These are the original build sheets for the Ferrari 375 F1 car

These are the original build sheets for the car that, according to Enzo Ferrari, “killed” his mother. Not literally of course, but metaphorically: the car that came to life using these very pages was the first Ferrari to ever win a Formula 1 race.

That 375 F1, in the hands of Argentinian hot-shoe José Froilan Gonzalez, finally beat the Alfa Romeos driven by two racers you’ve probably heard of (Juan Manuel Fangio and Giuseppe Farina), and gave Enzo’s fledgling race team its first ever victory. Enzo oforged his early racing career at Alfa Romeo, and so his emotions upon the 1950 victory at Silverstone were mixed, to say the least.

Still, it’s a hugely important car for the Scuderia. Fascinating to see these sheets, too: during a brief stint at the Classiche Academy (more of which you can read here), Ferrari let us have a poke around its archive where it keeps all the old technical drawings of every road and race car it has ever built.

Here, then, are the actual hand-drawn technical instructions laid down by Ferrari engineers on the 375’s construction. Amazing, aren’t they? We weren’t permitted to open too many – accidentally tearing nearly 70-year technical drawings would be frowned upon, one presumes – but it’s a very interesting insight into the archive curated by the world’s most famous Formula 1 team.

A library’s worth of – once more for effect – hand-drawn technical drawings exist in a little room piled high with red boxes. The original stamps used are there too. All the modern stuff exists in the digital world, so you won’t find a box with, say, ‘488 Pista’ on it. But the 166MM, the car that gave Ferrari its first ever Le Mans win?

Yeah, there’s a box for that, too.

Here's that 375, fully made-up and in the hands of Gonzalez.

And here's former Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso doing his thang in the 375 in tribute to the Argentinian's win.