More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
‘Fiat did not copy; it taught, after having created.’
A
For the rest of his life, Ferrari carried Italian driving license number 1363, implying that he was one of the nation’s earliest motorists and was driving well before his release from military service.
B
‘In 1923, when competing in the first Circuito del Savio at Ravenna, I made the acquaintance of Count Enrico Baracca’ (the father of Italy’s number one flying ace, Francesco Baracca, who had been shot down after recording 34 German kills). ‘As a result of this meeting, I was subsequently introduced to the ace’s mother, the Countess Paolina Baracca, who one day said to me, “Ferrari, why don’t you put my son’s prancing horse on your car. It will bring you luck.” I still have Baracca’s photograph, with his parents’ dedication in which they entrusted the horse to me. The horse was, and has,
...more
C
Gino Rancati made the following cryptic observation about Ferrari’s race-driving abilities in his openly affectionate biography published in 1977: ‘… he possessed certain limitations as a racing driver: an excessive respect for the machines entrusted to him [and] perhaps not the highest form of courage’.
D
‘Any compromise is better than a successful lawsuit.’
E
(Bugatti eschewed hydraulic brakes until very late in his career, preferring instead cable-operated mechanical brakes. ‘I build my cars to go, not to stop,’ he once explained airily.)
E
This was the race, incidentally, where Nuvolari took along a young riding mechanic and warned him that he would shout if he took a bend too fast, in which case the youth was to duck behind the cowling to prepare for the forthcoming crash. When the race was over (during which Nuvolari set a record that stood for twenty years) the boy, named Paride Mambelli, was asked how the ride with the master went. He shrugged and said, ‘Nuvolari started shouting at the first curve and never stopped until the end. I spent the entire race under cover and never saw a thing!’
F
‘It happens when you least expect it. If we were to drive eternally preoccupied with the dangers that beset us, we would never complete a single lap.’
E
