One of the great Italian gentleman racing drivers of the fifties, Count Giannino
Marzotto, passed away on Saturday 14 July at 84 years of age. He was the third
of five sons of Count Gaetano Marzotto, four of whom, Vittorio, Umberto, Giannino
and Paolo, were proficient gentleman racing drivers, only the youngest, Pietro,
didn’t follow his brothers down that road. Between them they owned a number of
Ferraris in the early fifties, having started racing, predominantly in Lancia
Aprilias, in the late forties. However, their father disapproved of them racing
those “red cars”, so they frequently had them painted in other colours, and were
not averse to changing bodies on occasion.
Giannino was the most successful and possibly the most proficient of the
brothers in racing, and amongst his successes he could count two Mille Miglia
wins, in 1950 and 1953, both times at the wheel of a Ferrari. Most of his racing
career was in Italy, but in 1953 he competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race,
where partnered by his brother Paolo he finished 5th overall in a works entered
Ferrari. He retired from racing the following year, to concentrate his efforts on the
family business and his other varied interests.
Enzo Ferrari in his book ‘Piloti, che gente’ had this to say of Giannino: “He was
an extremely quick driver; a youngster with the character traits of Varzi in the way
he could coldly calculate risk and chance, as well as for his seriousness and
grit… Giannino would have been an excellent professional driver – perhaps even
a champion.”
I was fortunate enough to meet him in 2009 for an article on his 1950 Mille Miglia
winning Ferrari 195 Sport for Cavallino magazine. This article appeared just a
couple of months before he passed away. A friend in Italy, Gabriele Artom, had
enquired whether I would like to accompany him, and the 1950 Mille Miglia
winning car, to visit the Count at his home to reunite him with a car that he hadn’t
seen for nearly sixty years. This came to be, and the following is an extract from
the article, which hopefully provides an insight into the man.
“A silver Mercedes-Benz estate car swept up the driveway to the building, and out
stepped the Count, cigarette in hand, a tall, powerfully built, imposing figure, not
at all like the jockey size race drivers of today. One immediately had the feeling
that this was a man of substance and power, even though he was in his eighties,
and had been in poor health shortly prior to our visit, he had an indefinable
presence, and exuded an air of grace and dignity as he greeted us graciously
with a firm handshake and a warm welcoming smile. After the general
introductions, Gabriele cheekily commented on the large ashtray sitting atop the
regular ashtray in his car, brimmed with cigarette butts. He asked him whether
he smoked when driving in the Mille Miglia, to which he replied in the affirmative,
adding that it was dangerous, but he still did it, and now I smoke as much as I
can, with a wink in his eye! The greeting smile broadened into a wide grin when
we swung open the doors to reveal his “mistress” of nearly sixty years ago, still
radiating her seemingly eternal youthful beauty. Any misgivings he may have
had about a reunion must have dissipated immediately upon setting eyes on the
beauty, as he talked animatedly (in Italian, so much of it was lost on me until
Gabriele translated later) whilst walking around her and caressing her radiant
body. He slipped inside to grip that slim wood rimmed steering wheel once
again, and casting his eyes across the dash panel, he immediately noted a
gauge suspended below it, saying that it wasn’t there when he owned the car,
and that the interior mirror was lower, also commenting that there was no way
that you could heel and toe with the pedal set-up as it was; what a memory for an
Octogenarian who hadn’t seen the car for close to sixty years!
By now the rain had ceased, so we were able to bring the car out of the gloom
into the hazy sunny afternoon, whereupon he noticed something else that he
didn’t recall being on the car when he owned it, the vertical extractor slots in the
rear side windows. Of course, once again he was right; they were added by the
current owner to aid cabin ventilation, although similar slots had been a feature
of some cars in the series. We then went to his office in the villa, where he
showed us some of the trophies that he had won during his racing career, things
that he had kept without any great thought, as he said that he always looked
forward and didn’t really reminisce. Only in recent times has he given any
thought to the past, but mainly as a legacy for the family, not for his own
gratification.”
It was an honour and a pleasure to have met him, albeit briefly, and I offer my
sincere condolences to all his family and friends
Keith Bluemel
07/2012
|
