The friendlier face of Ferrari

AN OLD MATE of mine, whose parents were Worcestershire farmers in a village just a few miles from where I live, tells a wonderful story from the early 1960s. Knowing him as I do, m absolutely certain it’s true.

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‘My mother recounted something that happened when I was away from home at boarding school in 1960-64.

‘A red Ferrari came to a halt on the main Worcester to Hereford road at the bottom of the drive to my parents’ farmhouse in Leigh Sinton. The driver walked up to the farmhouse to enquire where the nearest garage might be.

“He was met by my mother, who offered him a cup of tea whilst she contacted a Mr Cyril Dyson, the local garage owner.

The fault was rectified and, before going on his way, the visitor left his card and invited my mother and father to visit him and his car factory at Modena in Italy at a time to suit themselves. It was Enzo Ferrari.

‘Not being a car enthusiast, my father never took up the invitation. Perhaps it would have been more fitting if my father had met Ferruccio Lamborghini when he arrived home that day rather than Enzo Ferrari. Had it been a tractor rather than a sports car, then the outcome might have been different!’

Ian Smith, Worcestershire

Bouncing balls

In his article on Richard Trevor-Roper’s Singer Le Mans, Octane 232, John Simister states that the bouncing bomb that destroyed the Ruhr dams was a giant oil drum: This is not correct. The bouncing bomb was spherical.

The earlier trial bombs were indeed oil drum-like’ but were replaced by the spherical design when it was found that the oil drums didn’t bounce straight on hitting the water. This was proved in slow-motion film taken by Louis Klemantaski, the famous period photographer.

During tests, Klemantaski filmed the dropping of the oil drum version and showed that, when it hit the water, it dug in one side or the other and veered off line. This film is readily available for anyone to see.