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Enzo Ferrari
1898-1988
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Enzo Ferrari
One
of the greatest people ever.
Enzo
Ferrari was born on February 18 1898 in a town called Modena.
After having faught in World War I, in 1918, he became a test driver
in Turin.
He
made his racing debut in 1919 in the Parma-Berceto race
and he entered the Targa Florio that year too. In 1920 he started
racing for Alfa Romeo where he worked for/with for nearly 20 years.
His career there took him from test driver to race car driver to sales
assistant and finally to Director of the Alfa racing division until
1939.
In
1929
Enzo Ferrari founded Scuderia Ferrari in Modena, but back then it
was an engineering-racing division of Alfa Romeo. In 1940 Scuderia
Ferrari abandonned Alfa Romeo and transformed itself into an independent
company: "Auto Avio Construzioni Ferrari" which worked for the national
aviation company in Rome, Piaggio and RIV.
During World War II, in 1943,
Ferrari moved its workshop to Maranello and began to make powered
grinding machines for ball bearings. The workshop was bombed out in
1944 and rebuilt in 1946, when Ferrari started designing and building
the very first Ferrari.
In
the fifties
Ford tried to take over Ferrari, but, obviously, they didn't. They
started trying to beat Ferrari in racing, but they didn't do very
well with that either! Except for winning the Le Mans 24 hour race
one time when the Ferrari's entered in the race all had a problem
so the Fords finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd (not a very happy time!)
In 1960 the business was turned into
a joint stock company in which FIAT became a 50-50 partner in 1969.
(FIAT became the majority shareholder in 1988).
In
1963 Enzo Ferrari built his Instituto Professionale per
l'Industria e l'Artgianata, a training school in Maranello. In 1972
he built the Fiorano test track.
Enzo Ferrari was given several
awards by the Italian nation, such as:
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The Sporting merit award in 1924.
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Commendatore in 1927.
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Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1952.
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Honorary degree in mechanichal engineering
from Bologna university.
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Degree in physics from Modena University.
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Hammershjold Prize award from UN in 1962.
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Columbus Prize in 1965.
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Gold Medal from the Italian School of Art
and Culture in 1970.
---- De Gasperi
Award in 1987.
Under
Enzo Ferrari's leadership (from 1947-'88) Ferrari won over
5,000 races all over the world and earned 25 world titles.
He
died in Modena on August 14 1988.
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E - mail
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