Omobono Tenni

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tommaso Omobono Tenni (born July 24, 1905 in Tirano , † July 1, 1948 in Bern , Switzerland ) was an Italian motorcycle racer .

Between 1933 and 1947, Tenni, who is considered to be one of the best Italian motorcycle racers before World War II , won 47 major races and championships for Moto Guzzi , including the Tourist Trophy , the European Motorcycle Championship and the Italian Road Championship .

personality

Omobono Tenni was born in Tirano near the Swiss border as the son of a farming family. In 1920, at the age of 15, he moved with his family to Treviso , where he completed an apprenticeship in the motorcycle workshop of the Facchin brothers. At the age of 19, Tenni opened his own workshop and began his racing career.

Away from the slopes, Tenni was considered a calm, generous and simple person. On the motorcycle he was known for his great fighting spirit. He informed his wife of a victory by telegram with the same words: “Arrivato Primo: baci Tenni” ( German : first place, kisses, Tenni).

In the UK he received because of his black hair, helmet and leather as well as its "diabolical" driving style the nickname "The Black Devil" ( English for: The black devil). He was also respectfully called "Red Bullet" or " Centaur with Fire Wings" and was regarded in his homeland as the Tazio Nuvolari of motorcycle racing.

Career

Beginnings

His first victory went Omobono Tenni on 24 May 1924 a 125- cc - GD at a race in Postumia in today's Slovenia one. With Tazio Nuvolari , Pietro Ghersi and Guido Mentasti he defeated the assembled Italian motorcycle elite of the time. This was followed by a series of wins and lap records in the 125, including third place at the eighth liters run around the V. Grand Prix of Switzerland 1928 on the Circuit de Meyrin in Geneva , which this year at the same time running the motorcycle championship was.

In 1931 he was supported by members of his local motorcycle club in the purchase of a 350 cc Velocette , with which he subsequently took third place at the Xth Grand Prix of Nations in Monza and won the Gran Premio Reale in Rome .

Moto Guzzi works rider

In 1932 he defeated the then Moto Guzzi star Pietro Ghersi with a Miller Balsamo on the Circuito del Tigullio in Rapallo with an overtaking maneuver on the last lap, whereupon he was hired by this manufacturer as a works driver for the following season . Tenni completed his first race for Guzzi on a 500 cm³ two-cylinder machine at the 1º Trofeo della Velocità on the Pista del Littorio in Rome. The Italian crashed at about 180 km / h in this race  , got up again, but could not continue with his destroyed machine.

For the 1934 season Moto Guzzi developed a brand new 500cc V2, with which Tenni, who had quickly become number one driver, won the 2º Trofeo della Velocità in Rome ahead of his Irish teammate Stanley Woods . Tenni was also victorious in the half-liter class of the Italian road championship this year.

In 1935 Tenni made his first appearance at the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man , the most difficult and prestigious motorcycle race in the world at the time. He started the lightweight TT on a 250cc and retired, second behind Woods, after a fall in a fog bank in the mountainous part of the Snaefell Mountain Course . Tenni was able to successfully defend his title in the 500 cm³ class of the Italian championship. He also won the Raid Nord-Sud from Milan to Naples .

In 1936, Omobono Tenni won for the manufacturer from Mandello del Lario, among other things, in the half-liter runs for the Swiss Grand Prix in Bremgarten and in the 3º Trofeo della Velocità , which this time took place in Monza. He was also successful again at the Raid Nord-Sud .

In 1937 Omobono Tenni had the most successful season of his career. In June he became the first non- British driver to win the Tourist Trophy. The Italian had led the 250cc race with his Moto Guzzi from the start, but crashed at the end of the first lap, costing him around 35 seconds and the lead. In the fourth lap, Tenni was back in front, but in the seventh lap he had to stop unexpectedly again, this time to change a spark plug . Nevertheless, Tenni won the 250cc race after three and a half hours with an average speed of 74.72  mph (120.22  km / h ) and with a lead of almost 40 seconds over the Excelsior pilot Wood. Also in the quarter liter race on July 3rd and 4th of the year as part of the XIII. Tenni was victorious at the Swiss Grand Prix in Bremgarten in 1937 . He won ahead of his compatriot and brand colleague Nello Pagani and the German DKW factory driver Ewald Kluge .

