19 replies to this topic

[P.Dron]

Slightly odd question: I have read that Enzo Ferrari refused to fly in his later years (he also avoided lifts whenever possible), but did he ever go anywhere in an aeroplane? 

[jcbc3]

Maybe Baracca gave him a spin sometime?

[P.Dron]

They never met. Baracca was killed in 1918.

[Gary Davies]

jcbc3... looks like your nice irony floated past someone. 

[P.Dron]

Perhaps so. Irony is a dodgy thing. The trouble is that unless one knows the person using it, it is difficult to determine whether it's an enormously funny joke or ignorance. Evidently an enormously funny joke in this case.

 

Now, back to the question: did Enzo Ferrari ever fly in an aeroplane?

[Arjan de Roos]

Never did I find a reference that he flew in a plane (in Italy or outside). There is also limited information that he was abroad at all.

 

In later years he simply refused to leave Italy as he wanted to die there. He stayed in and around Modena, with only some exceptional visits further down the road. Rimini being the holiday destination, he had a house there. Famous are he stories of walking in a desolate factory middle of August.

I guess he mostly traveled abroad in the thirties with the Scuderia, but not often. France, Nurburgring, Monaco and Geneva (he raced here himself), but by car or train. After losing some of his driver friends, he maybe also distanced himself from going to a race at all. Managing it all by telephone or (later) telex. He also had his sponsors in Italy and wanted to keep an eye on the home front.

Later he had a driver Pepino, so no huge fear to be driven. But he was a driver so....

[P.Dron]

Thank you Arjan. That mostly seems to confirm my thoughts on this. However, he did apparently visit England once...but I expect he travelled by car and ferry.

[uffen]

I had a quick look through Franco Gozzi's book, Memories of Enzo Ferrari's Lieutenant. It seems that whenever Enzo wanted eyes on something far away (i.e. flying distance) he sent someone he trusted. This book may not be definitive, but it certainly implies that this is how it was done.

 

And I confess I have not read it all yet, this is just after looking at a few pages.

[Doug Nye]

In one of his annual press conferences, The Old Man mentioned having met someone "...at Brooklands in England".  For decades past we have been on the lookout for The Photograph to prove his presence there.  It hasn't yet emerged.  He was semi-agorophobic - for much of his life, certainly post-World War 2, extremely reluctant to venture anywhere unfamiliar. From the 1960s forward he turned it almost into an art form.  How much was affectation - smoke and mirrors - I haven't a clue. But did he ever, ever, fly anywhere?  Not that I have heard of.  Unlike Nuvolari, who was quite a keen 'zoomer' in the 1930s - despite having crashed on his maiden flight years earlier, long before he had taken up racing on two wheels or four... When a well-wisher visited and asked about the state of the aeroplane Nuvolari's father is said to have interjected "It's in need of repair - and the clockwork in Tazio's brain needs attention too". Mr Ferrari, I am pretty confident, felt the same way about aviation.

 

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 14 May 2017 - 20:35.

[BRG]

If he had visited Brooklands, it would have been by surface travel, essentially by train/ferry.  There wasn't much serious civil aviation in the 1920/30s - although available, it cost a small fortune.  Also, he was less of a celebrity at that time and maybe the Brooklands crowd wouldn't have deigned to notice him!

[Arjan de Roos]

Doug Nye, on 14 May 2017 - 20:34, said:

In one of his annual press conferences, The Old Man mentioned having met someone "...at Brooklands in England".  For decades past we have been on the lookout for The Photograph to prove his presence there.  It hasn't yet emerged.  He was semi-agorophobic - for much of his life, certainly post-World War 2, extremely reluctant to venture anywhere unfamiliar. From the 1960s forward he turned it almost into an art form.  How much was affectation - smoke and mirrors - I haven't a clue. But did he ever, ever, fly anywhere?  Not that I have heard of.  Unlike Nuvolari, who was quite a keen 'zoomer' in the 1930s - despite having crashed on his maiden flight years earlier, long before he had taken up racing on two wheels or four... When a well-wisher visited and asked about the state of the aeroplane Nuvolari's father is said to have interjected "It's in need of repair - and the clockwork in Tazio's brain needs attention too". Mr Ferrari, I am pretty confident, felt the same way about aviation.

 

DCN

The person Ferrari met at Brooklands was Mario Lombardini, then working for the Pirelli branch in the UK. This was after the war, but before 1924.

[Doug Nye]

Yes - IF he travelled to England - and IF he really did visit Brooklands - but as above, he certainly claimed to have made such a trip.  He also attend the Paris Salon - we have photos of that trip - and he worked - and competed - in Geneva - but I have yet to see hard evidence of his presence in the UK. I am happy to assume he was telling the truth, but there remains the bothersome possibility that he was not...  That's all.

 

DCN

[Arjan de Roos]

Indeed no pictures of him at Brooklands or any other UK location. Bothersome? He told may things of his early life that are not on pictures. The meeting with Lombardini is also a footnote, yet leading to later Pirelli sponsorship. The statement does not seem exaggerated or dreamed up. Still.

Besides Monaco and Lyon no other foreign locations of him being abroad. 

[f1steveuk]

I spoke to someone who used to work at Tony Vandervell's works in Maidenhead, who told me that the "old man" had invited Mr Ferrari to visit England, and see what they could do together, and had offered to send his plane to get him ( the same plane later used to transport Stuart Lewis Evans home after his accident), and that Mr Ferrari had turned it down flat, stating he never flew, anywhere, ever.

[nmansellfan]

Apologies for the thread hijack, but I don't think my question is significant enough to warrant a separate thread topic.

When was Enzo's last race meeting attendance? AFAIK he only came to watch Saturday practice of the Italian GP anyway after a certain period, I've seen photos of him at the '66 Italian GP but did he continue to come and watch his cars in practice into the 70's?

[kayemod]

f1steveuk, on 17 May 2017 - 10:37, said:

... Mr Ferrari had turned it down flat, stating he never flew, anywhere, ever.

 

Very wise, a man after my own heart, though in my case it's a hatred not of flying and legroom, but of airports and their associated security and procedures, something that Enzo could probably have bypassed.

[opplock]

During Ferrari's lifetime airport security was much lighter touch. When I travelled from NZ to Australia in 1980 you didn't need a passport or any other form of ID. That changed when the Aussies realised that their higher rates of unemployment benefits encouraged armies of unemployed Kiwis to move to Sydney. 

[Arjan de Roos]

nmansellfan, on 17 May 2017 - 11:44, said:

Apologies for the thread hijack, but I don't think my question is significant enough to warrant a separate thread topic.

When was Enzo's last race meeting attendance? AFAIK he only came to watch Saturday practice of the Italian GP anyway after a certain period, I've seen photos of him at the '66 Italian GP but did he continue to come and watch his cars in practice into the 70's?

I believe that: the last genuine race he visited was the 1957 Mille Miglia, the last meeting was at Imola 1984 during practice for the San Marino GP where he famously shook Lauda's hand.

He did visit already during the 50's and 60's practice only (for the Italian GP).

Edited by Arjan de Roos, 17 May 2017 - 13:19.

[Allan Lupton]

opplock, on 17 May 2017 - 12:41, said:

During Ferrari's lifetime airport security was much lighter touch.

Yes air travel was fast once! In the 1970s we could finish our meetings in Paris offices near the Bois de Boulogne at 16:45 on a Wednesday, take a taxi to Le Bourget, check in and be on the 17:30 BEA flight to London with time to spare.

[PeterElleray]

and if you tell young people of today... etc etc