Mauro Forghieri is one of the great protagonists of the book “Ferrari – In the heart of Formula 1”, the Rizzoli publication that can be found in all bookstores. Written by colleague James Allen, it is enriched by the extraordinary images taken from the archive of Motorsport Images by two masters of photography, such as Ercole Colombo and Rainer Schlegenmilch.
We met Mauro with James last summer at the Lo Smeraldo restaurant in Maranello and what was supposed to be a lunch with his wife Elisabetta and trusted friend Rossano Candrini turned into a river conversation, in which different points of the experience were touched upon of Forghieri at Ferrari. We would never see him again.
The memory of Ferrari for Mauro Forghieri
Photo by: Ferrari
Surprise passed away on November 2 in his sleep. He was 87 years old, but still on that hot day he displayed the mental vivacity that characterized his genius. Designer of chassis, engines and gearboxes, not only for F1, but also for Prototypes and GTs, but also a stirrer of souls especially in the management of the drivers.
Mauro Forghieri
Photo by: Motorsport Images
We offer you a first block of an exciting story, from which the character of the “Furia” emerges. The analysis on the pilots, we will propose it to you soon…
What does Ferrari represent for you?
“It means my life. I began to suffer for Ferrari when I was a boy. My father was one of the men who, together with Enzo Ferrari and two other people, had built a car before the war and left it there. When the conflict was over they pulled her out”.
What was your first meeting with Enzo?
“I was a child. I remember she had given me a… blow her. And I haven’t forgotten her because she bothered me. I was about to say something to him but someone stopped me: because when you’re a boy it’s a mess: if you don’t control yourself, you feel like destroying everything. A war could have arisen, but luckily they stopped me. And I also said thank you, while inside of me I thought God cursed him”.
What was your first professional meeting instead?
“It was an extremely tasty thing, because I didn’t expect the call.”
Mauro Forghieri and Enzo Ferrari with Chris Amon
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Ferrari was in trouble because in 1961 he had sidelined the entire leadership of the team…
“They were great, also because they were very good. I found myself managing a situation that was previously followed by seven or eight people and I, on the other hand, found myself doing everything by myself. They were moments full of necessity but also of humanity, because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do what I wanted. However, these are things that I am pleased to remember ”.
You designed the car and the engine, something unthinkable today, and you often had the management of the team on the track…
“He was capable of putting you in very particular situations and he was good at it. When you were there you had to get busy and with Enzo you did, and how. Today, looking back, I wouldn’t do some things again: I’ve done all sorts of things. I knew how to immerse myself without regard in what his world was and I became part of that ”.
But how long did you have to enter that world?
“How long did it take me? Enzo knew how to put me at ease. No, he was much more: he made me understand that he was with me at all times and he would stay there until the end. He fulfilled what he promised me. And he also let me know when he was going to die too.” Chills for everyone around the table which has suddenly gone silent. They didn’t even bang the cutlery.
Mauro Forghieri in Monza talks to Enzo Ferrari after a test
Photo by: David Phipps
Ferrari as it was in the winning moments and in the defeats?
“He was better in difficult moments, because he knew that only he, by showing that he was calm, that he accepted things, could give the team the fire it needed to bounce back. He knew how to do it. I’m not just saying that. He wasn’t a man who forgave defeats and didn’t fret over victories. He was always the same. But he put you in a position to come out of defeats, because winning was normal for him. After a success he was able to ask if the trucks had had to go a long way or if they had consumed a lot. Let’s say that he was very sensitive to money… ”.
Knowing how to manage resources was one of his strengths…
“He knew how to do it”.
Cars and racing were in his DNA…
“Anything that had four wheels had an incredible feel to him. Even the carts. I remember him one time he went to see the downhill soap box race. When the kids saw that Enzo Ferrari was there, I won’t tell you what they did: many thought: ‘If he notices me maybe he’ll take me as a driver’. And so twenty of them descended all together. Total chaos!”
You have also worked on extraordinary road-going Gran Turismos…
“Thinking up a Ferrari was difficult, but making it successful was very easy, it was enough to write Ferrari: it was enough, believe me. For a designer it was really ideal. You didn’t make much effort: having defined the mechanics and the four wheels, above… we dropped a sheet of metal and that became a Ferrari”.
