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  Ferrari - Niki Lauda




The young man from a good home showed little enthusiasm for the school, but more for everything that has to do with technology. It is the technique that helps people to move incredibly fast. For this, racing is a means, but also the aviation played an important role in his life.

The family was by no means on his side, rather the opposite. In summary, Laudas' career began at the age of 19 in 1968 and brought him into Formula 1 after only 4 years, and after another 2 years he became World Champion. The whole was financed by a financial ride on the edge of a razor blade.

Minor deviations from the career, as it happened, would have meant the 'out' of ever-increasing plans. However, the results were quite good from beginning on: With three class wins in the first 4 races on Cooper 1300 and 4 classes and a total victory in the next 9 races on Porsche 911.

Formula V, Formula 3 and Formula 2 continue, each time initially purchased with money borrowed from banks, partly refunded with start and price money. The name 'Lauda' may well have helped. But as already said, the family, especially his grandfather, has tried to prevent it massively.

It is probably the seriousness with which Lauda copes with his tasks, coupled with good preparatory work, which is by no means self-evident in this sector. Is the nickname 'computer' now a cousy or abuse? In any case, it interprets an ability to analyze and concentrate on the point.

And what did Ferrari have to do with it? Very much, although Lauda has only worked 4 years for this company. He took the attraction of the superiors and presumably also Enzo, who after each race receives much material for follow-up, when he drove at the GP of Monaco up to his failure round for round before Jacky Ickx in the Ferrari relatively uninhibited, although his BRM probably with about 50 hp missing was the significantly less competitive car.

In 1973 the offer of the completely over-indebted without a prospect of the next repayment is just right, but not only that. Ferrari plays practically in a league other than Lauda's former employer March and BRM. An important key position had Luca Montezemolo presumably in the approach of Lauda to Ferrari and in a lot of conflicts following.


Montezemolo and Lauda

He has advanced from the law school in the USA directly to the personal assistant of Enzo Ferrari. He was noticeable (free after wikipedia), when he took vehementaly Ferraris part by telephone in a radio broadcasting, which was about the crisis at Ferrari. Enzo had been listening. There seems to be something of a similarity between the personalities of Montezemolo and Lauda.

Montezemolo invited Lauda to Maranello, which was fascinated: 'A race track with automatic timing, with TV monitoring and computers. A comparatively huge plant, a lot of mechanics, engineers and administrative staff' (Niki Lauda - protokoll). Yet this potential had not produced any more world champions for almost ten years.

Unfortunately, Montezemolo's activity was limited to Ferrari's racing division only for one year, and then extended to the entire Fiat Group. But this is obviously enough to limit the concentration of Ferraris to the Formula 1, not least by an improved development by Mauro Forghieri through Lauda's critical test drives.

Nevertheless, the learning year 1974 is going down in bad habits, bad luck and breakdowns and then leads to an incredible advantage over the competition with the Ferrari 312T (for Transversale mounted transmission). Together with Regazzoni, the designer's title was taken, too. Time to deal with the relationship between Lauda and the Commendatore. Lauda remarks that his 'Ciao, Enzo' is taken up by the others as a lese majesty.

According to Lauda you can deal with Enzo Ferrari as normal as with a boss of a company. Only the communication to the chief architect Mauro Forghieri does need mediation by Montezemolo. Lauda could not match Forghieri in technical knowledge, but he almost helped technicians in the right way to find mistakes.

The catastrophe year 1976 with the spectacular accident Laudas at Nürburgring we only strip. Lauda says Ferrari did not have the necessary feeling after 38 days of his return to the cockpit. It is also the year when Lauda gave up on the race track in the last GP because of too much water and losed the world championship to Hunt with one point difference.

In 1977 Lauda, despite major technical problems, is world champion again, but the conditions at Ferrari have in his opinion so much deteriorated that Lauda changes to McLaren. For example, his chief mechanic Ermanno Cuoghi has been 'fired'. And so it came to the showdown, this time a somewhat harmless rufflacke of the Ferrari boss. Lauda had seen him much more hysterically. It is interesting how positive Lauda describes his feelings after the exit.









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