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Enzo Ferrari - Automotive Pioneer
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From barely finding a job to building the Ferrari that we know today, Enzo Ferrari has worked his way up the ladder of success, and how?
Born in Modena, Enzo never really saw much of formal education, but his determination and strong will to make a career in racing eventually led him to first start the racing division of Ferrari – Scuderia Ferrari, followed by the sports car division of the company post World War II.
Due to the lack of educational qualification, it was difficult for Enzo to actually find a job, and had to work for a small car company CMN (Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali) that redesigned used bodies of trucks into small passenger cars. Soon after he joined, Enzo took up racing for the company in 1919, but had very little success. CMN was too small a company to feed his racing dreams, and so the Italian moved to work for Alfa Romeo where the winds of change went Enzo’s way. Victories in local races brought him into the limelight with Alfa and immediately he was offered a chance to participate in more prestigious competitions. Enzo turned this opportunity down and discontinued racing till 1927 but continued to work for Alfa.
Success followed the footsteps of ‘the commander’ and the Italian soon started Scuderia Ferrari as the racing team for Alfa in 1929. Support from Alfa did not continue for long as financial troubles forced them to temporarily withdraw from their racing endeavours. It was during this time that Pirelli’s intrusion came as a saving grace for Scuderia Ferrari which continued to speed the tracks. Alfa managed to take control of its finances by 1937 and was back in the racing game but Enzo violated the contract by calling it quits, due to which he was forbidden from racing or designing cars for four years. In response, the Italian racing team, organized Auto-Avio Costruzioni to supply parts to racing teams.
It was only after the World War II in 1947 that Enzo founded today's Ferrari S.p.A. and started making road going cars. The first steed to be born from the Ferrari stable was the 1947 125S powered by a 1.5-litre Vee12 engine.
The Italian company started gaining greater prominence after 1950, courtesy its participation in Formula One racing and 24 hours of Le Mans. The first F1 championship for Ferrari came in 1952-53 when the Formula 1 season was raced on with Formula Two cars and also won the 24 hours of Le Mans race in 1954, 1958 and for more six consecutive years in that era starting 1960.
The 1960-70 decade, was an entirely crucial decade for Ferrari, it featured several successes as well as mighty troubles. Enzo brought the company name into the supercar market in 1962 with the 250 GTO after which there was no looking back. Meanwhile, it was also during this time that inadequate finances forced the company to sell a small share to Fiat in 1965. In the same decade, the Italian giant went on to acquire 50% of the company’s stake which further rose to 90% in 1988, the same year that Enzo died.
People who have worked with Enzo considered him to be one of the most difficult people to work with, but one thing for sure; no one can question his love for racing and for his company. From working in a small-time company, racing cars, to starting the iconic sportscar company Enzo has done it all. In 2002, Ferrari launched a supercar which it named Enzo, in honour of the company’s founder.
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