KEEPING THE SPIRIT ALIVE SINCE 1999
Carlo Abate
10/7/1932
Won Mille Miglia in a Ferrari in 1959 and the Targa Florio in a Porsche RS62 driving with J.Bonnier in 1963.
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Born in Turin, for some reason his middle name was 'Maria'. Somewhat unsuprisingly he preffered to be called Mario!
He actually began rallying in 1955 with a FIAT 1100. Switching the following year to GT racing. He raced mostly for the private Italian team Scuderia Serenissima of Count Volpi, but also for Scuderia Centro Sud, Scuderia Ferrari and the Porsche AG factory team.
He won Italian 1300 GT Championship in 1957 and the following year he took the Italian Hill Climb title as well.
In 1959 he won the Mille Miglia driving a Ferrari with G. Balzarini and took the Italian GT Title again.
Over the next couple of year he won a number of GT races and European Hill Climbs
In 1962 he tried his hand a single seater racing, driving in the non-championship F1 Naples Grand Prix driving a Porsche 718 (203) the at Posillipo Circuit, Naples, finishing 4th. He then entered the Grand Prix de Reims with a Lotus-Climax 18/21 (912) but crashed out on lap 23. He had better luck with the Porsche in the Gran Premio del Mediterraneo at Enna-Pergusa in August that year finishing 3rd behind the Ferraris of Lorenzo Bandini and Giancarlo Baghetti abd ahead of the Lotus of Jo Siffert. He had planned to enter the French Grand Prix but withdrew his entry.
1963 was probably his best year. He again tackled a couple of non Championship Grand Prix and drove a Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper-Maserati T51 to 5th place in the Imola Grand Prix and to 3rd in the Gran Premio di Siracusa. He entered his Porsche 718 in the Italian Grand Prix but withdrew. In sports cars he won the Targa Florio driving a Factory Porsche 718GTR with Jo Bonnier and had a number of other good finishes and class wins in European Sports Car races.
At the end of the year he retired and became the director of a private clinic.
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Harry Grant 1877 - 1915 -
Willie Haupt 1885 - 1966 -
Fred Wacker 1918 - 1998 -
Tony Settember 1926 - 2014 -
Alessandro de Tomaso 1928 - 2003
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Roberto Bussinello 1927 - 1999
Veteran Italian semi-professional and Autodelta Alfa Romeo GTA driver. -
Gerino Gerini 1928
Italian driver who raced Ferrari sports cars in the mid-fifties, before switching to rivals Maserati. -
Ludovico Scarfiotti 1933 - 1968
The nephew of Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli, Scarfiotti captured the hearts of his countrymen with an enormously popular victory in the 1966 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. -
Giulio Cabianca 1923 - 1961
A very experienced and reliable sports car driver, Cabianca died in a bizzare accident at the Autodromo di Modena when testing his Cooper-Ferrari. The car left the circuit and was in collision with a bicycle, a motorcycle, a small passing mini-van and three parked cars. -
Luigi Musso 1924 - 1958
Winner of the Italian two-liter sportscar championship in 1953 and the Targa Florio in 1957. He also raced in F1 on occasion and won the Italian Championship in 1955. he was killed in the French Grand Prix in 1958.