For over forty years, this was the man who developed - and personally drove - the Ferrari prototypes that went on to become the Prancing Horse’s most iconic models. The story of Ferrari’s historical chief test driver, with some legendary characters, road and racing cars, special series and some unique vehicles, also with an eye on the Formula 1 single-seaters
Words Alessandro Giudice
Photography Alessandro Barteletti
Video Andrea Ruggeri
Archive Courtesy of Dario Benuzzi and Ferrari Archives
The colour red is very much at home in Vignola. In early summer, the pale pink of the cherry blossom painting the orchards surrounding the town for miles is replaced by the bright red of the Mora cherry, which crown's Vignola’s European reputation for its high-quality fruit crops. Yet despite his family’s farming origins and working the land, it was another shade of red that charmed the young Dario Benuzzi: that of the Ferraris that shot through town every day, before climbing up into the Apennine hills along the route that the “Cavallino” test drivers used to test the Gran Turismo cars. The young man’s career was, at least at first, also a bit of an uphill climb, that classic apprenticeship that started with the decision to leave the fields and the family tradition in a place where agriculture is sacred, to work in a small local workshop training as a mechanic. Not just cars, but also motorbikes, trucks and a few tractors. And then, the turning point: a friend started to work as a test driver at Ferrari, they spent their evenings together talking about engines, until one day fate winked an eye at the plane and the Panaro River, and this was his chance. Not to be missed, because precisely in Maranello they were looking for young new test drivers, and Dario Benuzzi (who got his “D” licence during his military service, on the icy bends around the barracks in Pontebba, Friuli, between Austria and Slovenia) applied.
This was the start of the most extraordinary, incredible, thrilling and engaging forty-seven years that a 25-year-old from Vignola could hope for.
“Just to say, training us to drive to a certain level, during the course we practised in some serious cars, a Dino 246 and a Daytona.” Curiously, Benuzzi uses the male “il” pronoun to talk about the Ferraris, and not the female “she” that is usually used when talking about cars.
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The selection was tough, and the trainer Roberto Lippi, who had a weak spot for racing, and even took a Ferrari 275 GTB on the snow-covered roads of the 1966 Monte-Carlo Rally, chose a couple of the would-be test drivers: one was Benuzzi, the only one of the two who could drive the Daytona sideways round the big bend at the Modena Aerautodromo, which was still open in 1971. “The first two years were spent mostly focusing on duration, at least 5-600 kilometres a day and perhaps even more, from early morning to late at night, testing the cars for the US market. When we weren’t driving, we spent time in the workshop, working on the engine carburation, and in the test room.” For Dario, working in the ‘Esperienze’ department, everything revolved around Giorgio Enrico, chief test driver, the man who decided who did what. In this situation, Benuzzi made his mark: for his professionalism and dedication, of course, but especially for his innate driving sensitivity, which allowed him to sense even the slightest sign of a malfunction, even suggesting potential solutions to the engineers.
When Enrico’s health began to prevent him from personally testing the cars, Benuzzi was called in by the management and moved from the “duration” tasks to “development”, putting him in charge of a new model. The project that crowned his new role at Ferrari was for the Testarossa, directed by the engineer Stefano Govoni.
“At that point, my whole world changed. I had to decide if an engine, a gearbox, a set-up was right for that type of car or if they had to be changed.”
They started from the “mulotipo” - a curious blend of the word “muletto”, used by the drivers to define a car on which solutions are tested, and “prototipo” - prototype, and then created the actual prototype, the most advanced version of the car under development. Model by model, in an average of three years, this process led to the much-hoped-for “approval”, the final thumbs up from the test driver to the company so that serial production could begin.
A huge responsibility… “Certainly, but also a very thrilling process. When you got to the end you wanted to start all over again, especially with some of the more particular models.”
Like the 288 GTO, which followed on from the Testarossa. Initially designed to take Ferrari back into the Group B competitions, it was developed by the engineers in the GES (acronym of Gestione Sportiva, sporting management, the racing department in Maranello), and Dario was always in pole position for the tests.
“It was a beautiful car, only visually related to the 308. It has a 400 HP engine, supercharged with two turbos and an intercooler and had some great but at times surprising thrust, it was a car to be driven with great attention.”
And then came the F40. “After the GTO, we didn't think we could do anything more, and yet this project came along and we all fell in love with it. I think it is the car that I had most fun working on in my whole career. Not the best performing, but certainly the truest: a prototype style, no electronics, twin-turbo, light and powerful. It’s the Ferrari that, if I could, I would have in the garage.”
Back then some people called him “prof” (professor), because all it took him was a quick drive round to understand what was wrong, but it wasn't always hunky dory.
“For the F40, for example, I wanted the brake to be harder than normal, so you needed a pressure of 50 kg and not the usual 30. This was to prevent the driver, reacting quickly in an emergency situation, from blocking the wheels and consequently swerving. A choice that apparently went against driving comfort, but was necessary for a car packed with power but without a vacuum servo or ABS, or even power steering.”
A delicate topic, this, as Benuzzi, being on the side of those who had to put powerful cars on the market, personally experienced the transition from analogue to electronic, passing through some of the major mechanical facilitations.
