On this week #41: Piero Taruffi

Piero Taruffi was born on 12 October 1906 in Albano Laziale, in the province of Rome, Italy. He was one of the most multifaceted and versatile figures in the world of racing, both on two and on four wheels. In fact, to this day, he is famous not just for his prowess on track and in road races, but also for his intelligence and technical abilities, which expressed itself in the extremely meticulous approach he took to understanding the behaviour of the machines he raced. He and his friend Carlo Giannini designed and built the ”bisiluro”, with which he set several speed records.

He was an exceptional student and good at sports, with racing soon becoming his overwhelming passion, partly due to the involvement of his father, who entered him in a regularity event that ran from Rome to Viterbo, which the 17 year old won at the wheel of a Fiat 501 S. For passing his school diploma, he was given a racing motorbike, with which he began to make a name for himself, racing while continuing with his engineering studies. His two-wheeled racing career really took off, and he won the 1932 Italian speed championship, as well as taking part in various prestigious international races, including the Grand Prix of Nations.

In 1931, he came to the attention of Enzo Ferrari, who took him on to race for his team. It marked the start of a relationship that had its ups and downs, a characteristic of the Italian's career right to the end. Ferrari entered Taruffi in a hillclimb on the outskirts of Rome, which ran from Vermicino to Rocca di Papa. He was not fully fit, still recovering from a crash in the 1934 Tripoli Grand Prix, which left him with fractures to an arm and a leg. “When I left the clinic, my calf was almost completely covered in a very thin graft, made up of 80 pieces of skin taken from my thighs,” recalled Taruffi. “My left arm had been in a cast for over two months and I could not bend it. I couldn't tie my tie but I could grip the car's steering wheel with my arm outstretched and that was good enough for me.”

Taruffi raced for all the most important marques from the Thirties to the Fifties - Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Cisitalia, Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and Mercedes, winning so many races, especially endurance events. He took part in 18 Formula 1 races counting towards the Drivers' world championship, winning the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix in a Ferrari 500, with a further four podium finishes, including a second place with Mercedes at Monza in 1955. At the time, there were plenty of important non-championship events and of these, Taruffi won the Ulster Trophy and the Paris Grand Prix, both in 1952, again in a car from Maranello. He had an impressive endurance racing palmares, including landmark wins in the 1954 Targa Florio at the wheel of a Lancia D24, the 1951 Carrera Panamerica, sharing a Ferrari 212 Inter with Luigi Chinetti, the Nurburging 1000 Km, teamed with Harry Schell, Jean Behra and Stirling Moss in a Maserati 300 S and the 1955 Giro di Sicilia in a Ferrari 118 LM.

Today, Taruffi's name is inextricably linked to the Mille Miglia race. From 1930 to 1956, he had taken part 15 times, without success. His best results were a third place in 1933 with an Alfa Romeo entered by Scuderia Ferrari and class wins in 1934 (Maserati) and 1938 (Fiat). Then, in 1957 at the age of fifty, the “Silver Wolf” as he was nicknamed after competing in the Carrera Panamerica, because of his prematurely grey hair, was beginning to feel his age, while his family were pressing him to give up racing and the risks it entailed. But there was still one dream to realise and Enzo Ferrari provided him with a 315 S to try one more time, with the understanding that, should he win, he would retire. The cars from Maranello dominated the event, claiming the top three places at the Bologna time control with Peter Collins in the lead followed by Taruffi and Wolfgang von Trips. Ferrari was true to his word. “When he arrived, he told me he was feeling really tired,” he recounted in his book, “Piloti, che gente.” “He added that his car was no longer running as well as in the first part of the race. I reassured him: ‘you have to continue, because you can win.' I immediately informed him that Collins had gone past but was having mechanical difficulties. That only left Von Trips on his tail and I said he could go and I would speak to him. Von Trips respected the order even when he had Taruffi in his sights and caught him, but he refrained from fighting him which could have ended with one or both of them being eliminated. And so Taruffi, at the very last and glorious Mille Miglia (the race was banned after this because of a tragic accident in Guidizzolo. Editor's note) fulfilled his dream of being the complete driver. And he also kept his promise to his wife, Isabella.” It was an example of Ferrari's application of team orders, which with his scheming nature, he would often take the opportunity to point out. “In an interview years later, he said he had fought a fierce duel with Von Trips who wanted to overtake him at all costs. By then, Von Trips had passed away at Monza in the accident with Clark…”

Apart from his life as a racing driver and engineer, Taruffi also wrote technical books and race driving manuals. One of his best known works is “The Art of Driving” in which he explains in detail the techniques required to tackle corners and various race situations. This book became required reading for young racers at the time and, even today, it is still considered a valuable resource to understand the dynamics of race driving. He was not only a successful racer and innovative engineer, he was also deeply respected in the world of motorsport, for his integrity and sportsmanship. After he retired from racing, he stayed involved in that world through his technical work and writing. He died on 12 January 1988.