When Italy’s greatest racer raced by boat: Tazio Nuvolari

Pictures of legendary motor racing driver Tazio Nuvolari (1892/1953) as a motor racer are extremely rare, unobtainable.

The one we offer above was made in Gardone Riviera in 1935 just before a competition. Tazio is seated on a splendid hull from Cantieri Baglietto, the “Ravanello,” owned by pilot Theo Rossi of Montelera and equipped with a 5,000 cubic centimeter 16-cylinder Maserati V5 engine. A real “missile” for those times.

The photo is in black and white, but the “Ravanello” (5.50 meters long and 1.70 wide) was red: a color that somehow recalls the idea of speed in competitions, even on land on four or two wheels. A very high-performance boat that came out, as mentioned, from the Baglietto Shipyards born in 1854 from Pietro Baglietto’s passion for boating and today still a leading player in the superyacht sector.

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Nuvolari, the “Flying Mantuan” also on a boat.

Nuvolari, the “Flying Mantuan,” besides being one of the greatest motor racing drivers of all time, had a close relationship with speed and an aggressive, courageous and spectacular driving style. We do not have many records in the nautical field of Nuvolari, but of one thing we are certain: he is unlikely to have competed here, too, on the cheap with the “gas” at full throttle.

After his first outings, the motorboat-driven Nuvolari would be found again on the water soon after the World War. Appearances with boats of the “Asso” class designed by Mario Verga and increasingly evolved “three-point” hulls with one key feature: speed thanks to very powerful automotive-derived engines.

Only health problems forced him to retire otherwise, surely, his name would have appeared on the roll of honor of many titled competitions even in powerboating.

Who was Tazio Nuvolari

After all, Tazio Nuvolari from Castel d’Ario (Mantua) can boast of an incredible palmares: 69 motorcycle victories (36 absolute, 33 class), 1 European Champion title (1924), 2 Italian Champion titles (1924 and 1926), 3 international speed records. Laurels obtained riding Harley Davidson, Norton, Indian and the legendary Bianchi 350 “Celestial Arrow.”

But the masterpiece he did behind the wheel with 92 victories (55 overall, 37 in class) with Bianchi, Chiribiri, Bugatti, Maserati, MG, Cisitalia, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.

Legend has it that he often ran without a helmet, with the wind in his hair, defying death at every competition. With him he always carried a golden turtle given to him in 1932 by poet Gabriele D’Annunzio with the dedication, “To the fastest man, the slowest animal.” Since then Nuvolari considered it a lucky charm.

That time I bought a boat engine from Tazio Nuvolari.

On Nuvolari we can tell you a curious anecdote related to the world of powerboating. In 1946 Angelo Vassena, who later became a great powerboat pilot and later a highly regarded president of the Italian Powerboat Federation, was 13 years old. One summer morning that year his father, Pietro, the inventor, the one of the C3 submarine that amazed the world with its feats, told his son to get ready because they had to make a “long” trip up to Mantua to a friend.

In fact, in those feverish days, the Vassena family was preparing a “Redan” hull to participate in the Gran Prix Motonautico in Campione d’Italia. The trials were taking place at Canottieri Lecco and the hull was being transported, from Vassena’s workshop-laboratory in Lecco’s central Via Cavour, by a handcart “driven” by another son, Franco, with Angelo behind to ensure the boat’s balance. A few hundred meters but enough to intrigue passersby and the hilarity of some.

Moral: during a test run the Laros 500 engine blew out. Not bad if only that spare parts could not be found. Pietro phoned Osculati, nothing; then to Paolo Mora known motoronaut, nothing. Miraculously, however, he managed to find a used Laros 500 from a friend of his own in Mantua.

And here we come to the journey. Vassena, with his Fiat 500 Giardinetta with wooden profiles, set off one fine morning with his son “Angioletto,” precisely. Angelo recounts: “Asking here and there, we found my father’s friend’s house. The two of them hugged and stayed for an hour or so talking while I poked around. Then my father told me to open the car door and we loaded the engine. Finally, he introduced me to his friend, Tazio he told me his name was, and then we drove off. On the way home Dad explained to me that that engine had to be a winner because it came from the home of someone who was familiar with speed. Yes, because the person who had sold him that engine was none other than Tazio Nuvolari. It wasn’t until a few years later that I realized that that had been a very special day for me, face to face with one of the strongest and most beloved drivers among Italians at that time. The great Tazio Nuvolari himself. When I think about it now, it makes me smile.”.

Marco Corti