How Enzo Ferrari Created the Greatest Racing Team in Motorsport History

Ferrari founded a Formula 1 juggernaut and a world-renowned supercar company while juggling enormous personal tragedy.

By Bob Sorokanich 07/08/2024

Ferrari may be the most recognisable supercar manufacturer on earth. Throughout its 80-plus-year history, the company has introduced some of the most legendary and desirable sports cars ever made. Hard to believe, but founder Enzo Ferrari viewed the road-car company as something of a necessary distraction, a way to make money to support his ultimate lifelong passion—racing. This is the story of the intensely private, ruthlessly domineering, obsessive, and somewhat tragic figure who founded a juggernaut Formula 1 team, and then built the world’s most highly-desired sports cars to support it.

Motor-Obsessed in Modena

Enzo Ferrari around 1960
Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari was born in February 1898 in Modena, a city in northern Italy. The Ferrari family were working-class people—Enzo’s father Alfredo had a small workshop where he did fabrication and mechanical work for the local railroad. Enzo had little formal education, instead working alongside his father in the workshop. When he was 10 years old, Enzo witness the event that would set him on the course of his life’s work: He watched as Italian racing driver Felice Nazzaro won first place in the 1908 Circuito di Bologna, an automobile race held on the roads of the nearby city of Bologna. From then on, Enzo Ferrari dreamed of becoming a racing driver.

Ferrari served in World War I with the Italian army, but was discharged in 1918 after becoming gravely ill during the flu pandemic that swept through Europe. He had already been subject to great personal loss, witnessing as his father and his older brother Alfredo Jr., known in the family as Dino, died from the flu. Family tragedy would come to define Enzo Ferrari’s life.

Once a Racer, Always a Racer

1947 Ferrari 125 S, left, next to a 1935 Alfa Romeo Monoposto 8C-35 Type C
In 1919, Enzo Ferrari competed in his first automobile race, driving for Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali, a small automaker in Milan. The following year, Ferrari was hired as a professional racing driver for Alfa Romeo, then one of the most dominant automakers in European racing. The talented Ferrari won three Grand Prix races in Italy in 1924.

In these early days, auto racing was often a gruesome sport. As a professional competitor, Ferrari witnessed the deaths of two of his driving heroes, Ugo Sivocci and Antonio Ascari, and the experience affected him deeply. Despite his obsession with racing, Ferrari would later admit that he competed “halfheartedly” in the wake of these deaths. But as his fervor behind the wheel began to wane, Ferrari was developing a new interest in how racing was managed from behind the pit wall. When Enzo’s son Alfredo was born in 1932, the new father quit driving race cars and focused on building and managing his own racing team.

That team was called Scuderia Ferrari (literally, “Ferrari Stables,”) and from the start it was home to the best racing drivers, including legendary pilot Tazio Nuvolari. The Ferrari team soon adopted the logo of the black prancing horse, once worn as a good-luck charm by World War I Italian fighter pilot Francesco Baracca. The stallion appeared on the Ferrari team’s Alfa Romeo race cars, but would soon come to be associated with Ferrari’s own automotive creations.

The Founding of Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari displaying new cars in 1961
Amid long-simmering disagreements, Enzo Ferrari ended his relationship with Alfa Romeo in 1939. He started a company in Modena manufacturing race-car parts, but with the outbreak of World War II, Ferrari was forced to turn over his factory to be used by the Mussolini government’s war effort. The facility was destroyed by Allied bombing, forcing Ferrari to move production from Modena to Maranello. In 1947, Enzo Ferrari officially launched the car company that still bears his name to this day.

From that moment, Enzo Ferrari viewed the Alfa Romeo racing team as his ultimate rival. The first Ferrari race cars entered competition in 1948, and the following year, drivers Luigi Chinetti and Peter Michell-Thomson cinched Ferrari’s first major victory at the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1950, Formula One was established; Ferrari entered in the inaugural Driver’s World Championship, and is the only team to have competed in every season of F1 racing from its inauguration to the current day. The Ferrari racing team nabbed its first F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1951, and won the F1 championship in 1952 and 1953, sealing the newly-formed company’s reputation as an F1 juggernaut—and vanquishing rival Alfa Romeo.

