Enzo's dream

It is often claimed that certain passions are ingrained in an individual's DNA from a very young age, possibly within the first decade of life. These passions may lie dormant for years, yet they often resurface over time and shape one's very being. This phenomenon is common among racing drivers, including Scuderia Ferrari's standard bearer, Charles Leclerc, who first took to karting at the age of three, secured by a rope to his father Hervé's kart.

Enzo Ferrari was many things – a racing driver, a team principal, a visionary and a dreamer. But ultimately, he created the DNA of Ferrari’s glorious racing legacy

For Enzo Ferrari, the experience was not so dissimilar. His passion for motorsport was ignited when his father, Alfredo, took him and his brother to watch the 1908 Coppa Florio, a race held in Bologna. Enzo's life was forever changed. While his academic performance was far from outstanding, his creativity and practical abilities in his father's workshop turned out to be exceptional.

Working in mechanics only fuelled his passion for powerful things – cars, trucks and sundry other vehicles – that could augment human capabilities and enable ever more ambitious achievements.

The First World War served to refine and streamline the processes of motor vehicle manufacturing, so motorsport received a decisive push from the war, leading to the huge increase in its popularity. This also played a crucial role in making Enzo's dream a reality – the dream that was conceived from a passion ignited a decade before. In 1919, at the tender age of 21, Enzo found himself on the racetrack, competing in his first race. He was behind the wheel of a CMN car, constructed by Ugo Sivocci in Milan, where he had been hired as a test driver.

Enzo, Antonio Ascari and Vincenzo Florio in the Alfa Romeo pits celebrating Giulio Masetti's second place at the 1924 Targa Florio

The following year, he competed in several races driving an Isotta Fraschini; however, it was at the controls of an Alfa Romeo that Enzo secured his most impressive results, clinching category wins at the Targa Florio, Gallarate, Mugello, and Aosta. In 1923, he also took his first overall victory, a triumph that was set to alter the course of events irreversibly.

After the win at the Circuito del Savio in 1923, he had the chance to meet Count Baracca (father of the heroic World War I pilot Francesco Baracca), who later introduced Enzo to his wife, Countess Paolina Baracca. According to Enzo's own account, it was Paolina who suggested he use the prancing horse emblem on his cars, copying the symbol that Francesco had emblazoned on his aeroplane. “It will bring you good fortune,” she said to him. And indeed, it did.

Enzo testing a 15-20 CV CMN racing car at the 1919 Targa Florio with mechanic Nino Berretta in the passenger seat

Only a deep love could put the brakes on Enzo’s racing passion – and that love was called Dino, his eldest son. When Dino was born, Enzo retired from racing after securing second place on 9 August 1931 at the Circuito delle Tre Province, a course straddling Bologna, Pistoia and Modena.

From 1932, Enzo Ferrari channelled his passion for driving into his own sporting enterprise: Scuderia Ferrari. First established in 1929, the team started to adorn the Alfa Romeos it fielded with the prancing horse emblem from 1932. Racing therefore remained Enzo’s top priority – only his outlook on the sport had shifted.

Enzo at the start of the 1923 Targa Florio in an Alfa Romeo RL

Throughout Enzo’s lifetime every driver behind the wheel of his cars, in both Formula 1 and endurance racing, was personally handpicked by him. Demonstrating remarkable judgement – as in the cases of Niki Lauda and Gilles Villeneuve, to name just two – Enzo’s level of insight could only have come from someone with genuine racing experience.

Cover image: Enzo and his mechanic Nino Berretta in a 15-20 CV CMN racing car on the route of the 1919 Targa Florio