FABRIZIO FERRARI – PROFILE and VIDEO

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Born in Busseto, near Parma on the 4 July 1964, Fabrizio Ferrari is a compatriot of the famous composer Giuseppe Verdi and it is no coincidence that he still lives with his family in Busseto, where his private studio is also located. He is married and has a 16 year old son, Lorenzo, to whom he has already transferred his great passion for cars.

And with such beginnings in Emilia Romagna, the Land of Motors, it was fitting that he sustained the great Italian tradition: after graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering at Parma University and at the end of 1989 he moved to Modena, the recognized homeland of the supercars and Italian racing cars, to complete his specialization as a Stylist Engineer by following an in-depth course in bodywork and interiors, realised on the basis of the Lamborghini Countach in collaboration with the House of Sant’Agata Bolognese.

GALLERY PHOTOS (1988-2009)

His first experience as a car designer gave him the opportunity to collaborate almost immediately with various companies in Modena, such as Carrozzeria Autodromo (once a famous producer of buses), and also with the newly founded Bugatti in Campogalliano, Modena and Galleria Ferrari in Maranello. In reality, his work at Galleria Ferrari was mainly as an illustrator (designs for commemorative posters and postcards: the 100^th win in Formula 1, the 30^th 250 GTO, etc.), rather than a as car designer; initially, he also worked for a couple of specialist magazines, AutoSprint and Auto, for which he illustrated and described the innovations for the future models to be produced by the automobile companies.

Soon he was working as an illustrator for various Italian publishing houses and after only a few years, Ferrari also became a qualified journalist, passing the Italian Order of Journalists exams in 1996.

In the meantime, his work as a car designer continued with some novice prototype projects and one project in particular, which was conceived in Maranello with Ferrari mechanics, finally got him noticed and accepted into the circle of the House of Maranello where he also had his first experience as a teacher (1995-96). This came about at IPSIA A. Ferrari, Maranello, the professional technical institute idealised and founded by Enzo Ferrari that still trains future Ferrari technicians and mechanics today.

But Fabrizio Ferrari is certainly not the type of person to sit back and relax: his passion for cars has been burning inside him relentlessly since he was a child and finding himself immersed in the world he had always dreamed of, he made use of every possible opportunity, embarking on each professional adventure with same enthusiasm and desire to grow. And it was in this way that he also entered the glamorous world of classic cars which, as a designer, he had always loved, but first he would write a book for the Libreria dell’Automobile about the complete story of the last of the true Alfa Romeo coupés, the Alfetta GT and the GTV, and then move on to collaborate with the biggest specialist magazines in the classic car sector.

In this way, another of the connections fundamental to the professional career of Fabrizio Ferrari was made when, through Ermanno Cozza, he came into contact with Maserati. He had written numerous press reports about various Italian classic cars, quite often Maseratis, and during this period Ferrari also started to take in and fully appreciate the spirit of the House of the Trident, a company with which he would begin one of the most fruitful and satisfying partnerships of his career.

But, as the old saying goes, true love never dies and it is in this period (1996), an almost “epochal” year in Fabrizio Ferrari’s career, that he received the call from Lamborghini (since writing his thesis, he had always maintained some kind of contact with the company). It was Luigi Marmiroli, an engineer and Director of the Lamborghini Technical Department (who would also become one of Ferrari’s greatest friends, in fact their friendship still strong today), who had not forgotten Ferrari’s work on the Countach and as a result, asked him to collaborate officially with them as a car designer! Obviously, after gaining a lot of experience in different areas, much of it important and instructive in some way, this represented the opportunity he had always dreamed of and, without thinking twice about it, he threw himself in head first! His work with Lamborghini, at least as a car designer, did not last that long mostly due to the continuous unrest at the company in Sant’Agata Bolognese during that time (a situation that continued until it was finally bought by Audi), but it did bring about some very interesting results: some concrete, like the Diablo SV and, above all, the SV-R competition version, which was specially conceived for the SuperTrophy, the first one make trophy in the history of Lamborghini! Other projects, though interesting, never took off, such as the new SUV derived (in part) from the powerful LM, an even more extreme and exclusive version of the Diablo, the “SuperDiablo” ( with an analogous GT version for the International FIA GT championship, like the McLaren F1) and a “small” project, the L140 with a posterior Audi V8 engine that was a preview for the Gallardo project (the V8 would eventually be replaced by the V10).