Road Cars to Fund Racing

Lorenzo Bandini with Enzo Ferrari

The very first automobiles to bear the Ferrari name were built in 1947, when the company turned out two examples of the 125 Sport. The first road-going Ferraris were built in 1948, and soon, the company was turning out front-engine, V-12-powered sports cars and grand tourers.

Famously, Enzo Ferrari viewed his company’s business in road-going cars as a necessary but not-very-enticing way to make money to fund the company’s racing efforts. Soon, though, Ferrari’s output of sports cars would greatly exceed the number of race cars the company sold. Enzo Ferrari himself had little interest in sports cars, which at the time were raw, punishing machines with little concession to comfort. For his own daily driving, Enzo preferred opulent grand-touring cars, and he often chose to ride around in a chauffeured luxury sedan.

Tragedy and Enzo

Italian race car driver and businessman Enzo Ferrari (1898 - 1988) casts his eye over the Brabham-Repco during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, 4th September 1966. (Photo by Reg Lancaster/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Enzo Ferrari’s life was often punctuated by great tragedy. He was known to keep a distant relationship with his team’s racing drivers, seemingly as a way of preventing his own emotional hardship in an era when racing drivers often died in competition. In 1956, Enzo suffered the greatest tragedy of his life when Dino, his beloved son, died at age 24 from complications of muscular dystrophy. Dino had learned engineering and design alongside his father, and in the months leading up to his death, had been working on development of a V6 racing engine. In tribute to Dino, the series of V6 and V8 engines that stemmed from his engineering work were known as Ferrari Dino engines, and the Ferrari company went on to build a Dino line of road cars using variants of these engines. After Dino’s passing, Enzo Ferrari spent the rest of his life in mourning. He wore black clothes every day, and made daily visits to Dino’s grave.

Flirting with Ford, Committed to Fiat

Ford GT at 1966 Le Mans
In 1963, Enzo Ferrari began secret conversations with the Ford Motor Company. The American automaker was interested in taking over Ferrari, which would have made Enzo a fabulously wealthy man, but the founder withdrew from negotiations at the last minute, as Ford would not let him maintain full independent control over the racing division. Ferrari had been riding high in sports-car racing, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times in a row from 1960 to 1965; incensed, Ford Motor Company launched a no-holds-barred effort to topple Ferrari, culminating in the Ford GT40 winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times straight from 1966 through 1969.

The company’s finances were still in dire condition, and in 1969, Enzo Ferrari sold 50 percent of his company to Italian automaker giant Fiat. While he stepped down as director of Ferrari’s production-car division, the agreement left Enzo fully in charge of Ferrari’s racing programs, and had Fiat paying royalties for use of Ferrari’s facilities in Maranello and Modena.

Later Years

Gerhard Berger in a Ferrari during the 1988 F1 season
It’s reported that Enzo Ferrari rarely left his hometown region of Maranello and Modena after the 1950s, and never attended any races taking place outside of Italy in his later years. He was an intensely private person, ruling Ferrari largely from behind the scenes, and was rarely interviewed or seen publicly. Enzo had an illegitimate son, Piero, with his mistress in 1945, but the son was not recognised as part of the Ferrari family until Enzo’s wife died in 1978. Piero Ferrari now serves as a vice-chairman of Ferrari, owning roughly 10 percent of the company.

Enzo Ferrari died in 1988 from complications of leukemia, at 90 years old. He had just witnessed the unveiling of the Ferrari F40 supercar, which would go on to become legendary in part as the final Ferrari model approved by Enzo himself. He was buried in a private ceremony attended only by immediate family, and his death was not announced until after his funeral had been concluded. A few weeks after Enzo’s death, the Ferrari F1 team took first and second place at the Italian Grand Prix, the only race not won by McLaren in the 1988 F1 season.

