Biography of Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Anselmo Ferrari (February 18, 1898 - August 14, 1988) was the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari car manufacturer.

Born in Modena, Enzo Ferrari grew up with little formal education but a strong desire to race cars. During World War I he was a mule-skinner in the Italian Army. His father, Alfredo, died in 1916 as a result of a widespread Italian flu outbreak. Enzo became sick himself and was consequently discharged from Italian service. Upon returning home he found that the family firm had collapsed. Having no other job prospects he sought unsuccessfully to find work at Fiat and eventually settled for a job at a smaller car company called CMN redesigning used truck bodies into small passenger cars. He took up racing in 1919 on the CMN team, but had little initial success.

He left CMN in 1920 to work at Alfa Romeo and racing their cars in local races he had more success. In 1923, racing in Ravenna, he acquired the Prancing Horse badge which decorated the fuselage of Francesco Baracca's (Italy's leading ace of WWI) SPAD fighter, given from his mother, taken from the wreckage of the plane after his mysterious death. This icon would have to wait until 1932 to be plastered on a racing car. In 1924 he won the Coppa Acerbo at Pescara. His successes in local races encouraged Alfa to offer him a chance of much more prestigious competition and he was lauded by Mussolini. Ferrari turned this opportunity down and in something of a funk he did not race again until 1927 and even then his racing career was mostly over. He continued to work directly for Alfa Romeo until 1929 before starting Scuderia Ferrari as the racing team for Alfa.

Ferrari managed the development of the factory Alfa cars, and built up a team of over forty drivers, including Giuseppe Campari and Tazio Nuvolari. Ferrari himself continued racing until the birth of his first son in 1932 (Alfredo Ferrari, known as Dino, who died in 1956).
The support of Alfa Romeo lasted until 1933 when financial constraints made Alfa withdraw. Only at the intervention of Pirelli did Ferrari receive any cars at all. Despite the quality of the Scuderia drivers the company won few victories (1935 in Germany by Nuvolari was a notable exception). Auto Union and Mercedes dominated the era.

In 1937 Alfa took control of its racing efforts again, reducing Ferrari to Director of Sports under Alfa's engineering director. Ferrari soon left, but a contract clause restricted him from racing or designing for four years.

He set up Auto-Avio Costruzioni, a company supplying parts to other racing teams. But in the Mille Miglia of 1940 the company manufactured two cars to compete, driven by Alberto Ascari and Lotario Rangoni. During World War II his firm was involved in war production and following bombing relocated from Modena to Maranello. It was not until after World War II that Ferrari sought to shed his fascist reputation and make cars bearing his name, founding today's Ferrari S.p. A. in 1945.

The first open-wheeled race was in Turin in 1948 and the first victory came later in the year in Lago di Garda. Ferrari participated in the Formula 1 World Championship since its introduction in 1950 but the first victory was not until the British Grand Prix of 1951. The first championship came in 1952-53, when the Formula One season was raced with Formula Two cars. The company also sold production sports cars in order to finance the racing endeavours not only in Grand Prix but also in events such as the Mille Miglia and Le Mans. Indeed many of the firm's greatest victories came at Le Mans (14 victories, including six in a row 1960-65) rather than in Grand Prix, certainly the company was more involved there than in Formula One during the 1950s and 1960s despite the successes of Juan-Manuel Fangio (1956), Mike Hawthorn (1958), Phil Hill (1961) and John Surtees (1964).

In the 1960s the problems of reduced demand and inadequate financing forced Ferrari to allow Fiat to take a stake in the company. Ferrari had offered Ford the opportunity to buy the firm in 1963 for US$18 million but, late in negotiations, Ferrari withdrew. This decision triggered the Ford Motor Company's decision to launch a serious European sports car racing program. The company became joint-stock and Fiat took a small share in 1965 and then in 1969 they increased their holding to 50% of the company. (In 1988 Fiat's holding was increased to 90%).
Ferrari remained managing director until 1971. Despite stepping down he remained an influence over the firm until his death. The input of Fiat took some time to have effect. It was not until 1975 with Niki Lauda that the firm won any championships — the skill of the driver and the ability of the engine overcoming the deficiencies of the chassis and aerodynamics. But after those successes and the promise of Jody Scheckter title in 1979, the company's Formula One championship hopes fell into the doldrums. 1982 opened with a strong car, the 126C2, world-class drivers, and promising results in the early races.