The collaboration with Lamborghini, at least as a car designer, ended in 1998 with the official Audi takeover and the progressive, but radical, replacing of all the Lamborghini Technical Department managers. Nevertheless, Fabrizio Ferrari kept on working with the House of the Bull until 2001, continuing with a specialist course in bodywork design (as an external consultant) which was officially sponsored and supported by Lamborghini itself. Also as a Lamborghini consultant, he was involved in the digitalization of the Historic Archives, a duty which he performed directly for the internal Press Office.

1996 was a pivotal year for Fabrizio Ferrari, not only because of the call from Lamborghini (and his qualification as a professional journalist), but above all because, after having collaborated with all the major Italian specialist magazines and the most important publishing houses (from Conti Editore to Giorgio Mondadori; from Edisport to Arnoldo Mondadori, from Universo to Editoriale Domus) and after having worked with and got to know (first as a car designer and then as a journalist), the best and most important specialists, artisans and specialized companies in the Modena area, Ferrari felt more than ready to embark on a new professional adventure: the creation of the annual publication called Menu dei Motori!

At the beginning, it was just a stimulating and enjoyable pastime, nothing more: he began by securing the collaboration of the most famous and appraised restaurateur in Modena, his friend Lauro Malavolti (who also shares his passion), who willingly agreed to distribute the first leaflets in his restaurant. It then evolved very quickly into the only Italian magazine, exclusively dedicated to the world of Italian cars (see the story of Menu dei Motori – apart), to be internationally recignised.

Towards the end of the 90s, and above all at the beginning of the new millennium, the slope of Fabrizio Ferrari’s professional career began to level off and gradually become more stable until we reach the present, he was still gaining more fresh experience along the way of course.

In 1998, he began working with Editoriale Domus, the biggest Italian publishing house for the automobile sector. First, he was involved with Ruoteclassiche and then (from 2000) with Quattroruote too.

In 2002, after his long working relationship with Lamborghini ended (he had also been in charge of the Archives), Ferrari became a direct consultant for the major Italian Teams participating in the Ferrari Challenge, captained by Motor Service from Modena, a direct (external) emanation of the Ferrari Corse Clienti. In 2003, Modena University contacted him because it had recently set up a specialist degree course in Vehicle Engineering. Ferrari became their Professor of Bodywork Design, initially he was still working with Lamborghini, but very soon he would move on to an even more gratifying relationship with MASERATI.

Ferrari did not break off his relationship with the House of the Trident again, since the period in which he first began working with Ermanno Cozza (the second half of the 90s), their initial working relationship kept getting stronger until it became a true consultancy which today covers both the communications sector and the technical sector, touching on all of Ferrari’s various professional activities.

In 2003, Ferrari organized the first meeting with clients inside the renovated Maserati factory in Viale Ciro Menotti, on the occasion of the second Pianeta Modena rally sponsored by Ruoteclassiche and Menu dei Motori (it was the first time that clients had been invited into the new company building as it stands today).

In 2004, Menu dei Motori, which by now was in the ranks of Ruoteclassiche and boasted Fabrizio Ferrari as its Managing Director, would be practically one of the very few (if not the only) publication to officially celebrate (with the support and collaboration of Maserati itself) the 90^th Maserati!

In 2005, Ferrari worked as press officer for some of the Ferrari and Maserati Teams taking part in the Italian GT championships for another brief spell, while his working relationship with Maserati and Ferrari, also on a technical level, began to develop further by means of various stages and initiatives run by Modena University, where he still works as a Professor of BODYWORK DESIGN today.

FABRIZIO FERRARI – STYLIST ENGINEER, CAR DESIGNER, UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR AND JOURNALIST

APPOINTMENTS AND CURRENT ACTIVITIES (2009)

PROFESSOR OF BODYWORK DESIGN FOR THE SPECIALIST DEGREE IN VEHICLE ENGINEERING AT THE  UNIVERSITY OF MODENA AND REGGIO EMILIA

CAR DESIGNER –CONSULTANT FOR VARIOUS SPECIALIST COMPANIES AND TECHNICAL PROJECTS

DE TOMASO MODENA, CIZETA AUTOMOBILI, MONTECARLO AUTOMOBILE (MCA CENTENAIRE), AUTOMOBILI LAMBORGHINI, KITS AND ARTISANS (PROTOTHYPES)

JOURNALIST – DIRECTOR OF ‘MENU DEI MOTORI’ (single annual publication and website www.menudeimotori.com)

COLLABORATOR OF THE PUBLISHING HOUSE: RUOTECLASSICHE AND

QUATTRORUOTE

PRESS OFFICER FOR THE  FERRARI CHALLENGE ITALIA (TEAMS MOTOR)