Monthly Archives: April 2014
Varzi came back strongly after the war. But it wasn’t to last. Still his legacy to motor racing remains: it was at the Scuderia Varzi based in his hometown of Galliate and with his mechanics and under his influence that Juan Manuel Fangio first came to Europe to race.
Varzi and Nuvolari in 1946: their fierce rivalry frequently masked a deep mutual affection. Nuvolari, in his final days, would remember the friends he lost, but Varzi, he said, he missed most of all. Their rivalry split Italy in two, and pushed motor racing into the forefront of sporting endeavor in pre-war Italy.
Varzi and Ferrari enjoyed a testy relationship: it ended acrimoniously in 1934, before Varzi left for Germany with the Mille Miglie, the Targa Florio, and the Italian Championship all in his pocket.
Varzi at Bugatti. He didn’t win any friends in Fascist Italy when he defected for France in 1932. But Varzi’s allegiance was to himself and his career,
Varzi at the Mille Miglie: He always maintained the race was designed by sadists. He would do it until he won it and never again.
At Moto Bianchi Varzi and Nuvolari first became fast friends and faster rivals. They would become team mates again in cars in the late 20s at Scuderia Nuvolari, but that would last three races, and then again in 1930 as works Alfa drivers that would last half the season before Varzi would leave again. The greatest motor racing rivalry of the pre-war era…here with Zanchetta and Moretti and team boss Zambrini
Varzi, like Rosemeyer and Nuvolari, began his career on bikes, where a driver develops both his line and his spine. Varzi in 1923, at 19, and in 1926…
Alfa’s response to the Germans: Bazzi’s bimotore at the AVUS with Nuvolari. Two engines, at the rear, and the front, the beast pushed out some serious horsepower but never came in under the 700KG rule and could only be raced at the formula libre events
It’s the late summer of 1939: In three months the world would be at war, and German dominance of grand prix racing would come to an end. Here they are the last Mercedes drivers — Neubauer, Seaman (a week away from his fatal smash at Spa), von Brauchitsch, and Rudi Caracciola…
sandro-martini 