Behind the Badge: Ferrari

Perhaps the most famous logo in racing is the prancing horse symbol of Scuderia Ferrari.

The badge is composed with three stripes of green, white and red bent over the top of a yellow shield with a black horse above the initials SF (for Scuderia Ferrari). Ferrari road cars employ a similar but rectangular version of the badge, minus the SF designation.

So, what's the history? In a nutshell, it was after Enzo Ferrari's victory at the Savio track in Ravenna that he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Count Baracca and Italian Air Force flying ace. Baracca was know for painting a horse on the side of his planes for luck. When Baracca was killed his squadron repeated the fashion but changed the original red horse on a white cloud to a black horse on a yellow background; yellow being the color of the city of Modena Baracca's birthplace and the place where Ferrari would eventually set up his factory.

Ferrari first used the cavallino rampante when he was driving and privately entering Alfa Romeos in 1929, again during the 30's on the Alfas that his fledgling Scuderia Ferrari campaigned, and continued he practice through the 40's when he was managing the racing division for Alfa Romeo. After World War 2 and his departure from Alfa, Enzo kept his cavallino rampante logo and applied them to cars of his own construction.

Interestingly, the black horse on a yellow shield is also the Coat of Arms for Stuttgart, the city in Germany where Porsche is located.