MAUTO – National Automobile Museum of Turin, Italy
Until October 11, 2026
The exhibition “Il Nemici del Drake” (“The Drake’s Enemies”), organized by MAUTO (the National Automobile Museum of Turin), takes an original look at Formula 1 from the 1960s to the 1980s, focusing in particular on British teams and their rivalry with Ferrari. In fact, “Il Drake” is one of Enzo Ferrari’s most famous nicknames in Great Britain. This nickname was given to him by his British rivals in reference to Francis Drake, a famous English privateer known for his daring, tenacity, and fighting spirit. It’s worth noting that Enzo Ferrari, for his part, referred to his British rivals as “garage mechanics,” in contrast to Ferrari, which was a “true” car manufacturer.
To explore this period in Formula 1 history, let’s rewind a bit. The FIA established the rules for Formula 1 in the late 1940s, and the first official Grand Prix of this new World Championship took place at Silverstone on May 13, 1950. Initially, the championship was limited to drivers, before a Constructors’ Cup was created in 1958, which would later become a World Championship. In the early years, F1 was dominated by the historic manufacturers, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati, Mercedes, and the rising power of Ferrari. Soon, British independent teams also entered the fray, though with limited success at first.
It was at the turn of the 1960s that F1 took on a British “flavor” with the emergence of numerous specialized manufacturers: Brabham, BRM, Cooper, Lotus, Vanwall… While a few, such as BRM, also built their own engines, most focused on chassis development, leading to several technical revolutions; the engine was moved to a mid-rear position, a layout that Ferrari would take some time to adopt (“The horses pull the cart, they don’t push it”, as Enzo Ferrari used to say). The exhibition opens with the 1958 Ferrari 246, powered by its excellent 2.4-liter V6 engine, but still featuring a front-mounted engine. 1958 would see the first victory by a mid-engine single-seater and the first constructors’ title, won by the British Vanwall.
Gradually, monocoque construction began to replace tubular chassis. And in 1967, spearheaded by Lotus and with funding from Ford, Cosworth unveiled its famous DFV V8. Powerful, reliable, and widely adopted, this engine would power most British chassis for about fifteen years, enabling many British manufacturers to enter Formula 1. The exhibition “Il Nemici del Drake” at the National Automobile Museum in Turin revisits this history, featuring 23 cars from manufacturers such as Brabham, Cooper, Lotus, March, McLaren, Tyrrell, and Williams, as well as lesser-known teams like Arrows, Theodore, and Shadow.
Among the models on display are several innovative Lotus cars, although not all of them were successful. The 56B, derived from an Indianapolis 500 single-seater, used a turbine engine, while the 88 featured a dual-chassis design made largely of carbon fiber, which was not homologated by the FIA following complaints from competitors. In contrast, the 72 was one of the most successful Lotus cars, introducing a sloping nose and side radiators, a design still in use on today’s F1 cars. In its black-and-gold JPS livery, the Lotus 72 is one of the absolute icons of F1 history.
Among the other innovative designs on display, the March 2-4-0 drew inspiration from the Tyrrell P34’s six-wheel layout, but this time featured four rear-wheel drive. Due to a lack of funding, March was never able to complete testing on this concept. This historical overview concludes with two F1 cars from the 1989 season. The McLaren MP4/5 dominated the 1989 F1 season, enabling McLaren to win the constructors’ title and Alain Prost to be crowned World Champion. After several difficult years, Ferrari hired John Barnard to design its F1 cars. But since Barnard refused to relocate to Maranello, the Ferrari 640* was designed in England, thus bringing the story of this rivalry between the Italian “pirate” Ferrari and the British “garage builders” to a close.
In addition to the cars, the exhibition features a Cosworth DFV V8 engine, as well as 28 helmets and 4 racing suits. The exhibition interweaves the history of motorsports with the stories of its icons, exploring the cultural and stylistic trends of the era in dedicated sections, with a particular focus on the early days of television broadcasting using rudimentary camera cars. The introduction of cameras enabled the broadcast of images and laid the foundation for the global expansion of F1. A selection of 34 photographs by Rainer W. Schlegelmilch, known as “RWS” and considered one of the greatest Formula 1 photographers, contributes to the narrative of this period of upheaval and development in Formula 1.
Race posters and programs, one for each year from 1958 to 1988, each from a different Grand Prix held on the five continents, add to the exhibition’s decor.
The Ferrari 640 is on display through September 8 as part of the exhibition “Monaco and the Automobile: From 1893 to the Present” at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo.
The photos on this page belong to the National Automobile Museum of Turin, Italy, no right of reproduction without the express permission of the museum.