Modified Ferraris Enzo Ferrari was secretive about the manufacture of his cars Garage mechanics would take cars to the back and not let their owners watch the work being done something that angered mechanic Ferruccio He took matters into his own hands modifying his Ferrari 250 GT with parts from his tractors When he found that his modified car could outperform Ferrari’s stock models he took his concerns to Enzo Ferrari himself Lamborghini vs Ferrari To hear Ferruccio tell it the first meeting between Lamborghini and Ferrari did not go well I had to wait for him a very long time he explained Ferrari your cars are rubbish I complained Il Commendatore was furious Lamborghini you may be able to drive a tractor but you will never be able to handle a Ferrari properly According to Lamborghini this was the moment he decided to make a perfect car 8 The rivalry between Ferrari red and Lamborghini yellow started in the 1960s Even today supercar fans are often loyal to one make or the other
The Lamborghini legend Did it really happen that way Skeptics point out that Lamborghini knew he could make more money building his own cars than helping Ferrari improve his But the confrontation between Lamborghini and Ferrari is part of the Lamborghini legend Whatever the case by 1963 Ferruccio was committed to entering the auto making business But he also knew that he was challenging the giants of the Italian auto industry To stand out among such names as Ferrari Maserati and Fiat his car would have to be perfect A crowded field Several carmakers were already well established by the time Ferruccio set up Lamborghini These formed the competition Some of the main companies were Alfa Romeo established 1910 Casalini established 1939 Ferrari established 1929 Fiat established 1899 Lancia established 1906 Maserati established 1914 By 1963 Ferruccio Lamborghini was ready to step up to the challenge of creating a better car than his rival Ferrari 9
Chapter 2 The First Lamborghini Lamborghini the automotive company began in 1963 when Ferruccio established Automobili Lamborghini He was a skilled mechanic and a man of vision and he wanted to build the perfect car but he was also a savvy businessman He knew he couldn’t build his dream car and sell it to the world all on his own Before he could bend metal or shape glass his first task was establishing a team of some of the best and brightest engineers and mechanics to design and build his vehicle The Lamborghini team In building his perfect car Ferruccio started with the engine For this he contacted Giotto Bizzarrini Ferrari’s former chief engineer Bizzarrini had left Ferrari in 1961 during a personal dispute with owner Enzo Ferrari and had worked since then building racecar engines Bizzarrini designed and built Lamborghini’s engine in four months It was a V12 3 4-liter engine with twin overhead camshafts all built from aluminum alloy The first Lamborghini-designed engine was powerful and light Its reduced weight increased speed 10
Engineering genius Then Lamborghini brought aboard Giampaolo Dallara to act as chief engineer Dallara had worked for Ferrari and Maserati in their design departments His first task for Lamborghini was to design a chassis to support the powerful engine Dallara went on to help design the 350 GT the Miura the Islero and the Espada Dallara brought aboard recent college graduate Giampaolo Stanzani and a New Zealand racecar driver named Bob Wallace as part of Lamborghini’s original engineering team Bring in the designers Finally freelance designer Franco Scaglione was brought in to design a body to rest atop the chassis Franco had already been responsible for dozens of designs for such carmakers as Fiat Alfa Romeo Maserati and Porsche Giampaolo Dallara Giampaolo Dallara was born in 1936 and studied engineering He was recruited by Ferrari in 1959 Although he worked only a short while at Ferrari before moving to Maserati he impressed Giotto Bizzarrini Ferrari’s chief engineer enough that when Lamborghini talked to Bizzarrini about the 350 GTV he suggested Dallara as Lamborghini’s chief engineer He left Lamborghini in 1969 to design Formula 1 racecars Today Giampaolo Dallara is still designing and building cars including Formula 1 chassis this time for a team called Campos Grand Prix 11
