion that pulled into the 21^stcentuary.

Within five years, they had produced the awesome F50 which fused F1 technology with a road car.

Essentially, it was an F1 car for the road.

Ferrari had been born again.