WTI Magazine #69    2015 October, 2
Author : Giovanni Verde      Translation by:

The whole world considers Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari one of the greatest racers of all time, an extraordinary sports champion, who marked three decades of racing, loved and admired not only for his sporting skills, but also for its deep human qualities. Tazio Nuvolari was born in Castel d'Ario 16 November 1892. Since the early years he is introduced to the world of motor sports, especially by his uncle, who has a great passion for motorcycles.

After the call to arms during the First World War, when he will be part of the Army Automotive Service, in 1920, at age 27 he gets the license of pilot of racing motorbikes. The decision to devote himself to the two wheels was due to lower costs than the world of racing cars.

Thanks to his friendship with Deo Chiribiri, pilot and co-owner of Chiribiri, Tazio quicly gets a place in the automotive world. In 1924, on the circuit of Tigullio, he is protagonist of a daring victory, with a race that gives him a big fame: Nuvolari leads a very tight race, often going out of the track and stopping, in some cases, overlooking the sea. A few kilometers from the goal, the detachment of a wheel of his Bianchi Type 18 makes him overturn in a ditch. The mechanic who was with him on board remains stunned and cannot even try to repair the car, so Nuvolari asks for help to the public. After having someway repaired the car, Nuvolari restarts and wins the race! At the arrival, the public attends to an unexpected epilogue: Nuvolari wins the race in a car practically on the rims and driving without a seat or a steering wheel, replaced by Nuvolari with a wrench, and with the mechanical still unconscious at his side.

Despite the huge popularity achieved in the world of motorcycling and the nickname Campionissimo (Big champ), Nuvolari is through the years more and more attracted to car racing, and during 1927 he prepares to break the exclusivity that bounds him to Bianchi. In the winter of 1927, Nuvolari decides to create his own team to compete in the various car racing championships. The season begins with a triumph for Nuvolari, who imposes his debut at the Grand Prix of Tripoli winning his first international success. Two weeks later he gets another win at Circuito del Pozzo in Verona.

The death of the great pilot Brilli-Peri in March 1930 leaves a void in the Alfa Romeo team. The Director General Prospero Gianferrari decides to hire Nuvolari, right a few weeks before the famous Mille Miglia race. During the race happens one of the most famous episodes of his career: in order to make his great rival Varzi believe that he was victim of a mechanic failure, Nuvolari turns off the headlights of his car and drives in the darkness, following the tail lights of the opponent, only to overcome it by surprise at the end and win the race.

After twenty years of success all over the world, loved by the people, partly because of personal misfortune, as the loss of both his sons at eighteen, Nuvolari begins to suffer the consequences of increasingly health problems. In 1952 he suffers a stroke that leaves him partially paralyzed. He dies a year Later, on August 11, because of another stroke.

In addition to the many citizens, fans and ordinary people, also Enzo Ferrari, founder of the famous car manufacturer, attends to his funeral, then declaring "As soon as I knew about his death, I went to Mantua. In the rush, I got lost in a maze of unfamiliar streets of the city. I got out of the car, I asked a shop the way to Villa Nuvolari. Out came an elderly worker, who before answering walked around the car, to read the license plate. He understood, took my hand and he shook it warmly. Thanks for coming – he whispered, moved. No other will ever be like that one".