Lamborghini vs. Ferrari Trivia Quiz

Answer:

In 1929 Enzo Ferrari was a salesman and racing driver for Alfa Romeo when he founded a car racing team called Scuderia Ferrari. By 1933 Alfa Romeo had ceased car-racing so Scuderia Ferrari became its unofficial track representative. Alfa Romeo supplied racing cars to Ferrari, who won many races. However, in 1937 Ferrari was liquidated and absorbed into Alfa Romeo resulting in Enzo Ferrari leaving in 1939. He intended to manufacture his own cars but was not allowed to use the Ferrari name for four years. The company produced one car, the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 which raced until WWII when Ferrari produced aircraft engines for the military.

After the war, he produced his first car under his own name. The 125S had a V12 engine and won many races including the 1949 Le Mans. Ferrari used its reputation as a racing team to sell high-performance sports cars. They produced successful road cars: the America, Monza and the 250 GT, all with a racing heritage and notably front-engined, rear wheel drive. The 250GT (Grand Tourer) was the first mass-produced Ferrari.

In 1960 the manufacturer became a public company and needed a business partner to handle its manufacturing operation. An approach to Ford failed but was successful with Fiat who bought 50% of its shares.

While the conversation between Enzo Ferrari and Ferruccio Lamborghini about the broken clutch ever took place can never be substantiated, it is known the two men only met once and neither denied the story as it made good publicity. The quote attributed to Ferrari, "Let me make cars. You stick to making tractors." is again not substantiated but it makes good copy. Lamborghini made good his threat to build rival sports cars. He built a small factory near Ferrari's and built a car, the 350 GT (Ferrari's contemporaneous model was the 250 GT) to show at the 1964 Turin Car Show in 1964. The short time frame to make a new car from scratch was due to the availability of five former Ferrari decision-makers including Carlo Chiti chief engineer, and development manager Giotto Bizzarrini. These five resented the fact that Ferrari's wife was making important decisions on the Ferrari production line. Enzo was furious. Instead of asking his wife to stop, he fired the five who immediately started a competing organisation developing racing and sports cars. Lamborghini snapped them up. The car displayed though, was not able to be driven. The V12 it was meant to use did not fit under the bonnet so the car was displayed with no motor and instructions not to lift the hood. Thirteen were sold at the show over two years, 120 were built and sold, and Ferrari was not worried. However, the 1965 Turin Car Show was different: Lamborghini shook up the world of supercars completely. Inspired by Formula 1 race cars, the Lamborghini Muira became the first production car with the engine in the centre of the car. Ferrari had no option but to produce the mid-engined Dino in 1967, named after Ferrari's son (his nickname). In 2004, "Sports Car International" ranked this car at number six on its list of Top Sports Cars of the 1970s. The only problem was that the Muira was ranked at number four. (Perhaps as consolation, the same magazine ranked the Ferrari Daytona (1968-73) at number one and this model was a conventional front engine, rear-wheel drive layout.

Lamborghini wowed the world again with the futuristic Countach launched at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show but the fuel crisis and the difficulty of driving the wedge-shaped missile placed the Lamborghini company in financial hot water. With the plans for the production of the Diablo, a more user-friendly wedge that still showed its Countach heritage, Lamborghini became solvent enough for Chrysler to buy out the company. Meanwhile, Ferrari kept on producing its curvy projectiles and enjoyed financial stability with its partnership with Fiat. Financial hardship was a continual theme for Lamborghini. It passed through several hands before being bought by the Volkswagen Group and was placed under the control of the Audi arm.

In the 21st Century, Enzo Ferrari and Ferruccio Lamborghini have been long gone, the two companies have adjusted to the times, producing SUVs hybrid and electric cars, but their rivalry remains for domination in the high-performance sports car class of automobiles.