Drivers

Giulio Cabianca

A gentleman of Verona, Cabianca started racing in his mid-twenties when the sport was revived in Italy in the late 1940s, making his name initially in small capacity sports cars. He became the most famous driver of the OSCA company, established after the war by the Maserati brothers. He made his first impact in 1951 when he was Italian Champion in the 1100cc class, winning the Italian GP class that year and beating the veteran Louis Chiron, who was driving a similar car.

He was 1500cc class champion in Italy in 1952 and in 1955 did an amazing job on the Targa Florio to win his class and finish seventh overall. That year he also won the Giro di Calabria in a Ferrari, beating Gigi Villoresi, and was second to Umberto Maglioli on the Targa Mugello.

In 1956 he went one better and won the Coppa della Dolomiti outright in a 1500cc OSCA sports car. He followed that up in 1957 with a class win and ninth overall on the Targa Florio (sharing with Chiron) and in 1958 was Italian GT champion. That year he finished third at Pau in the Formula 2 race, won the Naples GP, ahead of Ludovico Scarfiotti, and made his F1 debut in Jo Bonnierís Maserati 250F at the Italian GP. He was running fifth before he retired.

Enzo Ferrari finally sat up and took notice and hired him to race Ferrari sports cars in 1959. He finished second in the night races at Messina and was fourth on the Targa Florio. That year he raced one of Ottorino Volonterioís Maserati 250Fs at the Italian GP. In the 1960 Italian GP he was fourth in the race at the wheel of a Scuderia Castellotti Cooper-Ferrari.

The following year he was racing the Cooper at Modena when the car appears to have suffered a stuck throttle. The car went off the track, went through the entrance gate of the autodrome and went straight into the road outside the circuit, colliding with a taxi. Cabianca was killed as were the three people in the taxi.