However, Gilles Villeneuve was killed in the 126C2 in May, and teammate Didier Pironi had his career cut short in a violent end over end flip on the misty backstraight at Hockenheim in August. Pironi was leading the driver's championship at the time; he would lose the lead as he sat out the remaining races. The team would not see championship glory again during Ferrari's lifetime.

Enzo Ferrari died in Modena in 1988 at the age of 90 at the beginning of the dominance of the McLaren Honda combination. The only race which McLaren did not win in 1988 was the Italian Grand Prix - this was held just weeks after Enzo's death, and, fittingly, the result was a 1-2 finish for Ferrari, with Gerhard Berger leading home Michele Alboreto. After Enzo's death, the Scuderia Ferrari team has had further success, notably with Michael Schumacher from 1996-2006. He witnessed the launch of the one of the greatest road cars the Ferrari F40 shortly before his death, which was dedicated as a symbol of his achievements. In 2003 the first car to be named after him was launched in the Enzo Ferrari.

Made a Cavaliere del Lavoro in 1952, to add to his honours of Cavaliere and Commendatore in the 1920s, Enzo also received a number of honorary degrees, the Hammarskjöld Prize in 1962, the Columbus Prize in 1965, and the De Gasperi Award in 1987. In 1994, he was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Enzo famously used purple ink in his fountain pen, although the reason for this remains unclear.

After the death of his son, Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari, Enzo wore sunglasses just about every day to honor his son.

History of Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari was born on February 18, 1898 near Modena, Italy. When he was 10 his father took him to an automobile race in Bologna. After attending a number of other races, he decided he wanted to become a racing car driver.

While working at a small carmaker involved with converting war surplus, Ferrari took up racing. In 1919 he finished ninth at the Targa Florio. He ended up landing a job with Alfa Romeo and drove a modified production car in the 1920 Targa Florio. Ferrario managed to finish second.

In 1923 while racing at the Circuit of Sivocci at Ravenna he was approached by Count Enrico and Countess Paolina Baracca, the parents of the heroic Italian pilot Francesco Baracca. Francesco was known as the Italian ace of aces. He died on Mount Montello during the war. His parents gave Ferrari their son's squadron badge, which was the famous prancing horse on a yellow shield.

Enzo Ferrari was connected with Alfa Romeo for many years, however, he built only a few sports cars bearing his name and his famous prancing horse badge. In 1929 Enzo formed the Scuderia Ferrari with the aim of organizing racing for members. The Scuderia Ferrari team competed in 22 events and scored 8 victories and several good placings.

In 1940 Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo and started a new company Auto-Avio Costruzioni Ferrari. During World War II the Ferrari workshop moved from Modena to Maranello. The workshop became a victim of the war in 1944 - it was leveled by bombs. A year after the war in 1946 the shop was rebuilt and work began on the first ever Ferrari motorcar, the 125 Sport. This car started a grand tradition of winning for Ferrari. Since it's first race in 1947, Ferrari's have had over 5,000 successes on race tracks around the globe.

In 1969 Enzo Ferrari sold 50% of Ferrari's share capital to the Fiat group. That figure grew to 90% in 1988. Enzo Ferrari died at the age of 90 in Modena on August 14, 1988.

History of Lotus (1950s)

Colin Chapman (1928 - 1981), started his business as a racing car tuner. When he was still studying engineering in university, he bought an old Austin 7 and tuned it to race. Perhaps he was a man born to win, his first attempt rewarded by winning a few small races. In 1951, while he had graduated, his third car, Mk 3, stormed the 750cc formula class. Unlike other cars in this class, it used spaceframe tubes in construction so that rigidity and lightness out-performed others. Many other teams queued to buy this car and the Lotus Engineering Company was established in 1952. Since then Chapman began his full time automotive engineering career.
Obviously, Chapman is a pure racing car engineer heart and bone. To fund his ambitious racing project, he started building road cars. In 1957, the Mk 6 race car was transformed to the first-ever Lotus road car - Mk 7. The car is renowned for lightness and good handling. It is still building by Caterham today under license. At the same year he unveiled the Elite which employed a revolutionary composite monocoque body.

