In 1966, the fastest car in the world hit 171 miles per hour. It was not built by a racing dynasty. It was built by a tractor maker — a man Enzo Ferrari had allegedly thrown out of his office three years earlier for complaining about a clutch.

This is the corporate autopsy of the most famous grudge in motoring: the disputed insult, the same clutch sold at two very different prices, the engineers who crossed the valley, and the Miura — the first mid-engined V12 road car — that made Ferrari look obsolete.

Was the insult real? Watch to the verdict, then tell us yours in the comments. The best comment gets featured in the next episode.

NEXT EPISODE: Saab — the aeroplane company that built cars like fighter jets, until General Motors bought it and killed it.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Ferruccio Lamborghini”; Britannica, “Enzo Ferrari”; Lamborghini Magazine / Polo Storico, “60 Years of Automobili Lamborghini” (founding, Sant’Agata Bolognese, 1963); Museo Ferruccio Lamborghini (350 GT, 1964); Museo Automobili Lamborghini (Miura launch, Geneva 1966; 280 km/h top speed); Museo Ferruccio Lamborghini human-heritage features (Bizzarrini, Dallara, Stanzani, Wallace); Ferruccio Lamborghini official site (“Bizzarrini, Dallara & Stanzani”, 2023); Hagerty, “Ferrari vs. Lamborghini Rivalry” (2024 — on how the clutch-and-insult story is told and retold); MotorWeek, “Ferrari vs. Lamborghini” (2024).

Music: “B-Roll” by Kevin MacLeod — incompetech.com — Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

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