Enzo Ferrari (1898- 1988). The name will forever resonate as one of the myths of F1 – a team as powerful on the racetrack as desired for its amazing aura.

From Alfa Romeo to the Scuderia

In a filmed interview, a journalist asks him: “Why did you build your own racing car? “To the question, Enzo Ferrari replies:” Simply because Alfa Romeo had sacked me “

Yes, when the Ferrari team raced its first car, the Ferrari 125S, in 1951 at the Silverstone circuit, the victory obtained was twofold. First, because the Ferrari car broke a record never set before – speeding at 160 km / h during practice at the British Grand Prix. The 2-cylinder V12 engine, invented by the impetus of Enzo Ferrari, stunned the world.

Then because on this day in 1951, Ferrari took the lead ahead of Alfa Romeo. And Enzo Ferrari, who helped design the cars he just beat, admits, in his own words: “I killed my mother. “In doing so, Enzo Ferrari literally paved the way for a number of technical feats, on the circuits but also in terms of pace!

It is for example the Ferrari 500 which, making its debut in 1952 on the Nurburgring circuit, will definitively anchor the Ferrari legend. This car is the most awarded in the history of motor racing – it is, also, for many, the most beautiful model of racing cars ever built!

Enzo Ferrari was himself a race car driver!

Enzo Ferrari: Emeritus driver

Nicknamed Il Commendatore, Enzo Ferrari began his racing career during the First World War. It was there that he became a test driver for a Milanese car manufacturer called Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali. Quickly, Enzo Ferrai was promoted to race driver.

His debut behind the wheel came at the Parma-Poggio di Berceto race in 1919 – he may have only finished fourth in the competition, but his skill has already caught the eye of a few. The following year he was hired by Alfa Romeo.

Enzo Ferrari enjoyed most of his racing success between 1920 and 1924 – but it was as the head of Alfa Romeo’s racing division that he would begin to make history.

Having moved on to the management and development of Alfa Romeo, he gathered a team of successful drivers under the name of Scuderia Ferrari. The year is 1929, and Enzo Ferrari will put his vision, his passion for racing and his dexterity at the service of Alfa Romeo.

In 1932, we then see the Cavalino Rampante, known as the rampant stallion, appear on Ferrari racing cars.

The Rampant Stallion

It was only in the 1920s that Enzo Ferrari met the parents of Francesco Baracca, an Italian Air Force hero of the First World War (1914-1918), shot down in midair.

He says: “When I won the Grand Prix at the Savio circuit in 1923, which was raced in Ravenna, I knew Count Enrico Baracca, father of the hero. I came to know his mother, Countess Paolina. It was she who said to me one day: “Ferrari, put my son’s“ Cavalino Rampante ”on your machines. It will bring you good luck. ”I still have the photo of Baracca, with the dedication of his parents, in which they entrust me with the emblem. The cavalino was and has remained black; I added a canary yellow background which is the color of the city of Modena. “

So when Ferrari left Alfa Romeo in 1939, everything was in place for the myth to take its place in F1 history. After the end of World War II, Enzo Ferrari chose to manufacture new cars instead of simply supplying parts. Ferrari settles in Modena, and to this day its activities continue there.

Ferrari And The Legend Of Enzo

In March 1947, Enzo Ferrari introduced the first Ferrari, the 125 S, for a test drive.

The same year, the team won their first victory at the Grand Prix de Rome. From then on, successes followed one after another … Mille Miglia in 1948, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1949 and the British Grand Prix in 1951.

In 1952 and 1953, Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari again won the F1 world championship. It was at this time that Ferrari started producing cars for the road. “You have to dream of a car first” he liked to say. And it is Enzo Ferrari’s dream to make beautiful and fantastic cars.

Of these roaring cars that are at once elegant, powerful and luxurious, we obviously remember more than one. The Ferrari Daytona, the F40, the Testarossa and even the Ferrari 458. All of these cars are the stuff of dreams and push the limits already reached in terms of exceptional cars.

Because in Enzo Ferrari’s very idea, cars help free oneself. He said: “I have devoted my entire life to the automobile, this triumph of human freedom. “

And it is in the cinema that Ferrari cars often exude all this passion and search for freedom. We naturally think of the film Le Mans, in 1971, with Steve McQueen and the Ferrari 512S. Or, more popular, the presence of the legendary Ferrari 308 in the Magnum series.

In Goldeneye, again, with Pierce Brosnan in 007 … The film opens with the spy hurtling down a winding road in his silver DB5. Until a mysterious woman appeared in his mirror behind the wheel of a Ferrari F355 GTS. Red, obviously.