| duro |
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| Group | : Members |
| Posts | : 1 |
| Joined | : Nov 19, 2012 |
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| Posted : 19 Nov 2012 19:44:26 | "Reply With Quote" |
Sorry to spoil the mistique somewhat but I have to make a couple remarks.
Enzo Ferrari never *built* cars when at Alfa Romeo. He was a driver (very good, though not the best) and above all an exceptional team manager.
Alfa Romeo racing cars bearing his *prancing horse* were just Alfa *unofficial* racers handled by his Scuderia Ferrari team.
After WWII he went on building his own cars (actually, the first 125 was little more than a race-modified Fiat 1100) because Alfa Romeo were not reviving their race programme (restarted a few years later).
About Enzo Ferrari *building skills*, it must be said that he was extremely conservative, to the point that it is difficult to see him as the driving force after advanced engineering like racing cars require. After all, it is well known his reaction to the exploit of the rear-engined Cooper-Climax. After being beaten at Monza by a car 100HP *weakier* than his, he had the race officers completely dismantle the winning car in the hope of finding something irregular and in following times, when asked why his team was the only one still using front-engined cars, he replied: *One does not put the oxen behind the cart*.
It is not a coincidence that a race-devoted marque (therefore theorically an innovation-driven company) like Ferrari is, never, ever invented anything about the car technology (to say it all, they probably are the only marque in car history to not having invented their own logo either, being it a gift by Francesco Baracca family).
Enzo one and only interest were the races. Production *street* cars were just a mean to finance races and he did not put great attention to them, so much so that Ferrari *street* cars during Enzo era enjoyed powerful engines but poor brakes, roadholding and reliability, all things ameliorated when he sold his company to Fiat under the provision that he maintained the direction of the racing team while Fiat took charge of the production cars.
Finally, if one reads current literature (expecially the Italian one), Enzo Ferrari myth is hypened so much that many things are entitled to him that he actually did not know, like or even want! |
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