Information AboutFerrari |
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Ferrari is an Italian automotive manufacturer in the Formula One World Championship , also involved in high-end and high-performance Race Car s, Supercars , and Sports Car s. The company was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 . At first, ''' Scuderia Ferrari ''' sponsored drivers and manufactured racecars; the company went into independent car production in 1946 , eventually became '''Ferrari S.p.A. ''', and is now controlled by the Fiat group. The company is based in Maranello , near Modena , Italy . HISTORY See also: ::'' Enzo Ferrari for the founder's life story'' ::'' History Of Ferrari for details on the Ferrari automobile company'' ::'' Scuderia Ferrari for further history of the Ferrari racing team'' 1929-1946 Enzo Ferrari never intended to produce road cars when he formed ''Scuderia Ferrari'' in 1929 as a sponsor for amateur drivers headquartered in Modena. Ferrari prepared and successfully raced various drivers in Alfa Romeo cars until 1938 , when he was officially hired by Alfa as head of their racing department. In 1940 , upon learning of the company's plan to absorb his beloved ''Scuderia'' and take control of his racing efforts, he quit Alfa. Because he was prohibited by contract from racing for several years, the ''Scuderia'' briefly became Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari , which ostensibly produced machine tools and aircraft accessories. Also known as SEFAC Ferrari did in fact produce one racecar, the Tipo 815 , in the non-competition period; it was thus the first actual Ferrari car (it debuted at the 1940 Mille Miglia ), but due to World War II it saw little competition. In 1943 the Ferrari factory moved to Maranello, where it has remained ever since. The factory was bombed in 1944 and rebuilt in 1946 to include a works for road car production. Right up to ''Il Commendatore'''s death, this would remain little more than a source of funding for his first love, racing. "''Scuderia Ferrari''" literally means "Ferrari Stable" in keeping with the prancing horse emblem; the name is figuratively translated as "Team Ferrari." (It is correctly pronounced "skoo dee ''ry'' ah".) 1945-present The first Ferrari road car was the 1947 125 S , powered by a 1.5 L V12 engine; Enzo reluctantly built and sold his automobiles to fund the ''Scuderia''. While his beautiful and blazingly fast cars quickly gained a reputation for excellence, Enzo maintained a famous distaste for his customers, most of whom he felt were buying his cars for the prestige and not the performance. Ferrari road cars, noted for magnificent styling by design houses like Pininfarina , have long been one of the ultimate accessories for the rich. Other design houses that have done work for Ferrari over the years include Scaglietti , Bertone , Touring , Ghia , and Vignale . As of 2004 , FIAT owns 56% of Ferrari, Mediobanca 15%, Commerzbank 10%, Lehman Brothers 7%, and Enzo's son Piero Ferrari 10%. An interesting note, is that Ferrari maintains only one/1 official dealership in the world: FERRARI OF SAN FRANCISCO, now located in Mill Valley, CA U.S.A. just North of the Golden Gate Bridge. There is not even a factory dealership in Italy! RACING ''Main article: Scuderia Ferrari '' Enzo Ferrari 's true passion, despite his extensive road car business, was always auto racing. His Scuderia started as an independent sponsor for drivers in various cars, but soon became the Alfa Romeo in-house racing team. After Ferrari's departure from Alfa, he began to design and produce cars of his own; the Ferrari team first appeared on the European grand prix scene after the end of World War II . The Scuderia joined the , the team's records include fourteen World Drivers Championship titles ( 1952 , 1953 , 1956 , 1958 , 1961 , 1964 , 1975 , 1977 , 1979 , 2000 , 2001 , 2002 , 2003 and 2004 ), fourteen World Constructors Championship titles ( 1961 , 1964 , 1975 , 1976 , 1977 , 1979 , 1982 , 1983 , 1999 , 2000 , 2001 , 2002 , 2003 and 2004 ), 179 Grand Prix victories, 3445 and a half points, 544 podium finishes, 174 Pole Position s, 11,182 laps led, and 180 fastest laps in 1622 grands prix contested. Famous drivers include Tazio Nuvolari , Juan Manuel Fangio , Alberto Ascari , Phil Hill , Mike Hawthorn , John Surtees , Niki Lauda , Jody Scheckter , Gilles Villeneuve , Gerhard Berger , Nigel Mansell , Alain Prost , Jean Alesi and Michael Schumacher . THE "CAVALLINO RAMPANTE" The famous symbol of the Ferrari race team is a black prancing Horse on yellow shield-shaped background, usually with the letters ''S F'' for ''Scuderia Ferrari'', and with three stripes of the Italian national colors green-white-red on top. The road cars have a rectangular badge on the bonnet (see picture above). Curiously, a similar black horse on a yellow shield is the Coat Of Arms of the German city of Stuttgart . This name is derived from ''Stutengarten'', an ancient form of the modern German word ''Gestüt'', which translates into English as ''stud farm'' and into Italian as ''scuderia''. Stuttgart, called ''Stoccarda'' by the Italians, is the home of Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari's rival Porsche , which also uses the Stuttgart sign in its corporate logo, centred in the emblem of the state of Württemberg just like the city is placed within the state. Enzo Ferrari met these competitors many times since the 1920s while competing for Alfa . , Germany]] On June 17 , 1923 , Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna where he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Count Francesco Baracca , a legendary ''asso'' (ace) of the Italian Air Force and national hero during World War I , who used to paint a horse on the side of his planes. The Countess asked Enzo to use this horse on his cars, suggesting that it would grant him good luck. Ferrari left the horse black as it had been on Baracca's plane; however, he added a Canary Yellow background as this is the color of the city of Modena , his birthplace. It has been supposed the choice of a