“Like the hydraulic steering (Benuzzi never calls it power steering…) which marked a major turning point, for Ferrari and for all high-performance cars.”
And not only those, we might say. “Sure, but in terms of speed, precision and sensitivity, the driveability hydraulic steering adds to super-sports cars can’t be compared to the advantages it offers normal cars.” Prior to electronics, which help, prevent and correct, everything was in the hands of the driver.
What is the secret for approving the perfect car? “You have to start from the assumption that the car isn’t built around you personally and your skills and habits, but must be suited to everyone. So if you're not sensitive enough to understand this, you’re in the wrong job. And then you need driving skill. When you take out a prototype car, you never know how it will behave and you need not the cunning but the intelligence to not overdo things, always calculating what could happen. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of things happen, even on approved cars. There’s always even a minimal warning that something’s not right, and you have to be able to capture that.”
Like the time when, in Fiorano, out on a demonstration run with a Chinese journalist, he felt something rough in the brakes and, two laps later, one of the front carbon discs exploded: “I was doing 230 km/hour, and the car skidded, I managed to hold her and get to the gravel on the side of the track. I looked at my passenger, who was clapping in delight. He had really enjoyed it, far more than I did.”
Electronics didn't change the testing methods. Every car is approved in “Race” mode, so without the interference of the electronic controls, the ABS or ASR: “The car must be perfect on its own without any electronic assistance, as this cuts in only when drivers find themselves in trouble on normal roads and choose to enable it.”
For Benuzzi, the work was always very hard going. Three or four models were developed at any one time, in addition to special cars, as happened with the F50, Enzo and LaFerrari, as well as racing cars, like the F40 LeMans and the 333 SP, with their ventures into the F1 world: “I always tested the single-seaters before they set off for a Grand Prix, a final check to make sure everything was OK.”
Benuzzi explains, and adds: “The Formula 1 is a perfect car: it brakes more and quicker than you expect, and its road holding and power are extraordinary. And what is great is that when you stop, there are twenty people all over you asking what’s wrong, and in just a few minutes they make the changes and you’re off again checking them. Fantastic! Drivers don't only need the ‘physique du role’, they also have to have quick reactions and clear-headedness. I remember I was a mess after ten laps in Fiorano, my neck hurt because of the G force that pushed my head outwards on every bend: it was such an effort keeping it straight!”
In addition to the control tests, for the F1 Benuzzi also developed the electro-actuated gearbox, which was an innovation for the time but not something the drivers were happy with. “One day, Piero Ferrari called me and told me that I had to test something very secret. He made me do a few laps in a single-seater with a manual gearbox, and immediately afterwards as many again in one with an electro-actuated gearbox. Aside from the initial difficulties in developing the mechanism, I really liked this system straight away: changing gear without having to take your hands off the wheel and holding it firmly made everything much quicker and more effective, as well as much safer.”
A life spent working with some of the world’s most beautiful and exclusive cars meant that Dario Benuzzi had to deal with some very extraordinary characters, including the chairmen who over time held the reins of the Prancing Horse. According to him, they all had one thing in common: a heavy foot, i.e., the tendency to drive very fast. Starting from Enzo Ferrari, of whom Benuzzi was particularly in awe.
“One day I got a call from Dino Tagliazzucchi, his historical chauffeur, who asked me to drop into the office in Fiorano because the Commendatore wanted to speak to me. I went in all worried, thinking that I had done something wrong, but he said that the brakes on his grey Ferrari 412 were hissing: ‘I already have to put up with the hissing fans because we're not winning the Formula 1, at least help me get rid of these hissing brakes!”
I did the job, took the car back and, to my surprise, Ferrari wanted to do a lap round the track to check that everything was OK. He was already 87 years old, he got in and set off. When he screeched to the end of the straight, I didn't think he would make it. He hit the bend, braking at the last second, then accelerated out and along the track. At the end, he said: ‘Good job, they don't hiss anymore’, then he called Dino and had the 412 put in the garage. He never used it again.”
Benuzzi always appreciated Luca di Montezemolo’s enthusiasm and managerial skill. “He literally changed Ferrari in terms of development, prototypes and the working environment. He was one of those who said ‘Benuzzi said so’ and this became the official approval for any change.” And did he have a heavy foot? “If I had to go out with him the next day, I always had a sleepless night. He was fast, nothing ever happened, but for me, sitting next to someone who drives fast has always been a problem.” Benuzzi also has a fond memory of Sergio Marchionne, underlined by that touch of sadness because of his unexpected and premature death. “He was a gentleman. I remember one weekend he had booked the track in Fiorano for a meeting with the managers of the American group. I sent 2-3 cars with the test drivers, and during the coffee breaks he had the guests do a few laps. On the Saturday morning, his secretary called me and asked me why I wasn't on the track. ‘Because nobody told me to be there’, I replied. ‘Mr Marchionne needs you - she said - are you available?’ I tell her no, I have a prior engagement with my wife, but if he wanted, I could be there the next day, on Sunday. ‘That could be tough, tomorrow morning he has a meeting at 7 and is leaving for Detroit straight afterwards, but I’ll ask’. She came back to the phone and told me, OK, he would be waiting for me on the track the next day at 9. I went in the next morning, he apologised for forcing me to work on a Sunday, and then had me on the track with a manager he had promised the thrill of driving round Fiorano with me to. ‘Show him how you drive’, then he got in the helicopter and left”.