Enzo Ferrari was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998, and added to the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2002, Enzo Ferrari’s life and legacy were honoured when the company launched the Ferrari Enzo, a mid-engine supercar built in limited numbers and priced at $650,000—the fastest and most expensive Ferrari built to date.

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How Off-the-Rack Suits Got Sophisticated Enough to Win Over Bespoke Guys

Ready-to-wear tailoring has never been better, and it offers even the most particular dressers a fast, easy platform for experimenting with their look.

By Aleks Cvetkovic 18/02/2025

The world moves fast—and for once, tailoring is moving a little bit faster.

Guys around the globe are rediscovering their love of suits, but many have determined that they can’t stomach the monthslong wait for bespoke. The good news? Ready-to-wear tailoring has never been better.

That’s in part because bespoke makers are beefing up their off-the-rack offerings. Anderson & Sheppard’s shop-in-store at N.Y.C.’s Bergdorf Goodman—the first outpost beyond its London flagship— opened in December with, among other things, a sharp wool-and-cashmere jacket in a delightful shade of teal. Huntsman’s recent fall-winter collection, billed as its most comprehensive assortment yet, offered everything from tuxedos to shooting breeches. Even Leonard Logsdail, Hollywood’s highly esteemed bespoke purveyor, is experimenting with hem-and-go models.

But non-custom tailors are upping the ante, too. Some of the best ready-to-wear suits on the market come from such brands, whose wholly distinctive points of view provide a welcome departure from the rigidity of many bespoke tailors’ house styles. The preponderance and diversity of such high-quality, easy-to-access threads has recast off-the-rack suits as the ultimate way to experiment with your look, not just a way for some to get dressed on the cheap. What’s more, it reflects the new reality that even people who suit up regularly might want to show up looking different on Thursday night than they did on Tuesday morning.

“Life nowadays is much more fluid,” says Chris Modoo, a London-based stylist who once worked as a tailor on Savile Row. “Things happen, invitations appear. You might get an invite for a black-tie party in the South of France for next Saturday.” Ready-to-wear is the obvious solution when you’re in a last-minute menswear quandary, but “it also means you can try new things.”

One maker worth a test-drive is Husbands Paris, founded by Nicolas Gabard, who sees his role as an “archivist of the past.” His look, inspired by stylish men such as Yves Saint Laurent, David Hemmings, and Gary Cooper, is unabashedly striking—think long, fully canvased jackets, broad lapels, structured shoulders, and wide-leg, high-waisted trousers. These wares are made in small workshops in Italy and Portugal, where craftspeople infuse them with high-end details such as hand-sewn buttonholes and silk bar tacks, a form of stitching that reinforces seams and pockets.

Thom Sweeney L.A. store Brett Wood

They’re the kind of touches any menswear enthusiast can appreciate—even if they’re the trees to Gabard’s style forest. Clothes like this are designed as a form of wearable self-assurance, enhancing what Gabard calls a “classically masculine” silhouette: broad shoulders, slim waist, narrow hips.

“Of course, tailoring has to fit well, but it also has to bring something else,” he says. “More and more [Husbands] customers want to be confident, powerful, and sexy in their outfit.”

When you want to look more suave than soigné, turn to the indie Milanese brand Massimo Alba, which is known for its chic casualwear but made its name with easygoing tailoring. “A great suit is not just about the way it fits but about the way it makes you feel,” says the eponymous label’s founder of his relaxed approach. “For me, the essence lies in balance, between structure and softness, elegance and ease. In my opinion, a suit should adapt to the wearer, not the other way around.”