History of Maserati

On December 14, 1914 a new company was born in Bologna, Societเ Anonima Officine Alfieri Maserati. The Maserati brothers: Carlo (1881), Bindo (1883), Alfieri (1887), Mario (1890), Ettore (1894) and Ernesto (1898) with exception of Mario, who turned his creative vocation towards painting, they all became involved in engineering. Alfieri decided to start a company and rented a garage on the Via de Pepoli in Bologna. Not long after that, his brothers Ettore and Ernesto came working in the workshop.

In 1926 they developed and built their first car, a two-seater racecar. The engine was an 8 cylinder in line with a 1.5 litre supercharged displacement the engine developed a 120 bhp at 5300 rpm. Above the radiator a badge presented a trident that evoked bologna's famous statue of Neptune. This badge was designed by Mario. On its debut in the Targa Florio on April 25, 1926 it became first in its class.

In 1929 Baconin Borzacchini set a new 3.5 litre world speed record in a Maserati V4, a very extreme car with a V16 engine. This engine was actually two tipo 26 engines coupled together.

On march the 3rd 1932, Alfieri died on the age of 44 year. From that time Bindo got into business with his two brothers.

In 1933 Maserati was the first European manufactory to introduce hydraulic brakes on his race cars. That year Maserati achieved three grand prix victories, the grand prix of France, Belgium and Nice.

Maserati was taken over by the Orsi family in 1937. The brothers got a contract to work for another 10 years.

Wilbur Shaw won the Indianapolis 500 with a Maserati 8CTF in 1939. Maserati is the only Italian constructor to win this legendary race until today. By the end of the year Maserati moved to its present home on Viale Ciro Menotti in Modena.

For the second time Wilbur Shaw won the Indianapolis 500 in 1940. During world war II Maserati produced batteries, sparkplugs and trucks.

The first sports car was launched during the Geneva motor show in march 1947. It was the A6 which was designed by Pininfarina.

1957 Maserati wins the world tittle with the 250F and Juan Manual Fangio behind the steering wheel. At the end of the race season Maserati officially retires from racing. From that moment on they were concentrating on road cars. The 3500 GT was the first mass-produced gran tourismo. Carrozzeria Touring from Milan was responsible for the bodywork.

In 1959 they build a car for the Shah of Persia, that was the 5000 GT Touring version. This car was followed by several other models, as the Sebring ( 63-72 ), Quatroporte and Mistral ( 63-70 ), the Mexico ( 66-72 ), Ghibli ( 66-70 ) and the Indy ( 69-76 ).

The Orsi family sold Maserati to Citro๋n in 1968. They were primarily interested in acquiring its engine know how For their SM coup้. In this period the Bora ( 71-79 ), Merak ( 72-83 ) and the Quatroporte II were born. There were only five Quatroportes II build.

The Bertone styled Khamsin saw the light in 1973. This was a very sharply cut, streamlined coup้. Sales were going bad by the oil crisis.

Citro๋n pulled out on 23rd of May 1975, and Alejandro De Tomaso and GEPI came on 8th of August to rescue.

In the spring of '76 Maserati already had a "new" coup้, derived from the De Tomaso Longschamps. At the Turin motor show the Quatroporte III was presented.

From 1981 until 1993 they produced several Biturbo models, 6 and 8 cylinder, coupes, spyders and saloons. On the 19th of May 1993 Fiat auto purchased the complete share package. In July 1998 Ferrari acquires the control of Maserati, and the management closed the factory to modernize the production.

At the salon de L'automobile in Paris they introduced the very successful 3200 GT, the first car produced under the Ferrari management.

By the end of 2000 the factory introduced the Officine Alfieri Maserati program, to individualize your 3200 GT and ItalDesign presented a new prototype, the Buran.There are no plans to produce this car.