Another fundamental character for Ferrari was Amedeo Felisa, the engineer who graduated from Milan Polytechnic, who worked in Maranello for 26 years, as Technical Director, then General Director and finally as CEO. He was first and foremost a huge fan, and sometimes would drive for miles in the cars being developed, just for his own personal and professional pleasure. Benuzzi worked with him practically all the time.
“He called me Ben, he would phone me and say: ‘Come down here to the machine and buy me a coffee, and there we would talk about cars, he would ask me about the problems, we would discuss possible solutions. On a couple of occasions, he would shout down the technical department, to get things done that I had suggested and that hadn’t been done. He was another one who said ‘Benuzzi said so’.”
And while the Ferrari top management all more or less put their efforts and their personality into developing a globally recognised image of dream-car legends, legendary enterprises and champions at the wheel, some of the people in Benuzzi's story had some other roles that were in any case profoundly linked to the company and his work. Such as Piero Ferrari and Franco Gozzi.
The Commendatore's son always had a thoughtful attitude and respected people's roles, and over time this brought him charisma and respect, beyond his important name. “A very nice person, polite and competent. He drove very well and was able to understand the car instantly. When I asked him to try a car, he was always very willing and happy to do so. We would head up towards Serramazzoni, and we exchanged opinions on the driving performance and dynamics. I remember at the time he drove a green 308 GT4, a Bertone”.
Franco Gozzi was a real character, a highly skilled communicator, Enzo Ferrari's undisputed right-hand man and a key figure in public relations. He would involve Benuzzi in a range of institutional situations, from presentations to the press to meetings with customers, from making videos and brochures of the models to taking VIP guests out on the track.
“Gozzi was an incredible person, he could solve any problem. There are many anecdotes about him. For instance, once we took a car to Montefiorino castle, near Modena, for an institutional photo shoot. The photographer wanted to take the car inside the castle, but it was slightly wider than the main entrance door, perhaps just a centimetre. So he asked the photographer which side of the car he wanted to photograph, and he said: “The right.” And he made me squeeze through, sacrificing the left-hand side of the car, which we had repaired later. When he wanted something, he would stop at nothing and nobody. Except for Enzo Ferrari, of course!”
Benuzzi met so many famous people that he has trouble thinking of special encounters. He mentions Lucio Dalla - “I often saw him on the Via Emilia, between Modena and Bologna, with his red Gloria, a 48-cc moped. Then Montezemolo brought him to the track and I took him for a spin in the F40” -, Eric Clapton - “when I asked for tickets to one of his concerts for Roberto Fedeli, who was head of the GT Ferrari and also a musician, at the end of the performance he gave him his guitar” - and the astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti - “she wrote me a lovely letter after I took her out on the track. She said that even though she piloted jets, when you fly it feels like you are still, but in a Ferrari you can really feel the speed.”
Another funny anecdote concerns Gozzi and a special visit. “He told me to get ready, because I had to take a beautiful woman out on the track. A black limousine with Bologna plates turned up and out got Bo Derek, accompanied by a beautiful young girl wearing a very light floral dress.
They were testing the Formula 1, and the mechanics all started to comment on the guests in local dialect: ‘I prefer that one, I the other, I would do that, I would do the other’, and so on. Gozzi left them to it as he explained the single-seater to Bo Derek, while the other girl watched on, smiling. Only when they were leaving at the end, Gozzi took the girl by the arm and led her to the wall in front of the pits where the mechanics were working on the car, and in dialect said: ‘Stop a minute, I forgot to tell you something: this young lady is not American, she’s from Bologna, and she perfectly understands ‘Modenese’ and everything you said!’ That's how Gozzi was, he always played the situation down, he had a wonderful spirit.”
Before we finish our chat, please explain one thing: what were the other cars on the market like, the ones you exchanged with the other manufacturers or the ones the “Competition Analysis” department bought with its own budget? “Everyone did a good job. Some were excellent on the track but then maybe out on the road, at the first dip they would jump, the rear would lose its grip and spin out. In the end, I’m sorry to say because I sound like an advert, but there is no one else like Ferrari.”
Always frank and precise, this is Dario Benuzzi, with his actor’s face, deep gaze and the awareness of having turned a passion into an extraordinary career. After millions of miles behind the wheel of some of the world’s most beautiful cars, he’s enjoying a life travelling with his beloved Miriam.
Do you miss your previous life a little? “There is a time for everything, even though sometimes I have doubts. For example, when I’m driving with my wife sitting next to me and she says ‘watch out there, go that way, take care the road’s wet’. So I get in my Giulia Q4 Turbo and take a drive out in the hills by myself. When I get home, I say, ‘OK, I still know how to drive’.”
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