In the same year, the circuit's management was entrusted to E.S.T.I. The following year the first car races arrived in the form of the Coppa d'Oro Shell ('Golden Shell' race), which was open only to sports cars and would see Ferrari and Maserati compete for victory, the Ferrari of Magioli eventually proving victorious. The first racing events were held in April 1953, with the GP Coni motorcycle race which was approved for the 125cc and 500cc Italian championship. Enzo Ferrari's own name was added following his death in 1988. Initially named after the Santerno River which borders it on the paddock side, the circuit was renamed Autodromo Dino Ferrari in 1970 after Enzo Ferrari's son, who had died of leukaemia in 1956. While the track layout itself is largely unchanged, little else would be recognisable to racegoers today – essentially, the circuit resembled the largely temporary facility it was, a simple connection of the roads and streets of a city suburb, replete with all of the hazards this brings. The original circuit layout travelled the familiar route alongside the river to Tosa, up the hillside to Piratella and Acque Minerale, before plunging back down towards the Rivazza. Also present were the Gilera and Moto Guzzi motorcycle teams, with riders able to achieve an average speed of 138 km/h. It was not until October 1952 that the first testing could take place, with Ferrari dispatching a 340 Sport for Ascari, Marzotto and Villoresi to try out, lapping at an average of 149 km/h. The first foundation stone was laid in March 1950, with Enzo Ferrari himself present.
Winning support for an autodrome under the guise of using the construction to help relieve unemployment, a series of connecting roads were created to form an anti-clockwise loop.
This linked the via Emila, where the Rivazza curve is now located, to the town of Codrigano, as far as the current Tosa curve. Four locals – Alfredo Campagnoli, Graziano Golinelli, Ugo Montevecchi and Gualtiero Vighi – who were all keen on motorcycle racing, saw the opportunity presented by the creation of a new road. In more recent times, the idea for a motor racing circuit was first promoted in the late 1940s. The circuit is in an area with long associations with speed – as far back as 80BC the Romans created an amphitheatre for gladiatorial chariot racing.