Tip & Warning of How to Fix Cars Air Condition

Tips
1. If you suspect bad wiring, most compressors have a wire leading to the electric clutch. Find the connector in the middle of that wire, and unplug it. Take a length of wire and run it from the compressor's wire to the plus (+) side of your battery. If you hear a loud CLACK, the electric clutch is fine and you should check the car's wiring and fuses. If you get nothing, the electric clutch is bad and the compressor will have to be replaced. Ideally, if you can do this test while the car is running, you can see if the hub spins. Take care to keep fingers and loose clothes away from moving pulleys and belts. That would rule out a clutch that actuates properly but then slips so badly it won't generate pressure.

2. If your system is empty and you're refilling it, and have access to a small vacuum pump (like what they'd use in a lab or shop), it's best to suck all the air out of the system before filling it. Air contains moisture, and moisture is bad in AC systems because it corrodes things.

3. Your system will have a light oil in it. If you vent off any refrigerant, be prepared to wipe some oil off things nearby.

4. Another possible replacement refrigerant is HC12a which is used quite a bit more in Europe. It performs better than R-134a or R12. It is more flammable. HC12a is more eco friendly than R12 or R134a. Venting HC12a is not believed to cause environmental damage. Must be ordered on the internet as local shops do not seem to stock it. The issue is that shops will not work on a car that has other regrigerants in it. Special equipment is needed for each type of refrigerant's recovery. Standard R12 or R134a is a safer choice.

Warnings
1. Be extremely cautious about converting your old R-12 system to R-134a. The R-134a conversion kits sold at Auto Parts stores and even WalMart, are called "Black Death Kits" by some AC repairmen. Frequently, the new R-134a refrigerant will not circulate the R-12 oil and you will burn up your compressor. The R-12 mineral oil has chlorine contaminants that will destroy the R-134a PAG or POE special oil. The only way to reliably convert from R-12 to R-134a is to remove the compressor and flush out all the old oil with the new type of oil; then replace the old Receiver-Dryer or Accumulator with a new one; then flush out all the lines, the evaporator, and the condensor with special cleaner then vacuum to a steady vacuum; and finally charge with 70-80%, (by weight) of the original R-12 weight, with R-134a; and expect poorer cooling ability. It is much easier to keep the old R-12 system running with R-12 that is readily available via ebay.

2. Venting refrigerant -- even R-134a -- is illegal in the United States, so act accordingly.

3. NEVER connect refrigerant cans, oil or leak-detector cans to the "high pressure side" of the system. This is often marked with H or HIGH, or a red connector cap. Cans can explode, and that would hurt.

4. Stay away from major leaks of refrigerant. As it vents it will get cold enough to freeze your skin.

5. Look out for moving fan blades and fan belts!

6. HC12 is a hydrocarbon, usually some mix of butane or propane. It will explode with an ignition source. Light up a cigarette if you have an evaporator leak and your car becomes a bomb. Professionals don't use it because of this very reason.

How to Fix Cars Air Conditioning

Steps
1. Realize that auto AC is basically a refrigerator in a weird layout. It's designed to move heat from one place (the inside of your car) to some other place (the outdoors). While a complete discussion of every specific model and component is well outside the scope of this article, this should give you a start on figuring out what the problem might be and either fixing it yourself or talking intelligently to someone you can pay to fix it.

2. Become familiar with the five major components to auto air conditioning:

• the compressor, which compresses the refrigerant in the system (on modern cars, usually a substance called R-134a)
• the refrigerant, which carries the heat
• the condenser, which changes the phase of the refrigerant and expels heat removed from the car
• the expansion valve, which isn't really a valve at all but more like a nozzle and functions to similtaneously drop the pressure of the refrigerant liquid, meter its flow and atomize it
• the dryer/evaporator, which transfers heat to the refrigerant from the air blown across it, cooling your car

3.Understand the air conditioning process: The compressor puts the refrigerant under pressure and sends it to the condensing coils. In your car, these coils are generally in front of the radiator. Compressing a gas makes it quite hot. In the condenser, this added heat and the heat the refrigerant picked up in the evaporator is expelled to the air flowing across it from outside the car. When the refrigerant is cooled to its saturation temperature, it will change phase from a gas back into a liquid (this gives of a bundle of heat known as the "latent heat of vaporization"). The liquid then passes through the expansion valve to the evaporator, the coils inside of your car, where it loses pressure that was added to it in the compressor. This causes some of the liquid to change to a low-pressure gas as it cools the remaining liquid. This two-phase mixture enters the evaporator, and the liquid portion of the refrigerant absorbs the heat from the air across the coil and evaporates. Your car's blower circulates air across the cold evaporator and into the interior. The refrigerant goes back through the cycle again and again.

