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NOTIZIE
MAURO FORGHIERI
Image Courtesy Paolo d’Alessio
C EL E BR ATING HI S 80th YEAR
THE FERRARI
LIFE OF
MAURO FORGHIERI
DOCUMENTED BY
PAOLO D’ALESSIO
On January 13, 2015, Mauro Forghieri crossed the threshold of eighty
years, many years of which passed as the
Technical Designer of Ferrari. Under his
leadership, in the span of time from
1962 to 1984, the Scuderia of Maranello
had won a total of 54 Grand Prix Championship races, four World Pilot titles
and seven World Manufacturer titles,
plus six World GT Manufacturer titles,
with wins at La Mans, Daytona and the
Tasman Cup, among others. It is the
record of what many consider to be the
most experienced Technical Director in
the long history of Ferrari. He was also
there for some of the most famous Ferrari racing events of all time, like the
158 F1 World Championship in 1964
with John Surtees, the 312 of 1975 with
the T transverse gearbox, or the 124 C2
turbo in 1982, not to forget the wonderful two-seater 330 P4 in 1967 or the 312
P “B” in 1972. He was also one of the
most charismatic designers in the history of Ferrari, and he is, in fact, one of
the “greats” of Maranello, who for over
two decades signed most of the racing
cars of Ferrari, contributing decisively
in creating what is now called the Ferrari
myth but which is, in fact, Ferrari reality.
A Safe Harbor at Ferrari
Son of Reclus and Afra Forghieri,
Mauro Forghieri was born in Modena
on January 13, 1935. The fate of he who
60
At Monza, Ferrari Enzo with Mauro
Forghieri, center, and Sporting
Director Peter Schetty, left, European
Mountain Champion with the 212 E.
will be one of the most brilliant designers at Ferrari was sealed for the first time
at the end of World War II, when his father Reclus began to work for the Scuderia, quickly becoming one of the most
influential mechanical engineers of the
racing department at Maranello. Meanwhile, the young Mauro finished high
school and then graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from
the University of Bologna, with a design
for a “flat” twin engine. Remembers Forghieri: “Then an engineering degree involved mostly mathematical work. When
I enrolled at the University of Bologna,
in 1953, among all freshmen engineering students there were only 600.”