9781422285176

Foundation and History

The Ferrari journey began when the young Enzo Ferrari made his competitive debut in the Parma Poggio di Berceto hillclimb race in 1919. Driving a 2.3L four-cylinder CMN 15/20, the 21-year-old came fourth. Of the 47 races he entered, he won only 13, and in the mid- 1920s he decided to pursue his love of building racing cars. In 1929 he formed Scuderia Ferrari in Modena with the aim of concentrating solely on motorsports; his racing “stable” (translating from scuderia) would offer amateur owner-drivers the opportunity to race. The company had no initial desire to produce road cars and its early years remained utterly focused on the manufacture of racing cars and sponsoring

drivers. Enzo Ferrari decided to quit competitive racing with the approaching birth of his son Alfredo (better known as Dino) and his ever-growing workload as the head of Scuderia. His final race was behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300MM at the Circuito Tre Province on August 9, 1931, where he finished in second place. Ferrari enjoyed success preparing cars and racing drivers (often in Alfa Romeos) and by 1933 he had taken over Alfa Romeo’s racing department. In 1937 Scuderia Ferrari built the Alfa Romeo 158 Alfetta: it would become one of the most successful racing cars ever produced, winning 47 of the 54 Grands Prix that it was entered in.

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LEFT: The sleek red lines of the Ferrari: a world record 964 Ferraris parade around the Silverstone F1 circuit. BELOW: Enzo Ferrari testing his eight-cylinder Alfa Romeo, 1924.