4. Check to see if all the R-134a leaks out (meaning there's nothing in the loop to carry away heat). Leaks are easy to spot but not easy to fix without pulling things apart. Most auto-supply stores carry a fluorescent dye that can be added to the system to check for leaks, and it will have instructions for use on the can. If there's a bad enough leak, the system will have no pressure in it at all. Find one of the valve-stem-looking things and CAREFULLY (eye protection recommended) poke a pen in there to try to valve off pressure, and if there IS none, that's the problem.

5. Make sure the compressor is turning. Start the car, turn on the AC and look under the hood. The AC compressor is generally a pumplike thing off to one side with large rubber and steel hoses going to it. It will not have a filler cap on it, but will often have one or two things that look like the valve stems on a bike tire. The pulley on the front of the compressor exists as an outer pulley and an inner hub which turns when an electric clutch is engaged. If the AC is on and the blower is on, but the center of the pulley is not turning, then the compressor's clutch is not engaging. This could be a bad fuse, a wiring problem, a broken AC switch in your dash, or the system could be low on refrigerant (most systems have a low-pressure safety cutout that will disable the compressor if there isn't enough refrigerant in the system).

6. Look for other things that can go wrong: bad switches, bad fuses, broken wires, broken fan belt (preventing the pump from turning), or seal failure inside the compressor.

7. Feel for any cooling at all. If the system cools, but not much, it could just be low pressure, and you can top up the refrigerant. Most auto-supply stores will have a kit to refill a system, and it will come with instructions. Do not overfill!

New Automotive & Motorsports Directory

The webmaster at Syd's Eastside Auto Parts has been working pretty hard to establish a new automotive & motorsports related dedicated directory for the past few weeks. Its finally ready! The Automotive SEARCH Directory not only functions as a means of submitting your automotive and/or motorsports related websites, blogs and directories as a static directory listing advertising your business, but also functions as a means for the public to submit any auto/motorsport related URL as a resource candidate for the Automotive SEARCH Network volunteer editors to consider as an authorized link resource for our URL pool of automotive/motorsports from which our search engine draws its results.

Although the directory only represents a smaller part of the Automotive SEARCH Network, it is a significant one because it will allow any user to suggest an automotive or motorsport related web resource. Previously, the only way to submit such a web resource to use in the search results was to become an authorized editor for the Automotive SEARCH Network. Now, automotive enthusiasts and businesses from all over can submit their website and if accepted, can enjoy the targeted traffic that the Automotive SEARCH Network was designed to provide.

Although we are still accepting requests for becoming a volunteer editor, the Automotive SEARCH Network Directory allows us to expand our resource pool of automotive & motorsports URLs without requiring site owners and webmasters to take on any significant obligations as a volunteer editor.

In fact, the Automotive SEARCH Directory now provides a high profile directory platform from which to provide targeted advertising to the automotive industry, auto entusiasts, car clubs and motorsports professionals. Listings are very reasonably priced although a free reciprocal link exchange is also available.

However, the directory does allow visitors to submit listings into multiple categories, as long as the submitted resource is relevant to that category. The directory software and its administration also takes significant steps to avoid spam submissions.

We expect great things for and from the Automotive SEARCH Network in the future. Keep your eyes open on this domain by bookmarking the website once you get there! Be sure to submit your automotive/motorsport/motorcycle/truck web resource(s) while you are there, too.

The Automotive SEARCH Directory is brought to you as a joint sponsorship cooperative between Syd's Eastside Auto Parts and Diesel Rebuild Parts.com.