Ludovico Scarfiotti

Former F1 driver
Name = Ludovico Scarfiotti


Caption =
Nationality = flagicon|ITA Italian
Years = F1|1963 – F1|1968
Team(s) = Ferrari, Cooper, Anglo American Racers
Races = 12 (10 starts)
Wins = 1
Podiums = 1
Points = 17
Poles = 0
Fastest laps = 1
First race = 1963 Dutch Grand Prix
First win = 1966 Italian Grand Prix
Last win = 1966 Italian Grand Prix
Last race = 1968 Monaco Grand Prix

Ludovico Scarfiotti (18 October 1933 - 8 June 1968) was a Formula One and sports car driver from Italy. Just prior to entering Formula One, he won the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans for Ferrari. He later participated in 12 World Championship Formula One grands prix, and many non-championship races. He won one World Championship race, and scored a total of 17 championship points. A motor sports competitor for a decade, Scarfiotti won the European mountain driving title in 1962. He was proclaimed Italy's best driver in both 1962 and 1965.

Early life

Scarfiotti was born in Turin. Scarfiotti was associated with cars from his youth. His father was among five founders of the Fiat automobile company.

ports car competition

Scarfiotti competed in the 1,000 Kilometres de Paris sports car race inOctober 1962. He finished third with teammate Colin Davis. The event was won by Pedro Rodríguez and Ricardo Rodríguez drivinga Ferrari. ["Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez Firstin France With a Ferrari", New York Times, October 22, 1962, Page 52.] Partnered with Bandini, Scarfiotti was victorious in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 1963. Their factory Ferrari achieved an average speed of 117.99 miles per hourover a distance of convert|2832|mi|km. The victory was worth almost $20,000 invarious prize money along with prestige, and gave Ferrari its fourth consecutive Le Mans victory. ["Italian Ferrari Sets 2 Marks in Winning Le Mans Race", New York Times, June 17, 1963, Page 45.]

In 1965, John Surtees and Scarfiotti shared a Ferrari 330 P2 Spyder which gave the marque a fourth consecutive victory at the 1000km Nürburgring race. They led throughout the 44 laps, posting a winning time of 6 hours, 53 minutes, and 5 seconds, for an average speed of convert|90.46|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on. ["Driver Is Killed In German Race", New York Times, May 24, 1965, Page 43.] Scarfiotti and Lorenzo Bandini drove a 2-litre Ferrari to second place in a 1,000 kilometre sports car race at the Nürburgring in June 1966. First place went to Phil Hill and Joakim Bonnier driving a 5.4-litre Chevrolet-powered Chaparral. The Ferrari was 90 seconds behind in a race that debuted the automatic transmission Chaparral in European competition. Surtees withdrew his 4-litre Ferrari after a number of pit stops following shock absorber trouble on the seventh lap. ["Italians Are Next In 2-Liter Ferrari", New York Times, June 6, 1966, Page 57.]

Surtees severed relations with the Ferrari racing team following their decision to replace him with Scarfiotti at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. Scarfiotti would go on to finish 31st, retiring after 123 laps. Scarfiotti joined Mike Parkes in a Ferrari P4 for a 1,000 kilometre race at Spa in May 1967. They finished a lap behind Jacky Ickx and Richard Thompson, who drove a Ford Mirage (race car). The winning team averaged convert|120.5|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on. and posted a time of 5 hours, 9 minutes, 46.5 seconds. ["Ickx, Thompson Win Belgian Race", New York Times, May 2, 1967, Page 59.]

Scarfiotti entered a Ferrari factory car in the September 1967 200-mile Canadian-American Challenge Cup race held on a convert|2.85|mi|km|sing=on course near Bridgehampton, New York. His sponsor was the North American Racing Team of Luigi Chinetti. ["Hulme Paces Bridgehampton Trials", New York Times, September 17, 1967, Page S9.]

Scarfiotti entered the 1968 Targa Florio, but wrecked his Porsche on the first day of qualifying and was forced to drive one of the Porsche team's spare entries. ["Vaccarella Will Carry Hopes Of Sicilian Auto Fans Today", New York Times, May 5, 1968, Page S7.]

