Enzo Ferrari - A Life

by Riccardo Monza on Mar 24th, 2011

Riccardo Monza reviews a book looking at the life of Enzo Ferrari, the man that believed in engines over aero and of course setup Ferrari as one of (if not the) the most famous racing teams.

Mention the word Ferrari to someone and it's odds on that an impression of fast cars will come to mind. Speed, style, luxury, and passion are all associated with a name that's become familiar to all. And in the world of Formula 1, the famous red cars of Italy have risen to achieve success that's way beyond the grasp of most teams expectations. But, it hasn't always been like that. For those who can't remember Ferrari before Michael Schumacher scooped up a tonne of trophies, a fine introduction in the shape of "Enzo Ferrari - A Life," by author Richard Williams, provides a decent opportunity to learn more about how one man became the force behind creating some of the best racing cars ever.

In the 1920's, after serving in an artillery division of the Italian Army in WWI, Enzo kicked off his career in motorsport, with a job in the Alfa Romeo racing department in Modena. He got on with most of the people there but one designer, who he detested in every way, had a hand shake it seems, that was like "grasping the cold, lifeless hand of a corpse!" Anyway, given time away from that bloke, Enzo had a bash at racing himself, but for whatever reason, be it psychological or medical, he gave it up just as he'd worked his way up the ranks in the Alfa Romeo racing team. Nevertheless, once he'd decided on putting his efforts solely on the management side, success came his way.

It wasn't until after WWII that Enzo could finally present a car to the world called a Ferrari. Production of his smart red cars that were pumped out from the factory in Maranello increased annually, where his dedicated workforce under a strict management, toiled long hours and were sadly frowned upon for taking a well earned summer holiday. The cars were entered in Formula 1 and sports car races such as Mille Miglia and Le Mans 24 hours. Results could be up one minute and down the next. Who's to blame? Well, as Enzo rather oddly wouldn't attend races, he'd rely on conflicting race reports down the phone from team personnel and drivers! One driver who helped to turn things round during the mid 1970's and go against the grain was Niki Lauda. A couple of championships in the bag and the Ferrari name was revered once more. The rich and famous folk of the world desired to own one of his creations, but rubbing shoulders with people of that ilk didn't interest him, as it was all about the racing.

Author Richard Williams pulls together the life of Enzo Ferrari along with drawing a sufficient picture of the surrounding tribe. Williams attempts to delve into the myths and lore that have surrounded the "Old Man" for years. Many of the stories are backed up with extracts from Enzo's own memoirs, where he gives his own account on family loves and losses, business deals, the factory and test track, engine and chassis development, racing in F1 and Sports Cars, drivers and their ability -straight from the prancing horse's mouth as it were.

Often people would say that Enzo would add "colour" to his stories to help cultivate a certain image of mystery and cunning. What were the real thoughts of the man behind the dark shades, which later in life he even wore indoors where the sun didn't shine so much? It was all part of the drama which he certainly enjoyed, and those around him got irritated by. One thing that's quite apparent in the book is that Enzo is an out and out survivor. While some of his close family members passed away, and many drivers perished whilst racing, Enzo continued his reclusive daily routine at his home, near the factory and test track at Maranello. There's plenty of humour laced tales included, like the time Enzo sat alongside a driver whilst practising for a long distance race, and thinking that the radiator was leaking water into the foot-well, realised that the driver next to him had refused to stop for a toilet break! Now that really is taking the piss!

Ferrari generally had the pick of the best drivers of the moment, all of whom found it hard to resist his offer to drive for them. Refusing to nominate number one status to any of them, he'd leave them to fight it out on the track, and many of them did just that and became champions -Alberto Ascari, Juan-Manuel Fangio, Phil Hill, Mike Hawthorn, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, and Jody Scheckter. Amongst the 300 or so pages, you can find out which driver Enzo considered the most talented; perhaps the inventor of the 4-wheel drift -Tazio Nuvolari; maybe the multiple world champion dare-devil JM Fangio; or could it be the spectacular "never-give-up" Gilles Villeneuve? Does anyone fancy a guess?

A small but great selection of monochrome photos are slipped in throughout the book, ideally we could enjoy a few more, but the all engrossing text is more than sufficient to keep us entertained. You don't have to be a Ferrari fan to enjoy this one!

 

 

As an aside, here's a great bit of footage of Enzo from the 60s in a advert for Shell fuels - a deal struck by Enzo that still remains in place today: