Ferrari: Race to Immortality Page #4

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unofficial lap record at any given time

is quite difficult to fathom now.

But, for whatever reason,

it was very important

and particularly to Enzo Ferrari.

Maserati had just broken

the lap record there.

Mr Ferrari wasn't happy with that.

He wanted Ferrari

to hold the lap record there.

And either spoken or tacitly,

Castellotti was expected

to go out and break the lap record

in the developing new car.

Castellotti was summoned

back from Florence

and it wasn't a request,

it was a demand.

And much against his will,

he came back to Milan

and went out to Modena,

got in the car late afternoon

and was killed.

He either suffered a brake failure

or the throttle stuck open

and the Ferrari rode over the curbs,

flew into the air and began to roll

and it went into

a little concrete-built grandstand

and it ended up in the top row

at the back of the grandstand.

And Castellotti, very sadly,

had been thrown out of the car

and he was rushed to hospital

and it was too late.

There was no saving him.

The thing that troubles us

is when somebody gets killed

because the steering arm broke

or because the wheel came off

and that worries us a lot because then

you think if it happened on that car

and I have to drive the same type

of car, it could very well happen to me.

I don't think Ferrari really

was capable of having relationships.

I think he was a guy

that was just driven

to do what he had

to do in motor racing,

and that was build cars

that were capable of winning

and to find drivers

that were capable of driving them

and what happened happened.

Collins was in the office

with Enzo Ferrari when the phone rang.

It was with the news

that Castellotti had been killed.

The old man said,

"Oh, non, non, Castellotti morto."

And then, "E la macchina?"

"And how's the car?"

Not everyone finds you agreeable.

You're often accused of being

a dictator. What do you think?

If by dictator,

you mean demanding from others,

the utmost commitment to their job,

they definitely have a point.

Ferrari was a man I admired in some ways

and thought he was appalling in others.

I think success

was important to Ferrari.

But success because it showed that

he was one better than the other guy.

Ultimately, it was about Ferrari

and Ferrari had been around now,

in some form or another,

since the turn of the century almost.

And the reason Ferrari is

the biggest brand in the world today,

bigger than Formula One,

in motor racing terms,

and the reason people think

about Ferrari the way they do

is because it ultimately is

about the car and not the driver.

Mr Ferrari became

absolutely well aware very early on

that his favored sport was a killer.

If you visit

the cemetery as often as I do,

you'll find yourself staring

into the majestic face of death.

What can you think in that moment?

"All those worries,

all those issues, all those fights

to just end up here."

Well, what kind of guy is Ferrari?

Well, Ferrari is a dictator.

If he doesn't like you,

he won't sell you a car.

But as far as I'm concerned,

he's a wonderful guy.

Why do you race?

Because I want

to be champion of the world.

Life to me is a wonderful thing

and even if I live to be 100,

I still won't be able to do

a 20th of all the things I want to do

and read all the books I want to read.

And I plan to get the most out of it,

but I have no time to lose.

Fon Portago I knew quite well.

Because I saw him...

I was living in France at the time

and he was one of the people

one saw regularly in Paris.

He could do anything, Portago.

He liked doing dangerous things.

Everybody,

no matter how wealthy they are,

who drives

aims to become a professional driver.

All you must have

is respect for the car.

I have enormous respect

for the Grand Prix Ferrari.

And I realize that if I treat it badly,

it can very easily kill me.

Well, every driver believes

it can never happen to him.

I know it won't happen to me.

Inside me, I know it won't happen to me.

The Mille Miglia was a 1,000-mile race

around Italy on normal roads

with millions of spectators

lining the roads

and it was incredibly dangerous.

Fon de Portage was driving a Ferrari

that was one of the most powerful cars

in the race, so he would

have been expected to do well.

It was actually a race he detested

and he didn't want to do that year,

but Ferrari insisted.

He was embroiled at that time

in a sort of mad, passionate affair

with this American actress,

Linda Christian,

and at one of the control points

on the race,

Portago came in, took on fuel

and he had his card stamped.

One of the mechanics noticed

the rear bodywork was damaged

and was actually folded over

and it was very, very close to the tire.

They wanted to change the tire

and Portago, you know, by all accounts,

just waved them away.

"No, no, no.

We haven't got time for all that."

Then saw Linda Christian.

She came over

and there was this passionate kiss,

having said there's no time to try

and get the bodywork away from the tire.

Then he got on his way again.

In the closing stages of the race,

when at a place called Guidizzolo,

almost within sight

and earshot of the finish,

a tire burst on the car.

The car left the road, somersaulted,

hit the bank and disintegrated.

De Portage was killed. Edmund Nelson,

his navigator, was also killed.

Nine spectators were killed.

Five of them were children,

which made it particularly shocking.

He died in the pursuit of a career

to which he had given

all his time and energy

and that great competitive spirit,

which made him what he was.

That he should be killed

on the threshold

of a magnificent racing career

is a great loss to racing

and to the world of people who still

retain an ounce of romance in them.

By the very nature of their lives,

people like Portage do not die in bed.

Their flags remain flying

on the many competitive fields

where they enjoyed their

greatest triumphs to the very end.

It was not uncommon in

the 1950s for spectators to be killed,

but this one, it was the five children

that made the difference.

For Enzo Ferrari, this was a moment

when he had to dig very, very deep.

The Mille Miglia was never run again.

That was one thing.

But beyond that

there was a manslaughter charge.

There was an air of revulsion

and the Vatican was horrified.

Do you feel

any responsibility or a moral burden

when these tragedies happen?

I question myself profoundly.

How do you feel

when one of yours dies?

Do you feel like quitting?

I feel many things.

Too many things.

For instance,

the frightening fragility

of the human existence.

Mike Hawthorn

had a congenital kidney problem.

He would have days where he would

be very pale and sweaty and weak

and it showed.

If he had gone public,

he risked not getting a competition

license on medical grounds.

That was brushed under the carpet

somewhat carefully

by saying, "I have a chronic condition

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