horse was perhaps partly because his noble family was known for having many horses on their estates at Lugo di Romagna. Another theory suggests Baracca copied the rampant horse design from a shot-down German pilot who had the emblem of the city of Stuttgart on his plane. This is supported by the evidence Barraca's horse looks more similar to the one of Stuttgart (not changed since 1938) than the current Ferrari design, especially as the legs of the horses are concerned. Baracca using the Stuttgart horse from a shot-down plane ties in with the fact that his family owned many horses. Ferrari used the cavallino rampante on official company stationery beginning in 1929. The first race at which Alfa Romeo would let Ferrari use the horse on the Alfas entered by his Scuderia Ferrari won the Spa 24 Hours on July 9 , 1932 , which the Ferrari-led Alfa team won. Ever since, the cavallino was shown on the Alfas that were competing against the Silver Arrow s of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union , among others. The prancing horse has not always been uniquely identified with the Ferrari brand: Fabio Taglioni used it on his Ducati motorbikes. Taglioni's father was, in fact, a companion of Baracca's and fought with him in the 91st Air Squad. But, as Ferrari's fame grew, Ducati abandoned the horse; this may have been the result of a private agreement between the two brands. The prancing horse is now a s marked with a prancing horse logo which is nearly identical to Ferrari's. ROSSO CORSA Since the 1920s, Italian race cars of Alfa Romeo , Maserati and later Ferrari and Abarth were (and often still are) painted in "race red" (''Rosso Corsa''). This was the customary national racing colour of Italy, as recommended between the World Wars by the organisations that later would become the FIA . In that scheme, French cars like Bugatti were blue, German like BMW and Porsche white (since 1934 also Silver Arrows ), British Racing Green etc. The colour was not determined by the country the car was made in, nor by the nationality of the driver(s), but by the nationality of the team that entered the vehicle. For example, a yellow Ferrari 156 was entered and driven in the 1961 Belgian Grand Prix by Olivier Gendebien from Belgium , scoring 4th behind 3 other Ferrari 156 painted in red, as they were entered by the Scuderia Ferrari itself, but driven by Americans Phil Hill and Richie Ginther as well as German Wolfgang Von Trips . These national colours were mostly replaced by sponsor liveries since 1968, but unlike most other teams, Ferrari always kept the traditional red. The shade of the colour varies, though. Since 1996, the Ferrari F1 cars are said to be painted in a brighter, nearly orange red, in order to fit better to their tobacco sponsor. In recent years, these traditional colours have resurfaced in some cases, eg. the green Jaguar Racing in F1 as well as the blue on current Renault F1 cars, which was originally contributed by a tobacco sponsor. When BMW re-entered F1 in 2000, they also made sure that the cars of WilliamsF1 were painted white and blue. Curiously, Ferrari won the 1964 World championship with John Surtees by competing the last two races in cars painted white and blue, as these were not entered by the Italian factory themselves, but the US-based NART team. This was done as a protest concerning arguments between Ferrari and the Italian Racing Authorities regarding the homologation of a new mid-engined Ferrari race car. LIST OF MODELS Until the mid- 1990s , Ferrari followed a three-number naming scheme based on Engine Displacement :
Most Ferraris were also given designations referring to their body style. In general, the following conventions were used:
This naming system can be confusing, as some entirely different vehicles used the same engine type and body style. Many Ferraris also had other names affixed (like Daytona) to identify them further. Many such names are actually not official factory names. The Daytona name commemorates Ferrari's triple success in the February 1967 model run by N.A.R.T. (North American Racing Team, who raced Ferrari's in America) scored 2nd - behind a Porsche 911 . As well, the 250 GTO 's famous acronym, which means ''Gran Turismo Omologato'', was simply a name the Italian press gave the car which referred to the way Ferrari had, in a sense, avoided the rules and successfully homologated the car for racing purposes (Somehow, Ferrari had convinced the FIA , the 250 GTO was the same car as previous 250 's). This was probably to avoid confusion with the multiple 250 models produced before the GTO. The various Dino models were named for Enzo's son. In the mid 1990s, Ferrari added the letter "F" to the beginning of all models (a practice quickly abandoned after the F512M and F355 , but recently picked up again with the F430 ). Road models 's parking lot at the 2005 United States Grand Prix ]] Sports cars Ferrari's earliest models were pure sports cars, not the supercars we know today. Mid-engine V6/V8 Targa]] 's palace in Marbella , Spain featuring a Ferrari]] The Dino was the first mid-engined Ferrari. This layout would go on to be used in most Ferraris of the 1980s and 1990s. V6 and V8 Ferrari models make up well over half of the marque's total production.
2-seat Gran Turismo Ferrari quickly moved into the Gran Turismo market, and the bulk of the company's sales remain in this area.
Mid-engine 2+2 -bodied Dino 308 GT4 ]] For a time, Ferrari built 2+2 versions of its mid-engined V8 cars. Although they looked quite different from their 2-seat counterparts, both the GT4 and Mondial were very closely-related to the 308 GTB.
Front-engine 2+2 ]] The company has also produced front-engined 2+2 cars, culminating in the current 612 Scaglietti.
Mid-engine 12-cylinder Ferrari entered the mid-engined 12-cylinder fray with the Berlinetta Boxer in 1971. The later Testarossa remains one of the most famous Ferraris.
Supercars ]] The company's loftiest efforts have been in the Supercar market. Competition models Current Past collection]]
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