CASERTA'S HELL

 

Racing history enthusiasts will readily remember some of the darkest days of the sport, when multiple drivers and spectators died on a same race. Le Mans 1955, Monza 1933, Rouen 1970, Indy 1973, Imola 1994, are just some of those sad days that remind us how thousands of people lost their lives  at race tracks or places where races were held since the late 19^th century, in spite of today’s false sense of security.

 

The earliest races took place on open roads, generally from one city to another. With increasing number of vehicles and the inconvenience of closing roads for racing events, soon closed circuits emerged, while the “stradale” Targa Florio insisted in remaining open for business until the 70s. Now such racing is restricted to rallies and hill climbs.

 

It is not surprising that it was in Italy, in spite of the veteran Monza circuit, that there was some resistance to building of purpose made tracks with a semblances of safety. Very dangerous races were held in several Italian cities: Messina, Naples, Garda, Pescara, Modena, Bari, Syracuse, among others, and Caserta. In fact such races continued in the 60s, and Caserta was one of the venues used in the 1967 Italian F-3 Championship.

 

This championship was reasonably competitive, even though it did not generate world racing stars such as the British and French championships. However, on that year several future F-1 drivers contested Italian F-3: Andrea de Adamich, Clay Regazzoni, Ernesto Brambilla, Silvio Moser, Carlo Facetti. In fact, even an Italian driver who had already raced in F-1 was back in F-3, Giacomo “Geki” Russo. The latter was not only experienced (he had been racing since 1959), but he also had a special weapon for that season: he bought a Matra to compete against a number of British cars, such as Lotus and Brabham, and the Italian De Sanctis and BWA.

 

The circuit had a triangular shape and it was very narrow. The qualifying race was very animated, and it was won by Moser, followed by Geki, Corti and Reggazoni, who crossed the finish line practically together. The drama occurred on the seventh lap of the final heat. The Swiss driver Beat Fehr and Andrea Saltari touched each other on a quick part of the track and the cars ended up in a walled area, allowing little visibility.   In fact Fehr’s Brabham was thrown back to the middle of the track. A back marker, Franco Foresti, realized very late that Fehr’s car was there, hit it, and his own car was destroyed in the mayhem.

 

To avoid more accidents Beat Fehr decided to warn the front runners who were approaching very quickly.  One thing is clear, out of several versions: Geki Russo lost control of his Matra, collided with one of the cars that had already crashed, and was thrown out of his F3, which caught fire immediately. Geki died on the spot. The well intentioned Fehr ended up run over by a car, maybe Geki’s car, maybe another driver’s car, and ended up in the hospital, as did Corrado Manfredini, Jurg Dubler and Clay Regazzoni. Fehr died from his injuries some days later.  Crashes continued throughout the entire track, and the Italian driver Romano Perdoni, known as“Tiger”, ended up the third fatality of the weekend,  trapped inside his car with several internal and external injuries.  

  

When the race was finally stopped, there were only four cars running – the other drivers were either dead, at hospital or out of the race, their cars utterly destroyed. Caserta’s streets were a war zone.

 

At the time, there were only two permanent closed circuits in Italy: Monza and Vallelunga. After Caserta 67, which never again hosted a car race, little by little street races disappeared, and race tracks such as Misano, Mugello, Varano and Imola were built.  Targa Florio survived as a round of the World Championship of Makes until 1973, taking one final victim, as forgotten as Russo, Fehr and Tiger: Charles Blyth.  

Who invented one make championships?

I know some people who would certainly kick the butt of the inventor of one make championships, truly believing they destroyed car racing.  I dare not say what was the first international one make race or tournament ever held. For sure, there were races in the 20s or 30s, in which only Bugattis competed, albeit unintentionally.   However, the race discussed in this post was probably one of the first intentional attempts to hold a one make championship and race in the world.  

The location and timing could not be more exquisite. Nowadays we are used to racing events in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, even Saudi Arabia. However, in the aftermath of World War II,  international races in places other that Western Europe or the USA could rate as madness. How about Africa?

There was racing in the continent in the Pre-War period, I know. One of the most famous GP of the 30s was the Tripoli event, in Lybia, and even South Africa was visited by the Auto Union team in the same decade. How about Egypt?