In the mid-1930s, Tenni also competed in car races . For example, in 1936 he took part in the Mille Miglia , in which he and Guerrino Bertocchi achieved a class win on a Maserati Tipo 4CS 1500 and came fifth overall. As a result, he became a semi-works driver at Scuderia Torino and in 1937 a works driver for Maserati, for which he competed in Voiturette races in Monaco and at the Nürburgring, among others .

In 1938 and 1940 Tenni sustained serious injuries in several accidents that forced him to take longer breaks from racing. The Second World War finally forced him to interrupt his career for a long time.

After the end of the war, Omobono Tenni, now over 40 years old, returned to motorcycle racing. At the first post-war European motorcycle championship in Switzerland in 1947 , he won his second 500cc title. He was also successful in the half-liter class of the Italian road championship, as well as in the senior TT (500 cm³ class) race in 1948. He set the fastest race lap and was in the lead until a technical problem stopped him and put him in ninth place.

Bremgarten circuit
Moto Guzzi V11 Le Mans Tenni
Interior view of the Stadio Omobono Tenni

Deadly accident

On July 1, 1948, Omobono Tenni had a fatal accident while training for the Swiss Grand Prix on the Bremgarten circuit in Bern . He hit the right footrest of his Moto Guzzi on the second of the Eymatt right-hand bends , whereupon he fell, was thrown through the air and hit a tree on the outside of the track. Tenni was dead on the spot.

The Moto Guzzi factory had sent the Italian into the race with one of the new two-cylinder 250s. With the same model, Manliff Barrington had to give up at the Tourist Trophy due to problems with the rear wheel bearing . Tenni had similar problems and so decided to stop training. Before he did that, however, he did a few comparison rounds with one of the older Albatros models. Unfortunately, this one had longer notches than the new model, which Tenni did not consider.

On the same day, 43-year-old Achille Varzi in an Alfa Romeo Tipo 158 also had a fatal accident in the same corner .

Omobono Tennis corpse was taken to Moto Guzzi headquarters in Mandello del Lario, where the wake was held. On the morning of July 4th, his coffin was brought to Treviso in a van from the Guzzi team. On his last trip, the Italian was accompanied by planes from the Aero Club Treviso , which scattered flowers over the funeral procession from Castelfranco Veneto to Treviso. Thousands paid him their respects along the streets.

Honors

  • Shortly after the fatality, the second Eymatt curve was named after Omobono Tenni.
  • Moto Guzzi dedicated a memorial in the factory museum to Tenni and a version of the V11 Le Mans motorcycle limited to 170 copies .
  • On October 5, 1963, the Treviso football stadium was renamed Stadio Omobono Tenni .

statistics

title

Isle of Man TT victories

year class machine Average speed
1937 Lightweight (250 cm³) Moto Guzzi 74.72  mph (120.25  km / h )

References

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Omobono Tenni. www.grandimiti.it, archived from the original on February 5, 2010 ; Retrieved June 3, 2010 (Italian).
  2. ↑ a b Leif Snellman: (Tommaso) Omobono Tenni (I). www.kolumbus.fi, July 12, 2008, accessed June 3, 2010 .
  3. ^ A b c Vincent Glon: L'Histoire de la course moto - Palmarès des Championnats d'Europe (1924-1937 et 1947-1948). racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on June 3, 2010 (French).
  4. ^ A b Vincent Glon: 1919–1925, le RAID NORD-SUD (Milan-Naples). racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on June 3, 2010 (French).
  5. ^ Carlo Guzzi. www.grisocomodo.de, accessed on June 3, 2010 .
  6. ↑ TT 1937 Lightweight TT Results. www.iomtt.com, accessed June 3, 2010 .
  7. ↑ Vincent Glon: L'Histoire de la course moto; 5th partie: Les Grand Prix d'Europe. (1924-1937); 1937. racingmemo.free, accessed June 3, 2010 (French).
  8. ↑ Tipo 4CS 1500 - from 1932 to 1936. (No longer available online.) Www.maserati.it, formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 3, 2010 (Italian).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.maserati.it
  9. ↑ Mille Miglia 1929. www.ddavid.com, accessed on June 3, 2010 (English).
  10. ↑ Vincent Glon: L'Histoire de la course moto; 7ème partie: L'après-guerre (1945-1948). racingmemo.free, accessed June 3, 2010 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Tenni, Omobono
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tenni, Tommaso Omobono (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian automobile and motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Tirano
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1948
Place of death Bern , Switzerland