Alba’s creations are cut from plush materials such as corduroy and flannel, featuring natural shoulders and only the lightest of canvasing in the chest, which results in a less-formal look. Which is not to say they aren’t workhorses: Daniel Craig wore one of Alba’s Sloop suits to dodge bullets in 2021’s James Bond film No Time to Die. “I always focus on fabrics that move with the body, details that whisper rather than shout, and cuts that allow for freedom,” Alba adds.

And freedom is precisely what this newfound inventory of great ready-to-wear tailoring provides. Modoo advises some clients to look to bespoke tailors for investment-level garments, such as morning suits, tuxedos, or the dark, serious stuff you might need for a funeral or odd courtroom appearance. “You know you’re going to wear these for 10 or 15 years,” he says. Let the new class of distinctive ready-to-wear step in when you want to try something that just wouldn’t make sense as a bespoke order. “Your pink-velvet blazer for the Christmas party? How well does that need to fit?”

London bespoke tailor Caroline Andrew is one of many who admits ready-to-wear has its place. Courtesy of Caroline Andrew

Fortunately, with so many options available, the fit is easier to dial in. You can expect most high-end operations to make a long list of changes, from ensuring that the seat of the trousers drapes appropriately to cutting working buttonholes on the jacket. For a peerless experience, you can always reach for garments from one of the many talented bespoke tailors offering ready-to-wear. At Thom Sweeney, such clothes are “all influenced by our bespoke cut,” says Thom Whiddett, who cofounded the brand with Luke Sweeney in 2007. “You try on [our ready-to-wear] jacket, and you immediately get a sense of the proportions and shapes that we put into a bespoke garment.”

That alluring sense of near-instant gratification is the point. For some, nothing will ever replace the distinguished feeling of slipping into a bench-made suit—and plenty are willing to wait for it.

“You have to mentally buy into the process and enjoy it,” says Caroline Andrew, a London bespoke specialist. “The journey is just as important as the finished product.” But ready-to-wear sets the time-strapped tailoring enthusiast down a different path: discovering new facets of your personal style at a record pace.

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Tom Brady Wears a Jacob & Co. Watch Decked in Yellow Sapphires to the Super Bowl

The $740,000 Caviar Tourbillon was an opulent choice for the former NFL star.

By 17/02/2025

Tom Brady was on the field tonight at the 59th annual Super Bowl game, and while the retired NFL hero—a seven-time Super Bowl winner (the most of any footballer in history)—wasn’t playing, he came dressed to impress with a $116,400 Jacob & Co. watch on his wrist.

Brady, who is a notable watch collector, recently sold off several of his timepieces at a Sotheby’s auction called “The GOAT Collection: Watches and Treasures from Tom Brady” this past December. Those timepieces ran the gamut from a Rolex Daytona Ref. 6241 to a unique Audemars Piguet Royal Oak with his name spelled out in diamonds across the salmon-colored tapisserie dial. His Rolex Daytona sold for over $1.5 million, and, in total, his auction raked in around $7 million. So, he’s well-equipped for a new watch purchase.

Whether or not he owns the six-figure sapphire stunner or it was a paid spot, the watch certainly stood out against his conservative but immaculately fit gray suit. “Tom Brady is the epitome of excellence, both on and off the field,” said Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co, in a press release sent out by the company shortly after Brady’s appearance. “We’re thrilled to see him wearing two of our most prestigious timepieces on the biggest stage in sports. The Billionaire Mini Ashoka and Caviar Tourbillon embody the precision, luxury, and innovation that define Jacob & Co. We’re honored to have him represent the artistry and craftsmanship behind every piece we create.”

Like much of Brady’s wrist candy, his 44 by 15.8 mm Caviar Tourbillon is not easy to come by. It is limited to just 18 pieces. It features hours, minutes, and a one-minute flying tourbillon in the JCAA43 movement with 216 components and 72 hours of power reserve. The movement itself is set with 338 brilliant-cut diamonds, while a total of 337 yellow sapphires adorn the case and dial. The clasp is decorated with another 18 baguette-cut yellow sapphires, and the crown comes with 14 baguette-cut yellow sapphires and one rose-cut yellow sapphire. As far as gem setting goes, this is one extraordinary piece, but it certainly seemed like a surprising choice for Brady, who was otherwise dressed like he just stepped out of a boardroom or a Ralph Lauren catalog.

