35 Facts About Tazio Nuvolari

1.

Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari was an Italian racing driver.

2.

Tazio Nuvolari first raced motorcycles and then concentrated on sports cars and single-seaters.

3.

The relationship with Ferrari deteriorated during 1937, and Tazio Nuvolari raced an Auto Union in that year's Swiss Grand Prix.

4.

Tazio Nuvolari rejoined the Auto Union team for the 1938 season and stayed with them through 1939 until Grand Prix racing was put on hiatus by World War II.

5.

When Tazio Nuvolari resumed racing after the war he was 54 and in poor health.

6.

Tazio Nuvolari was born in Castel d'Ario near Mantua on 16 November 1892 to Arturo Tazio Nuvolari and his wife Elisa Zorzi.

7.

Tazio Nuvolari obtained his license for motorcycle racing in 1915 at the age of 23.

8.

Tazio Nuvolari served in the Italian army as an ambulance driver in World War I, and in 1920 took part in his first motorcycle race at the Circuito Internazionale Motoristico in Cremona but did not finish.

9.

Tazio Nuvolari raced cars, winning the Coppa Verona reliability trial in 1921.

10.

Tazio Nuvolari crashed when the gearbox seized, and severely lacerated his back.

11.

In 1930, Tazio Nuvolari won his first RAC Tourist Trophy.

12.

Motor racing legend has it that when one of the drivers broke the window of a butcher's shop, Tazio Nuvolari drove onto the pavement and tried to grab a ham as he passed.

13.

Tazio Nuvolari eventually switched them on to overtake "the shocked" Varzi near the finish at Brescia.

14.

Towards the end of 1930, Tazio Nuvolari decided to stop racing motorcycles and concentrate fully on cars for 1931.

15.

The car started from ninth place on the grid, and when it retired with mechanical problems after 33 laps Tazio Nuvolari teamed up with Giuseppe Campari.

16.

Tazio Nuvolari achieved four other race wins that year, including the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix and a second Targa Florio.

17.

Tazio Nuvolari started to shout in the first curve and wouldn't stop until the last one.

18.

Thereafter Tazio Nuvolari wore it as a talisman, and it became famously associated with him.

19.

When Tazio Nuvolari countered that he was a leading Grand Prix driver and Le Mans was a simple layout that would not trouble him, they agreed to divide the driving equally.

20.

Tazio Nuvolari, driving through to the end of the race, broke the lap record nine times and won by approximately 400 yards.

21.

Earl Howe, on Tazio Nuvolari racing in the 1934 AVUS-Rennen with a broken leg in a plaster cast.

22.

For 1935, Tazio Nuvolari set his sights on a drive with the German Auto Union team.

23.

Tazio Nuvolari then approached Enzo Ferrari, who at first rebuffed him as he had previously walked out on the team.

24.

Tazio Nuvolari stayed with Alfa Romeo despite becoming increasingly frustrated with the poor build quality of its racing cars.

25.

Frustrated, Tazio Nuvolari handed his car over to Giuseppe Farina mid-race.

26.

Tazio Nuvolari announced his retirement from Grand Prix racing and took a holiday in America.

27.

Tazio Nuvolari found further success with Auto Union; now driving a faster and more reliable car that enabled him to compete for victories and the European Championship, Tazio Nuvolari won his home Grand Prix at Monza and won the Donington Grand Prix in England.

28.

In 1946 Tazio Nuvolari took part in thirteen races, winning the Grand Prix of Albi in a Maserati 4CL, finishing 4th in the Grand Prix of Nations and 13th in the Coppa Brezzi, and retiring from the others.

29.

Tazio Nuvolari finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th, and retired from the remaining five races.

30.

Tazio Nuvolari's Maserati did not qualify for the 1949 Marseilles Grand Prix.

31.

Tazio Nuvolari was eventually forced to retire the car in Reggio Emilia when he had a 27-minutes lead.

32.

Tazio Nuvolari is buried in the family tomb in the Cimitero Degli Angeli, on the road from Mantua to Cremona.

33.

The Museum Tazio Nuvolari is located in his homestead at Giulia Romano via N Sauro in Mantua.

34.

Tazio Nuvolari was an early exponent of the four-wheel drift cornering technique which was later utilised by drivers such as Stirling Moss.

35.

The online video interview platform Tazio Nuvolari is named after him.