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Giovanni Salvati


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#1 LucaP

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Posted 13 December 2009 - 14:25

This is taken from Motorsport Memorial... it's all I could find about this driver.

He was extremely promising, it seems, Italian F3 champion (in the most competitive years of that championship) and F2 winner... but nowadays he's forgotten... :cry:


"During the 3rd round of the 1971 Torneio Brasileiro de Fórmula 2, held at Tarumã circuit, Giovanni Salvati was dicing for the 4th place with Wilson Fittipaldi, who he tried to overtake by diving into the inside of left Turn 1. But the move was not possible, Salvati missed the braking point and slid on the gravelly road on the left, going on straight into the guard-rail. At those times the guard-rail was located right at the edge of the track, without any run-off area (also, Tarumã topography, with the track located on the top of a hill, offers little room for escape zones). Salvati's March got wedged underneath the bottom element of the guard-rail, and the promising Italian driver suffered extreme injuries, to which he would not survive.

Giovanni Salvati was born in Castellamare di Stabia, near Napoli, Italy, but his family moved to Milano when he was a child. So he grew up nearly Monza circuit, where he had his racing debut at the age of 24. He took part in Formula 875-Monza "Trofeo Cadetti" races, finishing 3rd in the championship in 1966 at the wheel of an Ambivero. This was an Italian series for small single-seaters fitted with a Fiat 500 Giardiniera flat engine, created in 1964 by Luigi Bertett, then the President of Automobile Club of Italy, by Romolo Tavoni, former Scuderia Ferrari team manager and by the engineers Aurelio Lampredi and Alberto Massimino. The races were held only at the Junior circuit of Monza, and the name "875-Monza" indicated the maximum cost (875,000 Italian-Lire) of the cars in the early years of the series. More recently the "Trofeo Cadetti" changed from Formula Monza to Formula Panda (1983, Fiat Panda engine) and to Formula Fire (1988, Fiat Fire 1000 engine), and in 1995 it was named definitively as Formula Junior (Fiat Punto 1200 engine) and races were organized all around the Italian tracks.

In 1967 Giovanni Salvati moved to Formula 850, driving a craftmade Zambarbieri and later a De Sanctis, scoring four wins in two years. In 1969 he was one of the founders of the Scuderia Italia and had his debut in Formula 3, signing the pole position in his first race at Monza, at the wheel of an aged Tecno. At Monza, which was his preferred track, Salvati had great performances during the season, battling several times against the best European Formula 3 driver of the year, including the Swedish Ronnie Peterson.

Finally, in 1970 "Giovannino" Salvati, as he was nicknamed by family and friends, won the Italian Formula 3 Championship, dominating the series with four wins and three 2nd places, at the wheel of a Tecno 70 - Ford. Suddenly, during the season the Pederzani brothers of Tecno hired him to drive a works Formula 2 car in the 1970 Gran Premio Lotteria at Monza. Salvati who started the race in great shape, was able to closely follow Ernesto Brambilla's private Ferrari Dino and Gerry Birrell's Brabham BT30 - Ford until the last lap, overtaking them to win the race! Two months later at Pergusa he drove again the Tecno 69 - Ford Formula 2 but went off the road, crashed and suffered an injured foot. Back in Formula 3 Salvati campaigned his own Tecno in Europe, scoring victories at Montlhéry, Magny Cours and Hockenheim. He also won one race of the Torneio Brasileiro de Formula 3 just at Tarumã, finishing 2nd in points to Wilson Fittipaldi. He was awarded the first prize of the "Casco d'Oro" by the magazine Autosprint in December of 1970.

During the winter Salvati carried several testing runs with team Abarth, driving their 2-litre sportscar. At the beginning of 1971 he was one of the favourites for the European Formula 2 Championship, but his season soon became a disaster. He didn't drive until May, when he had his debut in a March 712M - Ford entered by the Scuderia Ala d'Oro. Salvati obtained an impressive 2nd place in July at Imola, close behind the winner José Carlos Pace in a Frank Williams Racing March 712M - Ford.

Salvati's last outright victory occured on 19 September 1971, before crossing the Atlantic ocean for the South-American Torneio Brasileiro de Fórmula 2, when he accepted the invitation by Aquilino Branca to drive his new Branca Formula 3 in the Coppa Agip at Monza. Salvati won the race. In Brazil he was 5th in the first race and did not finish the second race at Interlagos; then the Formula 2 circus moved to Tarumã.

After his death an Italian racing team was named Scuderia Salvati in his honour."



Does anyone have other informations or memories about him?

thanks
Luca

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#2 Greatest

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Posted 13 December 2009 - 15:11

I found this picture by Googling:

1970 Tecno

#3 LucaP

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Posted 14 December 2009 - 08:39

good pic :)

where was it taken?

#4 Greatest

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Posted 14 December 2009 - 19:00

According to:
http://www.f3history.co.uk/

The track is Hockenheim...

#5 Mig007

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Posted 24 October 2011 - 17:12

* Salvati, Giovanni (I):
b. 2/11/1941 (Castellamare di Stabia) - d. 14/11/1971 (Tarumã, BR)



1966 - Formula 875 Monza “Trofeo Cadetti” (Ambivero), 3rd;
1967 - Formula 850 (Zambarbieri)
1968 - Formula 850 (De Sanctis)
1969 - Italian F3 (Scuderia Italia Tecno)
1970 - Italian F3
European F3
Torneio Brasileiro F3, 2nd;
1971 - F2 (Scuderia Ala d’Oro March 712M-Ford)
F3 Coppa Agip, 1st
Torneio Brasileiro F2, died