Benjamin Arabov, son of Jacob & Co. founder Jacob Arabov, is now the CEO of the company. The 32-year-old recently took to Instagram to post that he was looking for a rebranding agency with experience in visual identity and packaging. As far as marketing goes, however, with Tom Brady, he’s golden.

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This Vintage Rolex Day-Date Has an Ultra-Rare and Coveted ‘Bark’ Design

The ultra-cool piece from Wind Vintage also comes in pristine condition with a desirable patina.

By Paige Reddinger 17/02/2025

Over the last four years there has been a resurgence in interest for 18-karat yellow gold watches. Much of that is due to fatigue over the long-running craze for steel tool watches, but it is also in part due to the rising value of gold (which shows no sign of slowing), rendering these once undesirable pieces increasingly worth collecting. Add to that the fact that, in some niche and stylish circles, unusual bracelet treatments, gem-setting, and interesting dials are becoming increasingly appealing and you have a new wave of watch collecting emerging. Steel sports watches are still the bread and butter for most dealers, but as pockets of interest in more unusual timekeepers, often from younger and fashion-forward collectors, continue to rise we’re seeing some really fun pieces pop up on the market. Case in point: This 1980s Rolex Day-Date in 18-karat yellow gold with a sapphire and diamond dial from Wind Vintage currently available exclusively on The Vault.

It wasn’t that long ago that dealers had a hard time unloading an all-gold gem-set piece. Eric Wind, the notable dealer and founder of Wind Vintage, says five years ago he would have sold this piece for around $23,000 to $28,000. The asking price today? $45,000. “It is very rare,” he tells Robb Report. “I think that was all clearly hand-done. Funnily enough, bark watches were not very desirable in the past. You know, even five to 10 years ago, they were very, very hard to sell. But, over the last three to five years, there’s been such an emergence and interest in jewellery and watches and work like that engraving and other kind of artistic forms that the watches took.” The style of engraving he is referring to on this watch can be seen on the bezel and middle links of the bracelet that is referred to as “bark” for its rough tree-like appearance.

“Bark” engraving on the bezel and bracelet of the Wind Vintage 1980s Rolex Day-Date
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

And while the bracelet is certainly a notable feature that will stand out in a sea of Submariners and Daytonas, the dial is also worth bragging about. Its diamond minutes track and sapphire hour markers are executed in what is known as a “string dial” because it looks like a string of pearls. “They’ve become very popular,” says Wind. “They were very expensive back in the 80s, just because of the cost of the stones, and there are just not many that exist on the planet.” Likewise, Wind says the canary yellow matte dial is not something he comes across often, having only seen a couple of others.

An up-close look at the patina and “bark” engraving on this 1980s Day-Date from Wind Vintage.
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

Part of what makes this watch so hard to find on the market is that pieces like this often didn’t survive past their ’80s heyday. “A lot of times these watches were so undesirable that dealers would replace the bezel inserts and put on fluted inserts, or smooth bezels or fluted bezels and melt down the bracelets or polish the center link so they looked like a standard Day-Date. Those dealers should have learned that what goes around, always comes around. Now with these interesting Rolex watches on the rise, they’ll become even harder to find.

A Wind Vintage 1980s Day-Date with “bark” engraving and a gem-set “string dial”
Courtesy of Wind Vintage

If you’re interested in the piece and want to speak to Wind about it IRL, he will be at Robb Report’s House of Robb event in San Francsico today during the NBA All-Star weekend.

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Soccer Star Kylian Mbappé Is Now an Investor in Watch Marketplace Wristcheck

Just like Jay-Z.
Published on February 7, 2025

By Abby Montanez 11/02/2025

Kylian Mbappé just went from brand ambassador to investor.

