Alfa Romeo

Where have the days gone that racing car drivers wore berets as a standard headgear? Great aerodynamics, oil- and dirt resistant and easy to stuff in an overalls pocket.

Attilio Marinoni (1892 – 18 June 1940), pictures above and below, was an Italian racecar driver from Lodi, Lombardy.

After World War I, Marinoni joined the Alfa Romeo racing team as a mechanic. He became co-driver with Giuseppe Campari in the 1924 French Grand Prix. In an Alfa Romeo 6C, he won the 1927 Coppa Ciano and three Spa 24 Hours in a row: in 1928 with Boris Ivanowski, in 1929 with Robert Benoist, and in 1930 with Pietro Ghersi. He was promoted to chief mechanic and test driver of Scuderia Ferrari between 1934 and 1937. He died when he crashed an Alfa Romeo 158/159 Alfetta racing car on the Milan-to-Varese autostrada.

Battista Guidotti (picture above) too raced for Alfa Romeo and became their first test driver after winning the Mile Miglia in 1930. From WWII till his retirement in 1963 he was the team manager for Alfa Romeo.