Ferrari vs. Lamborghini: The Feud That Will Never End
It was I’m sure thought to be a good business meeting, a meeting of laughter, smoking and talking great business about cars and how to make them better. It wasn’t that, not one bit. Instead it was the start of one of the greatest feuds in automotive history. One that would provide some of the greatest cars to ever even be thought of by a human mind. It started out with Ferruccio Lamborghini, a tractor builder, going to try and meet with Enzo Ferrari about the Ferrari 250 GTO he purchased. Lamborghini was unhappy with the clutch that was in the car. Enzo was pissed off by this man, a tractor builder waltzing into his office thinking that he could tell him that he was disgruntled with something that was made by Ferrari. I don’t think that God himself could walk into the Ferrari home offices and try and talk shit to Enzo Ferrari. If God were to say “Enzo, I do not like the seats in your car, they are too uncomfortable”, Enzo would reply “God, I don’t like the quality of those trees over there, so go do what you do best and leave me to be the best”. Ferrari did just that to Ferruccio, which goes along with what Enzo always said, “the customer is not always right”. He told him to go play with his tractors because he obviously wasn’t meant to play with a Ferrari. Ferruccio right there vowed to beat him at his own game and went home to try and figure out what he was to do.
Ferruccio Lamborghini then realized that the clutch in his tractors was made by the same company that made Ferrari’s clutches. He was then able to fix the clutch the way it wanted to be and thus further entertained the idea of a Lamborghini car. He made his first real competitor in the form of the Lamborghini Miura, a car that would forever make Lamborghini seem more exotic and raw then Ferrari ever was. While Ferrari has been a precision type machine, Lamborghini has been that wild step child that said “fuck you” to everyone and came into town being a wild drunk and never living a day without careless fun.
With the advances in modern technology both Ferrari and Lamborghini have grown to be two very different exotics on a similar path to perfection and cars designed to outperform any competition. Ferrari has always been the more beautiful while Lamborghini surely is the more fun with all-wheel drive that barely works better but than to just keep you from killing yourself. Ferrari is the better race car while Lamborghini makes the girls happier in the pants. Lambo must have a design studio that has a quote over a wall saying “if it doesn’t make someone cry then it’s not a Lamborghini”. Lamborghini has some beautiful designs and their cars cut through the wind like a fart at a wine and cheese party, but Ferrari still is the better fundamental race car.
Let’s face it Ferrari will always be the more popular car and will always make people salivate at the thought of them. I personally love both companies and have a passion for both. I wish Lamborghini would get into Formula 1 and ALMS (American Le Mans Series) but I still don’t understand why they don’t. With the introduction of the new LP640 that goes up against the 599 GTB Fiorano I can’t wait to drive them both and tell you what is the better of the two. Ferrari does make the better paddle shift transmission while the current Lamborghini’s are a bit more comfortable and user friendly being owned by Audi and VW these days.
As long as there are people with money to spend there will always be a feud between Ferrari and Lamborghini. Just like the Chinese and the Japanese, they will always know that they are similar but never believe they should get along. Who is really better though? Will the feud ever end? Will one ever really triumph over the other? Sure one Lamborghini may be faster than a Ferrari this year but next year a Ferrari could be faster than a Lamborghini. Will either one give up or fold? What do you think?
–Josh
Photo taken from: Sergio Miranda