A visionary has two fates: he either becomes hugely successful and widely praised for his genius or falls flat on his face and becomes the subject of jokes for his craziness. Let us say the creator of this single make race held in 1947 ended up in the second team.

Piero Dusio was the guy's name and his creation was the Cisitalia. I imagine, with some poetic liberty, that Piero believed that his baby, the D46, and his concept would save the sport. So he embarked on this adventure with the financial support of some Swiss nationals, which certainly made matters easier. Wasting other people's money is always a sweet deal...

Sixteen D46 were shipped to the circuit of El Ghezira, located in a residential island off Cairo. The drivers, almost all Italian, included Alberto Ascari, Franco Cortese, Piero Taruffi, Nello Pagani, Dorino Serafini, among the best known. Dusio himself was set to drive one of his cars. Monegasque Louis Chiron, who had won many Pre-War GPs, was there to add international flavor.

The drivers had a blast. Local authorities, including King Farouk, embraced the initiative with enthusiasm. However, come race day a mere 6000 frightened people witnessed the race, comprising two heats and a final race.

Cortese won one of the heats, Ascari the other. At the end of 50-lap final, Cortese won again, followed by Ascari, Taruffi, Dusio and Tadini. Cortese received the solid gold trophy from the hands of the king himself, but the Swiss backers were not a tad impressed with the financial meltdown from the creative event, and withdrew their support, leaving Dusio in a precarious state. In fact, almost bankrupt.

The D46s were sold to drivers from several countries, and driven by some famous people, including Nuvolari and Stuck, in fact won races in some places. The car was equipped with a 1.5 Fiat engine, so it was used in the voiturette category, and was raced as late as the 50s.

Cisitalia never took off, certainly because of the failure - temporary - of the one make concept.  The cars made by the company are still highly sought and appreciated.

Unusual facts of yesteryear

There are certain peculiar scenes in old time racing that were never properly recorded or documented. Some were funny, others tragic and sad.  Others happened so long ago that you wonder whether they were the product of a hyperactive creative mind

It is said that Jules Goux, winner of the 1913 Indy 500 stopped in the pits to gobble up some champagne in the middle of that very race. In Brazil there was a very slow driver who used to refuel his Simca in long distance races at a gas station outside Interlagos. There are many other funny stories in Brazil, one of the Opalas that raced in the first Stockcar event in Cascavel was so standard it actually had A/C, while a DKW driver from Brasilia used to smoke a cigarette while racing. 

Everything is so professional and organized today...however, not so long ago Taki Inoue was run over more than once during his short Formula 1 career. And rabbits, dogs and other animals visit tracks even during GPs. Even the Singaporegate of a few years back appears somewhat comic and unbelievable.

Nowadays everything is very fast. When the difference between P1 and P2 in quali is 0.5 sec we believe it is a huge gap, but back in the old days several seconds could separate drivers on a first row. And I am not even talking about long tracks such as Nurburgring, Spa and Pescara, but rather, shorter tracks.

When only twenty cars were left to race in F1, it seemed the world would end for some fans.  

In the early years of the sport even the top racing had a great air of improvisation, and things were taken much slower, even in racing.

Campari in 1925

The first world racing championship took place in 1925. It had a few races, and the champion was Alfa Romeo. There was no driver championship, the winner scored 1 point, second place, 2. In other words, the reverse of what we have today. 

In the first edition of the Belgian GP, besides Alfa, cars from Delage, Sunbeam and Bugatti were entered. However, come race day, only seven cars started, four Delage and three Alfas.

The race was long. GPs at the time were not "Made for TV", which did not even exist at the time. In this specific case, the race was a whopping 800 km long and it took more than six hours!

Eventually, all four Delage retired, and so did  Brilli Peri's Alfa. So only two cars remained in the track, the  Alfas of Antonio Ascari and Giuseppe Campari.

The public did not like this development, and the two surviving heroes were nastily booed.   Alfa 's crew reaction was funny. They prepared a sumptuous lunch, and the two drivers stopped in the pits at the same time, stuffed their face (apparently very slowly), until the public began missing the two cars on track.  They eventually came back, and Ascari finished first Campari, second.

Talk about romantic.