Formula One racer

Enzo Ferrari named Scarfiotti to the Ferrari Formula 1 team of drivers for 1962 along with Surtees, Willy Mairesse, Bandini, and Nino Vaccarella. ["Ferrari Team Named", New York Times, December 2, 1962, Page 253.] Scarfiotti placed sixth in the second Ferrari in the 1963 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. He was a lap behind victor, Jim Clark, in a Lotus. John Surtees piloted the first Ferrari to third place behind Dan Gurney in a Brabham. Scarfiotti finished fifth in the 1965 Syracuse Grand Prix. ["Clark Sets Mark With Lotus-Climax In Sicily Auto Race", New York Times, April 5, 1965, Page 40.]

Scarfiotti became the first Italian in fifteen years to win the Grand Prix of Italy when he drove his Ferrari to a track record speed of convert|136.7|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on., to secure the 1966 Italian Grand Prix. As of the end of the 2007 Formula One season, Scarfiotti's 1966 win marks the last time an Italian driver won the Italian Grand Prix. He completed the 68 laps around the convert|3.6.|mi|km|sing=on Autodromo Nazionale Monza in an event in which Jack Brabham clinched his 3rd Formula One World Championship, despite exiting on the 7th lap. ["Italian Wins at Monza; Ginther Hurt in Crash", Los Angeles Times, September 5, 1966,Page B5.]

The Ferrari team decided to enter two cars in the 1967 Syracuse Grand Prix, following the death of Bandini from burns sustained during the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix. Scarfiotti and Parkes each drove 1966 model 3-litre Ferrari 312's. ["Two Ferraris Are Entered In Italian Formula One Race", New York Times, May 21, 1967, Page 23.] They shared the victory when they crossed the finish line in an unheard-of dead heat. They were clocked at convert|113.65|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on. for an official time of 1 hour, 40 minutes, 58 seconds, for the convert|191.2|mi|km|sing=on race. ["Surtees, Driving a Lola, Takes 2-Heat Grand Prix of Limburg (Belgium)", New York Times, May 22, 1967, Page 61.]

Brian Redman and Scarfiotti came in 3rd and 4th, respectively, at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix in Jarama. Both drove for Cooper, with Redman competing in only his second Formula One Grand Prix. The race marked the first win for Graham Hill since 1965. ["Graham Hill of Britain Drives Lotus Ford to Victory in Spanish Grand Prix", New York Times, May 13, 1968, Page 60]

Driving a Cooper, Scarfiotti placed 3rd in the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, an event marked by mechanical breakdowns that eliminated 11 of 16 starters before the race was completed. ["Graham Hill Takes Monaco Grand Prix", New York Times, May 27, 1968, Page 66.] Scarfiotti's qualification time of 1:35.9 was well off that of pole sitter, Bruce McLaren, who was clocked at 1:29.8. Qualifying times were hindered by a track which was slick from rain and mist. ["McLaren, Gurney and Rindt Among Qualifiers For Monaco Grand Prix Today", May 26, 1968, Page S7.]

Death

Ludovico Scarfiotti died in 1968 at a hillclimbing event on the Roßfeldhöhenringstraße near Berchtesgaden, Germany, in the German Alps. He became the 3rd Grand Prix driver to die in 1968, following Jim Clark and Mike Spence. Scarfiotti wrecked his Porsche 910 on during trials when the car veered abruptly off the Rossfeldstrasse track and catapulted ten yards down a tree-covered slope. The Porsche hung in the trees and Scarfiotti was thrown from the cockpit. His body was discovered fifty yards away. He died in an ambulance of numerous fractures. Huschke von Hastein, the team manager of Porsche, stated that he had never been associated with a fatal accident during the eighteen years he had been in charge of the team. convert|60|yd of burned rubber braking indicated that Scarfiotti had slammed on his brakes at the final moment. Scarfiotti was married and had two children."Scarfiotti, 34, Killed In Car-Racing Crash", New York Times, June 9, 1968, Page S1.]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

() (Races in "italics" indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

* [http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-scalud.html Biography in "GP Encyclopedia"]
* [http://www.rossfeld-historic.de/ Roßfeld Historic race website]