Did Ferrari ever leave Italy?

He has left Italy before going to different races all over europe like Germany and other places.

 

Of course there is this famous story that Enzo finally made it to the official Alfa Romeo racing team as a driver (as my memory serves me correct, for the French GP, therefore in France!) and after practising suddenly quit the team....

 

MAY HAVE GONE TO OTHER COUNTRIES TO VISIT HIS MISTRESSES

 

He never bothered to visit the US.

 

Actually, I have been told he vacationed in the Florida Keys on a friends yaught several times. He also did travel through Europe to the GP races before his son died. It was really only after his son died that he stopped going to the races and as he got older he stopped travelling at all. I would be surprised if he had left the Modena area after the early 1970s or so. Im sure wherever he went a mistress was in tow!


Terry

 

Enzo rarely ventured far from Modena in his later years,everyone came to him!
although it seemed he was a prisoner of his own kingdom often mis-informed on important issues like driver performances,design flaws and often the truth
nor did he attend the races his cars where winning,especially after the death of his son Dino.He stated in his memoirs that "I do not go to the track to watch my cars in action as to watch them come to life and die-because they always die in a race- is unbearable"......

theres been so many books and videos that show the cars and past history with dated material and bland pictures,but so few people really understand how this man,and this company affected motor racing,and the entire automotive world.Thanks to the assistance of our tifosi friends worldwide we're in the process of producing a documentary on Ferrari and will be filming many of the cars and people involved with Ferrrari at Monterey/Pebble Beach with a release date for the dvd in time for the holidays.

 

Wasn't Giles his favorite driver?
Can somebody post Schumi's quotes about his relationship/discussions with Enzo?

 

Guy Moll may have been his favorite driver, he certainly held him in very high esteem.... until he was killed. Enzo looked upon Nuvolari as the ultimate in skill and daring. Tazio was the measure by which others were compared... Gilles was one of very few who really endeared themselves to Enzo.

Enzo respected drivers he felt gave it their all no matter what. Still, the fact that he respected them doesnt mean he didnt manipulate and use them. He was a master manipulator.

Despite the romantic sounding rhetoric about his cars being his children and him not being able to bear to see the abuse a race heaped on them blaaa blaaaaaa blaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, lots of folks interviewed by Brock Yates for his biography said Enzo really didnt give a damn about the cars. Enzo was not really a "car guy". He cared about winning. The cars were just tools to be used in achieving Victory. It was the winning and the dominance and prestige associated with winning that drove Enzo. He didnt attend the races because he didnt care about watching the race, just whether they won or not. Not how they won, by what margin or which driver.... just winning.

Dont forget, Enzo was more than willing to sell the street car end of his business to Ford in '63. It was the racing team he wanted control over and that proved the sticking point that killed the deal. In '69 he did sell the street car division to FIAT. Enzo viewed the entire street car division from the beginning as a necessary evil required to fund the racing. With most car companies its "Win on Sunday to sell on Monday". Not with Ferrari. It was "Sell on Friday to Win on Sunday". If Enzo could have fully funded the racing team without selling any street cars.... we wouldnt have all these wonderul '50s and '60s street Ferraris today!

I highly recommend Yates book. Its honest and shows a warts and all person. I for one think the story is even better when you see how flawed an individual Enzo really was.

I highly doubt that Michael ever met Enzo. The old man died about 3 years before Michaels first F1 race and 8 years before he joined Ferrari. Not only that, but during Enzos last couple of years he was an invalid and wasnt meeting drivers and such too much.


Terry

 

I heard he was scare sh1tless of airplanes and thats one of the major reasons as to why he didn't travel.

 

I have always wondered, did Enzo speak English? I have read he spoke Italian and I believe French, but I don't think that I have ever read that he spoke english.

 

The Yates book is one of the few books that contains accurate albeit a less than flattering view of Enzo's style,as described in an earlier post a master manipulator.After shunning Fords offer the following year when it was obvious Shelby's Cora cars could win the 1964 sports car title at the final race in Monza Enzo used his political juice to twart Fords winning by having cancelled
which was a real slap to Shelby especially since he had driven Ferrari cars in the past and often visited Ferrari in the 50's.shelby stated,there was nothing too dirty or underhanded if it meant winning.
Ford got even by throwing open the money vault for whatever and whoever Shelby needed for his GT40 program humiliating Ferrari at LeMans several times over.

In his autobiorgraphy many drivers were praised for the glory such as Moll,BrooksNuvolari others scathed like Gendenbein and Fangio.Chris Amon mentioned that after finishing 6th in rain soaked conditions his return greeting from Enzo stated was "i feel like the duke of modena" hinting that Amons effort was less than expected as the duke "refused to battle in foul weather"

he describes world champ Phil Hill as "not a first rate racer,but dependable and profitable",and after Luigi Chinetti's salesmanship the sales network he built virtually kept the entire Ferrari train moving along,Enzo notes only his 3 Lemans victory and the fact he sold cars in north america less than a full paragraph.Enzo definately could be cruel at times but more sensitive than he could ever allow anyone to witness.....like most men