Dario Resta

Dario Resta at the 1914 French Grand Prix

Dario Resta at the 1915 Vanderbilt Cup

Dario Dolly Resta (born August 17, 1884 in Livorno , † September 2, 1924 near Weybridge , Surrey ) was an Italian - British racing car driver .

He grew up in England from the age of two and began racing in 1907. Resta took part in the Montagu Cup , the very first race on what is now the historic Brooklands circuit, in a 120 hp Mercedes . A few years later, it set a new record over half a mile at 95.7  mph (154.01  km / h ). He took part in Grands Prix in Europe.

Career in america

At the beginning of 1915 he was brought to America by Alphonse Kaufmann, an American importer of Peugeots , to drive in Kaufmann's Peugeot races. In February he won the American Grand Prix in San Francisco and later the Vanderbilt Cup . He was behind Ralph DePalma second in the Indianapolis 500 in this year after he led even in the closing stages of the race, but had to make an extra stop to get new tires. Resta won the first 500 mile race at Chicago Speedway on June 26, 1915. The following issue of Motor Age magazine devoted 18 pages to this race .

In 1916, Resta won the Vanderbilt Cup, the Indianapolis 500 , the Chicago 300, the Minneapolis 150 and the Omaha 150 en route to the AAA National Championship .

With the entry of the USA into the First World War in 1918, the number of races was reduced to a minimum. In 1918, Resta drove his Peugeot in Sheepshead Bay , Brooklyn , a small race in which only a handful of drivers took part. During this time Resta did business. He moved to Bakersfield , California with his family and became an American citizen. While in California, Resta built a small racetrack in Buttonwillow , California. This track still exists today and is used by racing fans.

comeback

At the age of 39, Resta returned to racing in 1923 . He contested his first race in Beverly Hills . He next started at the Indianapolis 500 but had to retire after 225 miles. He also took part in races in Europe again and came third at the Gran Premio de Penya Rhin in Montjuïc and won the Voiturette class at the Grand Prix of Spain. In 1924 he drove for Sunbeam together with his teammates Henry Segrave and Kenelm Lee Guinness .

Deadly accident

Dario Resta died in 1924 at the age of 40 in an accident in Brooklands while trying to set a new land speed record. Resta drove a Sunbeam. His vehicle's seat belt tore and a tire slit, making the vehicle uncontrollable.

This accident also brought his mechanic Bill Perkins to the hospital, so that he missed the Gran Premio de San Sebastián a few weeks later. Perkins was actually the mechanic of Kenelm Lee Guinness and was replaced by Tom Barrett. Barrett was killed in a serious accident by Guinness during this race. This accident meant that mechanics would no longer be present during the races.

Web links

Commons : Dario Resta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dario Resta. www.motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on July 23, 2019 (English).