Performance car hire UK  |
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Performance car hire UK Ferrari
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ENZO FERRARI, when he died in 1988, was one of the best known men in the world, a superstar. His fame, which was greater than politicians, movie stars or pop idols earning him the sobriquet 'Pope of the north', was created by his cars, after which everyone yearns but few can afford. To some he was know as 'that great agitator of men' for pushing engineers to design faster cars and for tempting drivers to go to the edge. It isn't necessarily a question of taste that precludes the female from adorning Ferrari's cars at Motor Shows; they really don't need it, it is as simple as that. Crowds form to gawk at one parked by the kerb, crowds surge against barriers at Motor Shows, the tifosi (the fans) throng the stands at motor races cheering their heroes on. To the tifosi Ferrari is a religion. Enzo Anselmo Ferrari, Dott. Ing., was born in 1898 in Modena, the son of a metal worker. One of his first jobs before the First World War intervened was as sports writer for La Gazzetta dello Sport. During the war he served in the 3rd Mountain Artillery as a farrier. Ill health predominated during this period of his life. After the war his obsession with cars began and whilst working in Milan with CMN (Construzione Mecchanicale Nazionale) he competed in his first motor races. Soon Enzo Ferrari was to join Alfa Romeo as a test driver and achieve a memorable 2nd place in the 1920 Targa Florio. Alfa Romeo team cars were run under the Scuderia Ferrari banner from 1930 to 1938 with great success. The 815, a sports car built by Auto Avio Construzione, Ferrari's own engineering company which was run from the Scuderia Ferrari headquarters in Modena, made one appearance before the Second World War brought racing to a standstill. War and racing have some common ground; brave drivers take huge risks and technical progress is spurred on by the need for survival. Ferrari moved to the village of Maranello a few miles out of Modena during the war but failed to avoid Allied bombs. In 1946 Ferrari hired Gioachino Colombo and together they realized Enzo's dream when the first V12 Ferrari racing car drove onto the track in 1947. The first road car, the 166, arrived in 1948 and it had a 2 litre V12 engine. Ever since then Ferrari road cars have been much sought after for their stunning performance, glamorous appearance and racing pedigree. THE FIRST cars sold by Ferrari for use on the road were directly evolved from racing cars. The 166 with a 2 litre V12 engine was itself derived from the 125 which was the first V12 to be made by Enzo Ferrari's new factory in Maranello. The Ferrari 166 V12 was built with a 60 degree V and a single overhead camshaft per bank operating inclined valves via roller rockers; the cam shafts were driven by chain from the seven main bearing crankshaft and all the main castings were in aluminium. The first 166 Inter was seen at the Turin Motor Show in 1948; it was a two-door coupe bodied by Touring. In May 1948 the Ferrari 166 berlinetta (a little saloon car) with coachwork by Allemano gave Clemente Biondetti his fourth, and Ferrari's first, Mille Miglia victory. The great road races of Europe were where Enzo Ferrari had been brought up, and one of his successes was second place in the Targa Florio of 1920. The Targa Florio was a dream race, 72 kilometres (45 miles) of country road on the north coast of Sicily with twisting mountain hairpins and narrow straights following the coast. It is hardly surprising that the main effort of Ferrari's new factory was directed towards winning these classic road races. From 1948 until 1957, when the Mille Miglia came to an abrupt halt, Ferrari won it eight times. One of the more remarkable Ferrari results came in the 1950 Mille Miglia when Giannino Marzotto, aged 22, brought the 195S home to victory wearing an immaculate blue suit. The Marzotto family owned a textile business among various other interests and no fewer than four brothers drove Ferraris in the Mille Miglia of 1950. The 166 seen at Turin in 1948 had a chassis made by GILCO, which had been developed by Gilberto Colombo (no relation of the Ferrari engine designer) and Ferrari from oval-section steel tubing in the form of two side members upswept at the back over the rear axle with internal cross braces. To this was attached independent suspension at thefront by upper and lower arms and a transverse leafspring. The Houdaille hydraulic shock absorbers formed the inner attachment points for the upper arms of the front suspension. The right-hand-drive steering was by worm and wheel and two short track rods and, at the rear, a rigid axle was suspended on semi-elliptical springs. A 5-speed gearbox was contained in an all-alloy ribbed casting and driven by a single plate clutch. Borani disc wheels with alloy rims and hub caps with Ferrari letters stamped on them Ferrari does not make car bodies at Maranello and never has. The Scaglietti works in Modena, now wholly owned by Ferrari, and Pininfarina in Turin do all the current coachwork. (Pinin Farina is the man who gave his name to the company which subsequently changed its name to Pininfarina in the late 1950s). The 166 and 195 bodies were built by the leading specialists which included Touring, Vignale, Ghia, Bertone and Allemano, all of whom were (or still are) based in the industrial north of Italy.
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