Ferrari – A Heritage of Racing

Any automotive racing history artist documenting racing history through their art will be asked why there are so many Ferrari subjects featured.




A quick look at the Formula 1 history quickly explains the reason; Ferrari has been the Formula 1 Constructors Champion for a total of 16 times!!


The 2nd most wins comes from the Williams Team with 9 Constructors titles.



Ferrari also dominated sports/GT racing from the late 1940’s into the mid-1960’s.



Enzo Ferrari’s passion for racing is well-documented; his primary reason for selling road cars was the finance his racing endeavours.


That Ferrari passion runs deep in the hearts of us automotive artists too!!

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Circuito Di Modena Grand Prix 1934

At the beginning of the season, Tazio Nuvolari was recovering from a crash in Alessandria. Once he was back in form, Ettore Bugatti offered him the Type 59, which Nuvolari disliked (poor brakes and acceleration). He chose instead to take his skills to the Maserati team, driving their somewhat under-classed 8CM.

This car did not do well for him, finishing very few races he started.

For the Italian Grand Prix, Nuvolari debuted a promising new model, the 6C-34. It ran a 3.7 litre supercharged straight-six cylinder engine giving it 270 bhp, good for 155 mph (250 kph).

Unfortunately for Nuvolari, the mechanics forgot to refill the break-reservoir so that he raced without his breaks, yet he still finished 5 ^th!

For most of the remainder of the season, the Maserati team worked very hard to find reliability in the new car, with little success.

Pen&ink, markers and pencil on white archival stock

© Paul Chenard 2011

The true potential of the 6C-34 came to the front at the Modena Grand Prix. Nuvolari came against the full might of the Scuderia Ferrari team, passing each one to finally take the lead from Varzi, and merrily thumbing his nose at Ferrari as he won.

Nuvolari would follow this up with another win at the Circuito di Napoli race. This was the last official race of European racing season.

Buon compleanno, signor Ferrari!

Officially, today is Enzo Ferrari’s birthday, records showing that he was born this day 113 years ago.

In actual fact, he was born two days earlier, February 18^th on the outskirts of Modena, during a bitter winter storm. The storm delayed the registration of his birth, and so it came to be the later date.

Buon compleanno, signor Ferrari!

Jaguar E-Type 50th Anniversary

The sports car that some consider the most alluring in the world is celebrating it’s 50^th anniversary this year.

The late Malcolm Sayer’s stunning design completely wowed the public and the media at it’s launch in 1961; even Enzo Ferrari called it “ the most beautiful car in the world.”

The E-Type’s looks, cost, and performance were completely unmatched in it’s day, and it still easily draws a crowd today.

Pen&ink and Prismacolor pencils on green archival paper

© Paul Chenard 2011

Historic Car Art has asked me to create an artwork to honour the E-Type; it will be presented at Race Retro in late February.

Limited editions of this piece are also available.

The 1961 Formula 1 Season – Battle Plans

The 1961 Formula 1 season introduced new rules, including a 1.5 litre engine capacity. By that time, all the teams had switched to the rear-engined configuration.

Black & white pen&ink (14"x 11), digitally painted, available as a limited edition.

© Paul Chenard 2010 

Some teams choose to drag their feet, and protest the engine-capacity changes, but Ferrari started up development by the end of 1960, working from their Formula 2 racers.

In the sketch, designer Carlo Chiti has testing done on the new Ferrari 156 (1.5 litre, 6 cylinder) F1 racer. Assisting him is young engineer Mauro Forghieri, as Enzo Ferrari looks on.


The car was very successful, and Ferrari took the Formula 1 World Constructors Championship, with American driver Phil Hill taking the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.

Black & white pen&ink (14"x 11), digitally painted, available as a limited edition signed by Phil Hill.

© Paul Chenard 2007


The following season was less successful for Ferrari, with the other teams finally catching up. The BRM team (British Racing Motors) took the Championship, with the Drivers’ Championship going to Graham Hill driving the BRM P56 V8.

Interestingly, by October 1962, Ferrari's disgruntled employees, stirred up by Mrs. Ferrari in a face-slapping incident, left the company "en masse", lead by Carlo Chiti in the famous "Palace Revolt". Most of them joined him at the ill-fated ATS, including World Champion Phil Hill.

The young Forghieri replaced Chiti as chief of the technical department for racing cars. Under his guidance, Ferrari won four Formula 1 World Constructors Championships; 1964, 1975, 1977, and 1979.

After ATS, Carlo Chiti went to Autodelta (Alfa Romeo), then Brabham; he passed away in 1994 in Milan. Mauro Forghieri left Ferrari in 1987 to join Lamborghini.

Tazio Nuvolari - Targa Florio 1932

Pen & ink and Prismacolor pencils on Strathmore Steel Gray archival stock, image 10"x 22"
© Paul Chenard 2009

Tazio Nuvolari was a driver of great passion, and drove with his heart and his head.

For the 1932 Targa Florio, he drove an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza, prepared for him by the Alfa Romeo racing team manager Enzo Ferrari.

The diminutive Nuvolari wanted riding mechanic smaller than he, so enlisted a new and inexperienced Ferrari mechanic Paride Mambelli to ride with him. He told the young mechanic to duck down low for tricky turns. For the race, Nuvolari drove as Nuvolari always drove and they won.

After the race, Ferrari asked the young man how it went, and he told him that he stayed ducked down for the whole race and basically missed it.

Private collection
Limited editions are vailable.