The celebrated French footballer, who currently plays for Real Madrid, has taken a stake in luxury watch trading platform Wristcheck, Hypebeast reported lat week.

Off the filed, the 26-year-old soccer star is a known timepiece collector and has served as an ambassador for Swiss marque Hublot since 2018. With this new partnership, the forward joins a growing group of influential backers, including Jay-Z. The rapper and business mogul took an equity stake in the Hong Kong-based company last summer as part of a recent funding round of $7.9 million.

“I’m thrilled to join Wristcheck as an investor through Coalition Capital,” Mbappé said in a press statement. “As a Hublot ambassador and someone passionate about watches and innovation, I see Wristcheck as a platform that truly understands the next generation of collectors. They’re reshaping the watch industry with a forward-thinking approach that blends technology, transparency, and creativity.” Mbappé did not immediately respond to Robb Report‘s request for comment on his new business endeavor.

Kylian Mbappé is an investor in online watch shop Wristcheck.
Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Launched in 2020 by renowned horophile and Instagram personality Austen Chu, Wristcheck offers a platform for collectors to buy and sell pre-owned watches that have been authenticated by Swiss-trained watchmakers. Since it was founded, the company has raised more than $21.6 million in funding from investors including the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners GBA, and K3 Ventures.

Mbappé, meanwhile, has achieved remarkable success in his soccer career. He won the 2018 FIFA World Cup with France, becoming the youngest player to score in a final since Pelé. At PSG, he has secured multiple Ligue 1 titles and domestic cups. Individually, Mbappé has earned the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award and regularly features in top European scoring charts. And in 2020, he was ranked the world’s highest-paid player, surpassing rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

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Sotheby’s Will Put on the Largest Auction of Breguet Watches in Decades This Fall

To celebrate the revered watchmaking house’s 250th anniversary, the sale includes rare collectibles belonging to living Breguet family members.

By Paige Reddinger 11/02/2025

Interest in Breguet has experienced a quiet resurgence among savvy collectors who appreciate the brand’s deep-rooted watchmaking heritage. This growing enthusiasm will soon take center stage with an upcoming auction that shines a significant spotlight on the storied Maison.

Founded in Paris 250 years ago, Abraham-Louis Breguet was one of the most influential watchmakers in history, best known for inventing the tourbillon and the automatic winding system—along with many other groundbreaking innovations. His legacy continues to inspire modern masters such as F.P. Journe and Philippe Dufour. You can see Breguet’s influence pointedly in pieces like F.P. Journe’s famous Chronomètre à Résonance timepiece, voted one of Robb Report‘s 50 Greatest Watches of All Time.

Now, Sotheby’s has announced “the largest sale of Breguet timepieces in three decades.” Though the auction won’t take place until November, the auction house is already working to build anticipation. In the meantime, it might be wise to brush up on the most coveted Breguet references.

Breguet 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV Breguet

What may pique collectors’ interest is the sale is being curated in conjunction with Breguet and Emmanuel Breguet, the vice president and head of patrimony, who happens to be a descendant of the original Monsieur Breguet. So far, the only timekeeper publicly associated (at least visually) with the auction is the 1827 Perpétuelle à Tact watch made for King George IV. Still, it hints at the historic level of pocket watches, wristwatches, and clocks that will be on offer. Abraham-Louis Breguet was a frequent supplier of high-end and state-of-the-art timepieces for royalty, including Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte, and King George III.

Other highlights include an open-faced montre à tact (a watch that replicates the internal hour hand on the cover of the pocket watch via an arrow so that time could be read via touch) with a calendar and moonphase indications that was the inspiration for the Ref. 3330. A pendulette with alarm, perpetual calendar and repeater, and a two-color gold open-faced tourbillon watch is said to be a part of the sale, although no images were provided as of press time. More info on what will be in the sale will come this spring.

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