Romolo Tavoni

Romolo Tavoni (* 1926 in Casinalbo ) is a former Italian race director . From 1958 to 1961 he was team principal of Scuderia Ferrari and in 1962 co-founder of Automobili Turismo e Sport .

In the Tavoni era, titles in Formula 1 fell , but the time was also marked by rifts between the drivers and the team leaders and by three fatal accidents.

In the 1958 season , Mike Hawthorn was world championship driver in the Ferrari Dino 246F1 , but Ferrari lost two factory drivers to deaths. Luigi Musso (in Reims ) and Peter Collins (at the Nürburgring ) had fatal accidents in Formula 1 races. A year later, at the 1959 French Grand Prix, after the race, there was a heated argument between Tavoni and the Frenchman Jean Behra . Behra had joined the team at the beginning of the year as the successor to Hawthorn and had retired from the race with engine failure. The following argument resulted in a scuffle and Tavoni fired Behra, who was replaced by Cliff Allison . In 1961 , the Scuderia again won both Formula 1 titles under Tavoni's leadership, but with the fatal accident of Wolfgang von Trips in Monza , the Scuderia lost the third works driver to a death within a few years.

In the sports car world championship , Tavoni won the 1958 , 1961 and 1962 world championships for the Scuderia as race director .

At the end of 1961, Tavoni left the team after a violent argument with Enzo Ferrari . Tavoni and seven other Ferrari employees had written a letter to Enzo Ferrari complaining about his wife's constant interference in the affairs of the Scuderia. A conflict broke out and Tavoni left in an argument.

With him, the designers Giotto Bizzarrini , Carlo Chiti , the commercial director Girolamo Gardini and five other employees turned their backs on Ferrari. Tavoni became a founding member of ATS and also took on the role of race director there.

After the end of the ATS Formula 1 team in 1964, Tavoni became race director of the Monza circuit .

literature

• Pino Casamassima: Storia della Scuderia Ferrari Nada Editore, Vimodrome 1998, ISBN 88-7911-179-5 .
• Leonardo Acerbi: 60 Years of Ferrari Heel, Königswinter 2007, ISBN 978-3-89880-815-6 .

Web links

Commons : Romolo Tavoni  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Image: Romolo Tavoni (center)