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Talk radio landed Luca at Ferrari
The Radio Defense
The rally driver was Luca di Montezemolo, then studying international law in New York and a childhood friend of one of the Agnelli family heirs, the family that owned Fiat. The caller called racing evil, dangerous, bad for the environment, and a sport for rich people with no value to society. Luca answered with a passionate, eloquent defense that shut him down, and Enzo, back at his office after months in the hospital, was listening.
Enzo phoned the radio station to find out who the kid was. He told Luca he needed an assistant, and more than that a spy who could go through the organization and report what was really happening in his company. Luca's tie to the Agnelli family meant Enzo had a spy at Fiat too.
Turning the Team Around
Luca's first job was the road car business, where the oil crisis and a 40 percent tax on engines over 2 liters had sales in the dumps. His second was to watch a Formula 1 race. Ferrari had not won a drivers' or constructors' title in 10 years, and Luca advised taking the cars home because they had no chance. The sport had moved on to aerodynamics and chassis, and Ferrari was still focused on engines.
Enzo made him team manager before he turned 30. Luca brought in chassis and aerodynamics people and recruited Niki Lauda as the number one driver. In 1975, Lauda won the drivers' championship and Ferrari won the constructors' title, ending the 10-year drought.
Why did Ferrari fall behind on aerodynamics?
Lotus founder Colin Chapman brought the monocoque chassis to Formula 1 with the Lotus 25 in 1962, replacing the tubular frames most teams used. Wings arrived on Formula 1 cars in 1968, and Lotus later built the ground-effect Lotus 78, which raced in 1977. Both ideas found speed in the car's shape and structure rather than in engine power. Ferrari's 312B, introduced in 1970, was built around a flat-12 engine.
Why did Ferrari build a two-liter car?
Italy taxed cars with engines over two liters at a far higher rate than smaller ones, which hurt sales of big-engined cars at home. Ferrari answered with the 208 GT4, introduced in 1975 with a 2.0-liter V8 meant for the Italian market. Its engine was a shrunken version of the 3.0-liter V8 used in the 308 GT4.
How did Lauda's Ferrari career turn dramatic?
In 1976, Lauda crashed his Ferrari at the Nürburgring and was left with severe burns and lung damage from toxic fumes. He returned to racing at Monza about six weeks later. He lost the 1976 title to James Hunt by a single point, then won the drivers' championship again with Ferrari in 1977.
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