Fabrizio Violati

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The Violati family founded their first mineral water production in San Gemini in 1889
The Ferrari 250 GTO with chassis number 3851GT, which Violati owned from 1965 until his death in 2010
Ferrari 330P with chassis number 0818 which was owned by Violati for a long time and is now in the Enzo Ferrari Museum Modena
The Ferrari 246 Tasman from the Violati collection, which has since been sold
Ferraris in the Maranello Rosso Museum in Falciano

Fabrizio Violati (* 17th June 1935 in Rome ; † 22. January 2010 ) was an Italian businessman, racing driver and Ferrari - Enthusiast .

family

Fabrizio Violati was born in 1935 as a child of the Violati family. In addition to extensive farms in Umbria, the Violati family owned the mineral water producers Sangemini and Ferrarelle . Fabrizio Violati graduated in geology in the 1950s , but later joined the family business. He became the general manager of the group and remained so until the sale of all family shares to the French food and beverage company Danone in 1987.

Passion for Ferrari vehicles

Violati's passion for Ferrari was aroused at a car race shortly after the end of World War II . With his father he attended as a 12-year-old the Grand Prix of Rome and watched as Franco Cortese on a plant - 125 Spyder Ferrari won the race.

He bought his first Ferrari in 1965. It was a Ferrari 250 GTO with the chassis number 3851GT, which he bought from the South Tyrolean gentleman driver Ernesto Prinoth for 2,500,000 lire (the equivalent of 4,000 US dollars or 1,400 pounds sterling , today 20,000 pounds sterling). The car was first owned by the French racing driver Jo Schlesser , who, with the GTO and his compatriot Henri Oreiller as co-driver, came second overall in the Tour de France for automobiles in 1962 . Next owner was Paolo Colombo , who in the car, especially hill climb denied and in 1963 gave him the end of the season Prinoth.

Violati became a collector and in 1974 acquired his second Ferrari with a 250 GT . A 250 GT SWB Competizione and a 330P followed . In the 1960s, the 330P was owned by the British Ferrari importer Ronny Hoare , who entered the car in sports car races through his racing team Maranello Concessionaires . Graham Hill won the RAC Tourist Trophy in 1964 . There was also a second final place in the 24-hour race of Le Mans in 1964 (with Joakim Bonnier ) and another victory in the 1000 km race in Paris in 1964 . The prototype was confiscated by the US Drugs Administration in 1982. The owner, Robert Murray, had been arrested for drug smuggling and Violati bought the vehicle in 1985 for $ 250,000.

The collection grew over the years. In addition to various GT models, this included a Ferrari 312T3 , which Gilles Villeneuve and Carlos Reutemann drove in the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship , and a Ferrari 512 BB LM .

Fabrizio Violati had a close relationship with Enzo Ferrari . With his support he founded the Ferrari Club Italia in 1984 . The big goal of bringing the collection to an official Ferrari museum was achieved in 1987. The aged Enzo Ferrari gave his consent to use the name Maranello Rosso for the Museo Maranello Rosso in Falciano . The museum opened in 1989 and housed Violati's entire Ferrari collection, including a 250 Spyder Pinin Farina that was once owned by Marilyn Monroe . In 2000 the exhibition was expanded to include 40 Abarth vehicles . After Violati's death in 2010, the heirs gradually sold the Ferraris in the collection, achieving record prices for the ten cars sold. The Ferrari 246 Tasman , with which Lorenzo Bandini finished second in the Monaco Grand Prix and third in the Belgian Grand Prix in 1966 , went to a new owner for 1,000,000 euros .

The 250 GTO was auctioned off at Bonhams, California in August 2014 for a record $ 38 million (38,115,000).

Racing career

The racing career began in 1951 with Violati Vespa - scooters . After he had perfected the ability to jump over several barrels on a scooter, he was hired by the Vespa management as a factory and test driver. In 1954 he won his rating class at the Italian Vespa championship .

The four-wheeled career began in 1959 on a Fiat 600 in hill climbs . In 1960 he had a serious accident on an Abarth 750 GT and had to spend several months in hospital to recover.

He only broke the family's racing ban in 1979 when he first drove historic car races and later competed in sports car races. He also financed the Scuderia Supercar Bellancauto in the sports car world championship and in the 24-hour race of Le Mans . In 1981 he finished fifth overall with Diulio Truffo in the 6-hour race in Pergusa . He competed twice in Le Mans. He couldn't finish the race in either of the two races. In 1980 an accident stopped him and in 1981 damage to the electrical system. In all cases a Ferrari 512 BB LM was the emergency vehicle.

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1980 ItalyItaly Scuderia Supercar Bellcantauto Ferrari 512 BB LM ItalyItaly Maurizio Micangeli ItalyItaly Spartaco Dini failure accident
1981 ItalyItaly Scuderia Supercar Bellancauto SRL Ferrari 512 BB LM ItalyItaly Diulio Truffo ItalyItaly Maurizio Flammini failure Electrics

Web links

Commons : Museum Maranello Rosso  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the story of Sangemini (Italian)
  2. ↑ About the sale of Ferrarelle (Italian)
  3. ↑ Racing history of the Ferrari 250 GTO chassis number 3851GT
  4. ↑ Racing history of the Ferrari 330P chassis 0818
  5. ↑ About the drug smuggler Robert Murray
  6. ^ Official website of the Ferrari Club Italia
  7. ↑ Sales prices of the Ferrari from the Violati collection
  8. ↑ Record price for the Ferrari 250 GTO
personal data
SURNAME Violati, Fabrizio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian entrepreneur, racing car driver and Ferrari enthusiast
DATE OF BIRTH June 17, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 2010