Giovanni Bracco

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Giovanni Bracco at the wheel of a Bandini 1100 Sport in New York in 1950

Giovanni Bracco (born June 6, 1908 in Biella ; † August 6, 1968 there ) was an Italian racing car driver .

Career

Giovanni Bracco was already active in touring car racing before World War II . In Italy he was one of the fastest pilots on the Lancia Aprilia . He also consolidated his reputation as one of the best mountain climbers of his era before the war.

In 1947 he contested his first Mille Miglia and, together with Renato Balestrero, finished ninth in the overall standings in a Fiat 1100 S Berlinetta . In September 1947, a disaster struck when Bracco lost control of his Delage at a racing meeting in Modena and raced into the audience. Five people were killed and many injured. Bracco then almost completely withdrew from racing for three years. He tried to make a comeback at a race in Pescara in 1948, but the crowds, who, as always, were close to the racetrack, put him off. He gave up the race after only two laps and passed the wheel to Alberto Ascari . However , he was able to win the Coppa d'Oro delle Dolomiti , which had recently been driven out .

In 1950 he began racing again regularly. At the Mille Miglia he finished fourth with Umberto Maglioli as a partner in a Ferrari 166MM . A year later he finished second in this race after a spectacular drive in a Lancia Aurelia , beaten only by Luigi Villoresi in a Ferrari 340 America . In 1951 he also contested his only 24-hour race at Le Mans . He was twelfth overall and won the class for touring cars up to 2 liters.

He became aware of him through his excellent drive from the previous year, and Enzo Ferrari gave him a factory Ferrari 250S for the 1952 Mille Miglia . The race turned into a great duel between the Scuderia and the regained German racing teams. There were Porsche , with race director Huschke von Hanstein and Mercedes-Benz, led by Alfred Neubauer . Mercedes brought the new 300SL to the start. In addition to Karl Kling, the two prewar stars of the Silver Arrows, Rudolf Caracciola and Hermann Lang, were at the start as drivers . The English were not absent either. Stirling Moss drove the Jaguar C-Type with its disc brakes . For the Scuderia, in addition to Bracco (according to eyewitnesses, the chain smoker who enjoyed drinking had a bottle of cognac in a special holder in the car and smoked four boxes of Chesterfield while driving), the brothers Marzotto, Piero Taruffi and Eugenio Castellotti entered the race. In Ravenna Bracco was five minutes ahead of Kling, who took the lead at the turn in Rome. Taruffi fought his way through the field with the heavy 340 America Spider, was in the lead in Siena before he had to give up in Castellina di Chianti with a broken universal joint on the drive shaft. Enzo Ferrari now put everything on Bracco, who got all the support. After a breakneck drive he overtook Kling and won his 250 sport with a lead of four minutes. There was a cheer all over Italy. Giovanni Bracco was the new folk hero. He also won the Coppa Acerbo in 1952 and was the favorite in the Carrera Panamericana with Alberto Ascari .

After the first stage, however, the French Jean Behra led on a Gordini in front of Bracco and Karl Kling. On the second stage, Behra had an accident and Bracco took the lead. Before the start of the third stage, there was an act of great sportiness. Through journalist Günther Molter, Bracco had a stunned Mercedes team informed that there was no longer any point in driving fast because his car was suffering from major technical problems and would soon break down. In fact, a few kilometers after the start of the last stage, the Ferrari's power transmission failed and victory went to Mercedes.

His career ended after a serious accident with the Targa Florio in 1954 . Although he drove a few races with privately entered Ferraris, he never really recovered from the accident.

Private

Bracco was a prime example of the gentleman's driver of the 1950s. The chain smoker smoked up to three packs of cigarettes a day. The bon vivant who was said to have had many affairs with beautiful women and Gourmet was a regular feature in the gossip columns of the Italian media.

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate placement Failure reason
1951 ItalyItaly Scuderia Ambrosiana Lancia Aurelia B20 GT ItalyItaly Giovanni Lurani Rank 12 and class win

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season team race car 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th
1953 Scuderia Ferrari
Lancia
Ferrari 250MM
Lancia D20
Lancia D23
United StatesUnited States SEB ItalyItaly MIM FranceFrance LEM BelgiumBelgium SPA GermanyGermany ONLY United KingdomUnited Kingdom RTT MexicoMexico CAP
DNF DNF DNF
1954 Hotel del Prado Ferrari 750 Monza ArgentinaArgentina BUA United StatesUnited States SEB ItalyItaly MIM FranceFrance LEM United KingdomUnited Kingdom RTT MexicoMexico CAP
DNF
1955 Maserati Maserati 200S ArgentinaArgentina BUA United StatesUnited States SEB ItalyItaly MIM FranceFrance LEM United KingdomUnited Kingdom RTT ItalyItaly TAR
DNF
1956 Porsche 550 ArgentinaArgentina BUA United StatesUnited States SEB ItalyItaly MIM GermanyGermany ONLY SwedenSweden KRI
DNF

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Bracco  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas Dziedzic, Wolfgang Hörner, Henry T. Kistler, Peter Braun: Ferrari racing cars & prototypes. The unconquerables. Enzo Ferrari on his 100th birthday (= Ferrari World. German edition. Special. Issue 3, ZDB -ID 2731974-X ). Heel, Königswinter 1998, p. 19.