There is an image that is worth everything. Which contains the pride of #beingferrari as they say today in Maranello. And it is the photo of the 499P that has just crossed the finish line triumphing at Le Mans: a car full of oil, grease, dirt of all kinds because on its skin it bears the (beautiful) signs of a battle that lasted 24 hours. Despite the adrenaline, the euphoria of the victory, the uncontainable joy and the tiredness, the first thing at Ferrari – before even putting the car in the pits – was to clean the emblem on the 499P. An act of love for something that is more than a logo.
In fact, to understand Ferrari, its championship is enough. The prancing horse is a symbol of war, a graphic element of aggression and violence: it was on the plane of a hero (Francesco Baracca) because all pilots had to behave like him. The yellow background, that of the city of Modena, well represents Ferrari’s attachment to his land, while the tricolor flag clarifies, if it were still needed, that for Enzo Ferrari his cars identified with Italy .
And seeing the 499P with the badge cleaned by a loving hand on the French track brings to mind the famous «Ferrari, put my son’s prancing horse on your cars. He will bring her luck.” The words with which Countess Paolina Baracca, the mother of the famous aviator who fell on Montello, gave Enzo Ferrari the coat of arms of her son.
Seeing that clean emblem recalls the Commendatore’s idea of the fact that bringing back on the bodywork of his cars that little horse that stood out on the fuselage of Francesco Baracca’s plane, as well as being a good luck charm, constituted an ideal connection between his racing cars and those of war. Both vehicles had to fight with the enemy, both had to win by force.
The Scuderia Ferrari emblem first appeared in 1929 on all the Company’s publications, insignia and letterheads, but not on the cars. At the time, in fact, the racing cars belonged to Alfa Romeo which in turn had its own sporting emblem: the green four-leaf clover mounted on a white triangle so as to stand out against the red bodywork of the cars.
To see the emblem with the prancing horse on the cars we had to wait until 9 and 10 July 1932. In those days, in fact, the famous 24 Hours of Spa took place, at the time one of the most important competitions in the world. The prancing horse brought luck: the grueling race was won by the Alfa of Taruffi and D’Ippolito followed by that of Siena and Brivio. A triumph that was followed by many others, all obtained with the “Ferrari emblem”.
The little horse was now in the heart of the Drake. And for its official debut on the 125, the first Red ever produced, Ferrari entrusted the design to the Technical Office of its factory and the construction to the Castelli and Gerosa firms of Milan and Cristiglio of Bologna: on the day of the first race outing of a Ferrari, Franco Cortese’s 125 on the Piacenza circuit on 11 May 1947, the little horse was in great shape, ready to remain unchanged on every Rossa. Up to that of the 499P which triumphed at Le Mans. And clean with pride as soon as possible.
#Ferrari #Pride #FormulaPassion.it
