Description
The name is magic. Ferrari. The man. The cars. The legend. The reality. Sort our the flurry of words that have been tossed about over the post quarter century to describe the phenomenon that is Ferrari and one stands out as perhaps saying it best. Ferrari is an original. Utterly, lavishly, passionately so. And this book represents an original approach to this complex and fascinating subject. It is a kaleidoscope, a many-faceted and in-depth study of both man and marque by an international roster of racing drivers, journalists and automotive historians. It is a kaleidoscope, reflecting between its covers, more color, literally, than has ever before been presented on the car that is both machine and mystique. It is a kaleidoscope, as witness:
Ferrari's nature—"secret, closed like a walnut," it's been said—painstakingly explored by Griffith Borgeson in the most intimate biographical portrait of the man ever published. And later-in "An Audience with the King"-a rare and revealing interview, perhaps the most candid talk with Ferrari to ever appear in print.
The memories of the men who've been there, who've lived the Ferrari experience, who know what it was like. Phil Hill remembers. Stirling Moss remembers. Denis Jenkinson recalls the bittersweet years of "II Grande John," the great Surtees.
The history, in the beginning. Peter C. Coltrin limns the 815, Stan Nowak the early cars.
The aura. David Owen ponders why Ferraris are so special.
The sound and the fury. Jan Norbye examines the engines, in theory and practice. And there's a chart—nearly as awesome as what it details: technical specifications of 140 Ferrari engines from 1946 to dote based on the factory's own records.
The extra-extraordinary Karl Ludvigsen brings together for the first time the Ferrari rarities: the sixes, the twin-cylinder GP engine, the ineffective Indy cars, et al.
The bodies beautiful. Stan Nowak untangles the complicated saga of Ferrari coachbuilding.
Ferraris this side of the Atlantic. Al Bochroch visits Luigi Chinetti and sets forth the story of Ferrari in America.
The business side of things. Griffith Borgeson follows the unfolding chapter of the Ferrari-Fiat partnership.
The cars on the Grand Prix scene. The Formula One Ferrari surveyed-and rendered in color in twenty-six portraits by artist Ken Rush.
The cars both rood and racing. Photographed in color, and spread out in nearly fifty pages, the most comprehensive collection of Ferraris, from the earliest to the latest, ever compiled.
The cars dissected. In cutaway drawings by Yoshihiro Inomoto.