Giovanni Lurani

Giovanni Lurani (at the wheel) with George Eyston in a MG Magnette at the 1933 Mille Miglia

Giovanni Lurani in front of Nibbio 1

The Nibbio 2 designed by Giovanni Lurani

Giovanni "Johnny" Lurani Cernuschi, VIII Conte di Calvenzano (born December 19, 1905 in Cernusco Lombardone , † January 1995 ) was an Italian automobile designer , journalist , racing team owner, motorsport official and racing driver .

Automotive designer

Giovanni Lurani, the son of the musicologist Francesco Lurani , studied mechanical engineering at the Milan Polytechnic in the 1920s . After graduating, he made a career as an automobile designer. He worked at Salmson , Derby , Maserati and Alfa Romeo , among others . In the 1950s he developed the Nibbio record-breaking car, with which he himself set several automobile records.

Racing career

Lurani began racing in the late 1920s. Through his work as a designer, he had access to sporty vehicles from the respective employers. During his time in the United Kingdom he drove club races from 1925, first with Salmson racing cars, then with derbies. In 1930 he finished fifth in an Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 in the Brooklands 24-hour race and third in the Coppa Castelli . In 1932 he made his debut at the Mille Miglia , in which he competed nine times. In his first run, he was ninth overall. That was his best result in the 1000 mile race. In 1934 he finished the race together with Clifton Penn-Hughes at the works - MG Magnette K3 in eleventh and in 1938 in a BMW 328 with Max zu Schaumburg-Lippe in tenth.

In 1935 and 1936 he took part in the Abyssinian War ; thereby the career was interrupted for two years. Before the war he had celebrated some successes in monopostor races on a Maserati 4CS . The car was sold in 1935. In the late 1930s, he primarily competed in mountain races in Italy.

Lurani competed twice in the 24 Hours of Le Mans . In 1951 he and his partner Giovanni Bracco reached 12th place in the overall ranking and a class victory. The 1953 race , which ended prematurely after an ignition defect in the Fiat 8V , was the last race in his driving career.

Scuderia Ambrosiana

After his return from the Abyssinian War, he founded a racing team in 1937 with Luigi Villoresi , Franco Cortese and Eugenio Minetti . The Scuderia Ambrosiana , named after Ambrosius of Milan , was active until 1954. The vehicles were painted in blue and black stripes, derived from the jerseys of the Inter Milan football club .

The greatest success was Franco Cortese's victory in the Frazer-Nash at the Targa Florio in 1951 .

Motorsport official

After the Second World War , Lurani was an official of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile . He was in charge of the introduction of the GT class and Formula Junior .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1951	Scuderia Ambrosiana	Lancia Aurelia B20 GT	Giovanni Bracco	Rank 12 and class win
1953	Ets. Fiat Degrada	Fiat 8V	Norbert-Jean Mahé	failure	ignition

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1953	Ets. Fiat Degrada	Fiat 8V	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
					DNF

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Lurani  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Giovanni Lurani at Historic Racing
• Giovanni Lurani at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Moto Guzzi Nibbio 2 ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Brooklands 24 Hours 1930
3. ^ Coppa Castelli 1930
4. ↑ About the Scuderia Ambrosiana (English)
5. ↑ Lurani and FISA (English)