“They were all wonderful, even if some sucked. We were told the aerodynamic line was perfect. We actually had fearful resistances to advance. I can say? “We had a lot… luck, let’s put it this way”.
You were a small group… When you said Engineer, you can’t do F1 and Sports, F2 and climbs, you have to go on only one thing, because you worked miracles…
“Yes, but if it was up to him, he would have demanded that we also do downhill races, even against the boys’ big carts”.
What is your favorite F1?
“The 312T. I think that’s normal, because generation T has had a development across multiple leagues. It was a logical, natural job”.
Ferrari 330 P4 (1967)
Photo by: Ferrari
And in the prototypes?
“My car was the P4. Those who loved Ferrari and saw the P4 enjoyed it, but I never understood why. Was there a reason? Was it just aesthetics? No, I don’t think so, there wasn’t just aesthetics, there were important technical contents”.
It was revived today and still looks very modern…
“There were contents of aesthetics, efficiency, and if I may say… sympathy. He liked it”.
Thompson’s 312 B3 made in the UK in 1973 was a failure and Ferrari asked you to clean up F1…
“The inspiration for the cantilever wing came from looking at an old, yellowed book that contained German record cars from the 1930s. There were drawings a few centimeters large that showed the various evolutions of those monsters. The last one had a cantilevered aileron…”.
“Indeed, the best ideas I developed came out of that publication. It was a book that you read but it didn’t take away from the pleasure of discovering things, because it pushed you to delve into concepts and, therefore, I enjoyed it: from the drawings and photos you could get everything you needed if you knew how to grasp the indications”.
Well, that’s no small thing when you consider everything that came out of it…
“Yes, the best cars inspired me”.
Ferrari 312 B3 “snow plow”
Photo by: Franco Nugnes
The F1s were torpedoes, then there was a radical change with the “snowplow” that preceded the B3. Have you thought of an F1 with a bottom: why?
“It’s a discovery I made in the Mercedes wind tunnel in Germany, where a district of Stuttgart was shut down at night, because they cut off power to a part of the city to have enough electricity to move the air in the wind tunnel at certain speeds”.
And what did you find out?
“That the F1 model didn’t produce much downforce compared to the Sport one. Instead of making a torpedo F1, I let myself be convinced by the numbers I saw and then the 1973 B3 and then the 312T were born”.
Niki Lauda, Ferrari 312T
Photo by: Hercules Columbus
The news, therefore, you have to go looking for…
“You have to look at others, for God’s sake, because intelligent people who have done beautiful things look at them and get a background to work from. In your project there will always be a little bit of all the others, but if you want to overcome them you have to put your own into it”.
His wife Elisabetta intervenes: “Mauro continued to study in the bathroom, where he always had a pile of books that were in English and in many different languages. They often came from Russia.” Russian books in the bathroom?
“The books on the automobile that are written in countries that have less automotive culture are the best, because they are not satisfied with looking at the car as a whole, but analyze it in all its details and in the most refined way possible. They know how to appreciate art and put their soul into telling it”.
“In certain African tribes, if you bring a beautiful picture you see these people who know how to enjoy beauty, because they don’t know how to hold back, they are pure. Among the educated, on the other hand, there is not the same amazement, because they are used to a certain value and maybe they immediately talk about the price”.
Mauro Forghieri adjusts the rear wing of Clay Regazzoni’s Ferrari 312B
Photo by: Motorsport Images
What idea are you most proud of?
“If I say the aileron am I saying something stupid? If there was one thing that hurt F1, it’s the spoilers, because they took away a lot from what was once the driver’s ability. They raised the limit of the car and if one driver got there first, then there were thirty. The spoiler did this: it reduced the driving qualities…”.
It’s your fault?
“Yes. It has allowed drivers who could never ride at the highest level to be almost champions. Without a winger myself, I wouldn’t have been able to shoot in Modena when I was a kid.”
Have you ever driven one of your single-seaters?
“Yes, at Brands Hatch. When I arrived at Druids I felt satisfied. I drove the 312 T2: it was a decent car and I immediately got on well. And when a car was strong at Brands Hatch it could win anywhere.”
Part one – continue
#latest #Forghieri #Ferrari #life