One hundred years. A century. At the Ebe Stignani Theater in Imola yesterday afternoon, between the first free practice session of the Doha GP and qualifying, the figure of Enzo Ferrari hovered. The “Savio 100” conference was the extraordinary opportunity to honor Drake’s first victory as a driver on 17 June 1923 at the wheel of the Alfa Romeo RL Targa Florio, on the Sant’Apollinare in Classe circuit in Ravenna and to remember the meeting of a very young Commendatore with Enrico Baracca, Francesco’s father, starting the compelling story of the “Prancing Horse”, symbol of the aviator who will move from the airplane to the Scuderia Ferrari cars with a new design.
Six important figures tell the story of King Enzo: his son Piero Ferrari, Gian Carlo Minardi, the journalist Pino Allievi, the writer Luca Dal Monte, the art critic Gian Luca Tusini and, connected from the Principality of Monaco (because he is suffering from COVID) Marco Little ones. The greatness of a gentleman driver who challenged the Alfa Romeo champions did not emerge, because the young Enzo immediately understood that, although he had good speed skills, he would not become an ace. He was aware that his passion for racing and cars would manifest itself in another way. First becoming team manager, then owner of the Scuderia Ferrari and, therefore, manufacturer of dream cars.
“Savio 100” conference on Enzo Ferrari at the Ebe Stignani Theater in Imola
Photo by: Franco Nugnes
It was as if speaking with the voices of the speakers, Enzo Ferrari hovered in the room, talking about himself in the third person. And the sketch that emerged of the character was an unusual picture, with brushstrokes that came from the recurring tales of the myth. But the soul of the visionary emerged, of the man who knew how to look to the future, without wallowing in the past. An entrepreneur with revolutionary ideas, well ahead of his time. The Prancing Horse on the reds had appeared at the 24 Hours of Spa on 9 July 1932 when the Alfa Romeo 8c 2300 MM of Brivio and Taruffi of Scuderia Ferrari won the Belgian endurance race. And since 1923, when the coat of arms was donated by the Baracca family, it had undergone several changes and evolutions, because Ferrari was aware that together with the red color of its cars, the Cavallino would become its brand of recognition.
The Enzo Ferrari who… appeared at the Ebe Stignani Theater was the precursor of many innovative ideas. The Scuderia concept was cutting-edge, as was the vision of the Cavallino as an extraordinary marketing tool for the recognition of its brand. But not only that: he had business acumen and defined himself as a ruthless administrator. “Not so much with his collaborators – Piccinini recalls – but with himself. He often told me that he didn’t want to end up like Bugatti, overwhelmed by his own passion for him. He knew how to set limits.”
“It’s very true – insists Piero Ferrari – right from the beginning there was rigorous accounting: it is possible to reconstruct the costs of every single element that made up a car down to the most insignificant detail. Not only that, but he learned lessons from his mistakes so as not to repeat them: in Ferrari Classiche I had found an area where the… horrors of many years of history had been collected.”
Marco Piccinini connected from the Principality of Monaco to the “Savio 100” conference
Photo by: Franco Nugnes
The image that emerged was that of the hard and gruff man: “No – continues Piccinini – he was only like that with those who weren’t loyal, with those who tried to be clever. If there was a problem he demanded that he talk about it immediately, because in two or three it would have been easier to resolve it”.
He rejected the label of a man-stirrer, but the Old Man knew where to find collaborators: “When he became a Manufacturer – says Pino Allievi – he didn’t just look at the automotive world. He went to find skills at Acciaierie Reggiane which at the time, among other things, made aircraft: he had chosen figures with aerodynamic skills, aware that his machines would have to have their own style and design”.
The Prancing Horse donated by the Baracca family to Enzo Ferrari
Photo by: Franco Nugnes
Ferrari’s foresight is also manifested in strategic choices: in a post-war Italy that had to roll up its sleeves and start again, Enzo had not thought about the means of transport that would allow him to move or go to work: “While we had seen the streets filled with Vespas , Lambretta and Cinquecento – underlines Luca Dal Monte – there were those who weren’t thinking of small cars but of cars with 12 cylinders!”.
And Gian Carlo Minardi at the end of the conference was keen to underline: “I met Ferrari on 26 November 1974 when I was called by Luca di Montezemolo who was his assistant at the time. He told me that the Engineer wanted to meet me and when I thought about making myself available to meet him, as if to make an appointment. I replied: ‘In an hour and a half I could be in Maranello’. And I went in the afternoon for a meeting that had lasted four and a half hours. He asked me lots of questions which I answered sincerely, while out of tension I smoked a pack of cigarettes one after the other. I didn’t know that smoking was prohibited in his office. I understood it, when at the end of the chat, Ferrari called Franco Gozzi and told him: ‘Tomorrow Minardi is coming to collect a 312T with which he will let the young Italian drivers race, if he stops smoking in my face’.
Piero Ferrari admires the copy of the Baracca family’s Prancing Horse that was given to him in Imola
Photo by: Franco Nugnes
A very interesting program was born… “Since Ferrari has always been a great precursor, I have a big regret – concludes Minardi – because Ferrari died in 1988 shortly after I entered F1, because, probably, there would have been that B team that he had in mind and which he had not had time to realise, anticipating concepts that we saw much later”.
Then, the bubble that magically took us out of time for an hour and a half suddenly dissolved. And the time has come for qualifying for the Qatar GP. But that was another story…
#Enzo #Ferrari #century #Cavallino #Savios #victory