Piero Taruffi

Piero Taruffi was born in Rome on October 12, 1906. He began his motorsport career with motorcycles. At the age of 26 in 1932, he won the 500cc European Championships which was no mean feat in those days. Five years later, he set the motorcycle land speed record at 279.5 km/h. He then moved on to cars and made his Formula One debut with Alfa Romeo in 1950.

That season, he started just one race and had to retire after 34 laps but his break came in the following year when he raced for Scuderia Ferrari. He managed a second place finish in his first race with the Italian team in Switzerland and came sixth in the drivers’ standings that season. In November that year, he and Alberto Ascari participated and won the Carrera Panamericana in the mountains of Mexico averaging nearly 90 mph over 22 hours.

In 1952, Taruffi set the world record for 50 miles in his Double Bullet race car. He recorded an average of 185.5 mph beating the previous record by almost 9 mph. Taruffi attempted the 100 mile record as well but his engine burned out after 98 miles.

In the first F1 race of the 1952 season, Taruffi recorded his first and only Formula One victory at Switzerland. He started the race second and also secured the fastest lap of the race. A third place in the Drivers' Championship was a just reward for such a talented driver.

Over the next three seasons he started just six races managing one podium finish in 1955. In 1957, he won what would be the last edition of the Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles). The race was marred by the death of a driver and his young teammate when a blown tyre caused their cars to crash into a crowd killing 11 fans. A 50-year-old Taruffi promised his wife that he would never race again.

Taruffi was the author of the book 'The Technique of Motor Racing' and held a few patents on car design as well. He was a supremely talented driver, engineer, Italian 500cc champion, international tennis player, Mille Miglia and Targa Floria winner and holder of 50 speed records on two, three and four wheels as well. This champion died at the age of 81 leaving behind a daughter who also went on to become a racer.

Saahil D