KEEPING THE SPIRIT ALIVE SINCE 1999
Sergio Mantovani
22/5/1929 - 23/2/2001
An Italian businessman who primarily raced for fun. Became a member of the works Maserati team and came third in the Targa Floria with Fangio. He lost a leg in practice for the Turin Grand Prix and retired from driving.
Sergio Mantovani died 20 years ago, he was 72 , He would have been 92.
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Mantovani was a successful young Italian businessman who went racing essentially for fun. He started racing sports cars in the early 1950s and in 1952 he finished second in class, sixth overall, with a Ferrari in the Bari GP, and second in a Lancia Aurelia in the GT class at the Pescara 12 Hours.In 1953 he shared a 2-litre Maserati sports car with Fangio to take third in the Targa Florio, and they went on to win the Circuit of Caserta. This led to a drive in that year's Italian GP, though he had to hand his car over to Musso in the race.
Realising that he had some talent he decided to enter Grand Prix racing full time with a new Maserati 250F in 1954. Juan-Manuel Fangio won the World Championship that year in a sister car and Mantovani managed to persuade the factory to let him become a works driver. He was both fast and smooth. He finished fifth on two occasions, the German GP and the Swiss GP at Bremgarten, and took third in both the Syracuse and Rome non-championship races.
In 1955 season Mantovani crashed while testing a spare factory car for the non-Championship Turin Grand Prix on the Valentino Park street circuit. He suffered serious leg injuries and complications developed. The unfortunate Mantovani had to have his leg amputated, which ended a promising Formula 1 career at the age of only 25.
After the accident he was fitted with an artificial leg and was able to walk again although he was forced to use a walking stick. His passion for the sport did not disappear, however, and he was actively involved for many years as a member of the sporting commission of the Automobile Club of Italy.
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Gus Schrader 1895 - 1941 -
Alex von Falkenhausen 1907 - 1989 -
Joe Barzda 1915 - 1993 -
Bobby Johns 1934 -
Pedro Diniz 1970
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Cesare Perdisa 1932 - 1998
Cesare made his mark driving a Maserati T200S sports car in 1954. He went on to drive for the Maserati and Ferrari works teams. -
Maria-Teresa de Filippis 1926
Maria Teresa de Filippis made Grand Prix history when she became the first woman to compete in a Formula One world championship race, finishing tenth in the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix in her Maserati 250F. -
Lorenzo Bandini 1935 - 1967
Italian Formula One driver who won the 1964 Austrian Grand Prix. In sports cars he won Le Mans (1963), the Targa Florio (1965) and the Daytona 24 Hour race (1967). He was killed in the Monaco Grand Prix in 1967 after rolling his Ferrari at the chicane while chasing Denny Hulme for the lead. -
Renato Pirocchi 1933 - 2002
Pirocchi was a pretty decent driver in sports cars and Formula Junior, winning the Italian Sports Car Championship in 1955 and the Italian Formula Junior title in 1960. He drove a Cooper-Maserati in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix finishing 12th. -
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.