Ferrari: The Red Dream - Book review by Maggie Woods

“Dreams of men, if you believe them,
mainly centre on blonde bombshells
and sports cars. At the top of the list
is usually a Ferrari. And a red one, at
that...”

FERRARI: THE RED DREAM, is written by Doug Nye, the world's most respected author and researcher of historic racing. It is exquisitely photographed by Pietro Carrieri who has been photographing cars since 1992, almost exclusively using direct Fresnel light.

Any book on Ferraris is sure to be a winner, because of the widespread admiration of the finest Italian auto design. But this magnificent offering from Motorbooks offers much more, delving deep into Ferrari's racing history.

Twenty fabulous Ferraris from the world of motor racing are displayed as works of art, honing in on sinuous curves and the neatest details. Even the steering wheel is a masterpiece of engineering and design.

There are 150 colour illustrations and each car has a page dedicated to its vital statistics and you can find out how and where they made their debuts, the races they took part in and who drove them.

The book begins in the early years before World War II through to legendary cars such as the Testa Rossas and the "awesome" F333 SP, detailing Enzo Ferrari's early success at Alfa Romeo before building his factory and his future at Maranello.

In Fulvio Carmagnola's introduction, he describes the book as "sheer visual pleasure". The hauntingly beautiful photographs include the 250 GT Tour de France with a prominent yellow shield bearing the famous prancing horse. In 1956, Spanish aristocrat the Marquis Alfonso 'Fon' de Portago drove his (blue!) Ferrari 250 GT to victory in the gruelling week-long Tour de France Automobile and a delighted Enzo Ferrari added the name 'Tour de France' to his 250 GT in honour of the event.

Nye also describes how, during practice for the Monza 1,000 kilometer race on 25 April 1965, 'the delightful little Dino 166 P' — the result of co-operation with Fiat — made its noisy debut.

Straight out of the pages of motor racing come: Alberto Ascari, who dominated Grand Prix in a works Ferrari 500 Monoposto (the Ascari name is now used for a British-built super car); Mike Hawthorn, who replaced the badly burned Giuseppe 'Nino' Farina at the 1954 Supercortemaggiore Sports Car Race in Monza; and Umberto Maglioli, who won the 1954 Carrera Panamericana in a 375 Plus — at that time, the biggest and most powerful sports racing car ever produced by Ferrari.

Tributes to remarkable machinery wouldn't be complete without the "exceptional" F40/F40 LM. The F40 was introduced in 1987 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Ferrari marque and was the last model to be produced under the watchful eye of Enzo Ferrari himself. HH

Ferrari: The Red Dream is a celebration of a dream and a lasting tribute to Ferrari's involvement with motor racing.

• Out now, Ferrari: The Red Dream is available from all good bookshops in hardback at the RRP of Ł40.

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