How Ferrari almost died before it really started
In the first part of a new series celebrating Ferrari's 70th birthday, F1 Racing examines the team's pre-war origins and Enzo Ferrari's struggle to keep his fledgling company in the game. Words: Damien Smith
When exactly did it begin, this mysticism, this magic? There must have been a time when Ferrari - yes, even Ferrari - was just another racing team and car constructor. But at what point did the legend take root? Whenever it was - be it early in Alberto Ascari's pomp, or perhaps later when John Surtees was the anointed one, but surely earlier than Niki Lauda's brash era - it would have been the racing cars that sowed the fertile seed.
Enzo Ferrari never really cared about the road cars he built, not in the way he lived and breathed for the racing machines that bore his name. After all, going racing was all he had ever wanted.
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