25/3/1925 - 31/8/2007
Record updated 25-Mar-20
Brasilian driver who raced in the first Mil Milhas at Interlagos. He competed in the Mil Milhas 9 times winning on three occasions.
Breno Fornari was born in Rio Grande do Sul in Brasil and raced solely for pleasure.
His father owned a 1925 Model T Ford which Breno was constantly rebuilding just so that he could fully understand everything about it.
When he was 18 he moved to Porto Alegre to study at a technical college. Two years later he opened his own workshop in the Rua Sertório in the Navegantes quarter where he worked on just about anything including a number of cars that had been stored in the port in Montevideo.
He started racing in 1950 when he was 25. He turned out not only to be a good driver but his mechanical knowledge gave him an additional advantage. He started racing in the stock category, but when he drove in Carretera races he simply converted a stock car for the race and returned it back to standard afterwards.
In 1956 he was invited by Catharino to race in the first Mil Milhas at Interlagos. It was his first circuit race and they took the win. They won the race again in 1958 and 1959 becoming the first three time winners.
In 1960 the differential broke. Catharino went back to his hotel but Breno and his mechanics took the car apart welded it and returned to the race. Catharino heard about it on the radio and went back. They stil managed to finish 20th.
In 1966 he opened a Simca dealership and raced their cars in both stock and modified races.
He last raced in the Mil Milhas in 1967 but continued in other races until 1975.
In 2000, his son Alexander managed to find and buy his father's 38 Ford. He rebuild the car and in 2003 they drove together in the historic rally between Porto Alegre and Capão finishing 3rd.
His two sons, Antonio Miguel and Carlos Alberto Fornari, followed in their father's footsteps in motoring, as did their grandchildren Luciano and Zeno Fornari.
hr translated from Paulo Roberto Peralta