Royal Ferraris

When Enzo Ferrari began building cars under his own name in 1947 he built racecars, satisfying a pent up desire he harbored through the war years to return to competition on his own terms as soon as possible following the hostilities. To those who knew him, this was not unexpected since Ferrari had been involved in motor racing all his adult life going back to the 1920s, first as a driver and then as a successful team manager running Alfa Romeos, so racing was in his blood.

It didn’t take long before his small but quick cars were producing victories. On May 25, 1947, Franco Cortese recorded Ferrari’s first win driving a little 1.5-liter V12 model identified as a 125 Sport (chassis number 01 C) on the Caracalla circuit in the Rome Grand Prix. Hardly three months old, that same car with Cortese driving won again a week later at Vercelli, and before the year was out Ferrari drivers chalked up five more important wins in 1.5- and 2.0-liter 12-cylinder machines.