Chris Trottier on Nostr: There’s a new biopic about Enzo Ferrari coming out. But to be honest with you, ...
There’s a new biopic about Enzo Ferrari coming out.
But to be honest with you, I’d rather have a biopic about Ferruccio Lamborghini.
As the story goes, Lamborghini went to Ferrari to complain about the clutch in his sports car. And Ferrari’s answer was to say, “You are a tractor driver, you are a farmer. You shouldn’t complain driving my cars because they’re the best cars in the world.”
So Lamborghini told him, “I’ll show you how to make a sports car.”
That’s right Lamborghini – the sports car company – was started out of pure spite.
Ferruccio Lamborghini hated Ferrari so much, that he decided to make sports cars that completely out-Ferrari Ferrari. Previously, Lamborghini was content to manufacture tractors. But because Ferrari insulted him, he funnelled all his hate and contempt into turning that tractor company into a sports car brand.
By the way, this isn’t the only time Ferrari would regret spiting someone. He also called Ford “worthless sons of w*es”, and specifically called Ford’s CEO, Henry Ford II, a “pig-headed boss”.
The result: the Ford GT40 finished the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place – kicking Ferrari off the podium. That inspired the very good Ford v Ferrari film.
But I think Ferruccio Lamborghini makes for an even better story because, while Ford had experience mass-producing racing cars, Lamborghini didn’t. He grew up poor and came from nothing – started his business converting military vehicles into tractors.
And he was successful at this. He had no god damn reason to get into the very risky business of racing cars.
Except Ferrari had to insult him, and Lamborghini just couldn’t let that slide.
Spite is a hell of a motivator.
But to be honest with you, I’d rather have a biopic about Ferruccio Lamborghini.
As the story goes, Lamborghini went to Ferrari to complain about the clutch in his sports car. And Ferrari’s answer was to say, “You are a tractor driver, you are a farmer. You shouldn’t complain driving my cars because they’re the best cars in the world.”
So Lamborghini told him, “I’ll show you how to make a sports car.”
That’s right Lamborghini – the sports car company – was started out of pure spite.
Ferruccio Lamborghini hated Ferrari so much, that he decided to make sports cars that completely out-Ferrari Ferrari. Previously, Lamborghini was content to manufacture tractors. But because Ferrari insulted him, he funnelled all his hate and contempt into turning that tractor company into a sports car brand.
By the way, this isn’t the only time Ferrari would regret spiting someone. He also called Ford “worthless sons of w*es”, and specifically called Ford’s CEO, Henry Ford II, a “pig-headed boss”.
The result: the Ford GT40 finished the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place – kicking Ferrari off the podium. That inspired the very good Ford v Ferrari film.
But I think Ferruccio Lamborghini makes for an even better story because, while Ford had experience mass-producing racing cars, Lamborghini didn’t. He grew up poor and came from nothing – started his business converting military vehicles into tractors.
And he was successful at this. He had no god damn reason to get into the very risky business of racing cars.
Except Ferrari had to insult him, and Lamborghini just couldn’t let that slide.
Spite is a hell of a motivator.