It's with a heavy heart that I say one of the best fellas going around has hung up his mask and welding rod for the last time.
Fulvio Mattiolo came out from the Torino region of Italy, having worked at a Lancia factory, landed a job at Elfin Racing Cars and was the principal welder there through the marque's entire existence.
He was the noblest of gentlemen who had a wickedly funny streak as well. He and my Dad worked together for years and whenever I'd head back to Adelaide he and his wife would welcome me with open arms. In fact one night before the Formula 1 Grand Prix during a visit that I was introducing my future wife to he and his family it came down to me pleading with Fulvio to let us return to our digs as the sun would soon be up, the grappa was as delicious as it had been at 7pm earlier in the evening and if we didn't leave soon we'd miss the grand prix.
I'm missing you already big guy!
Here's one of the best Fulvio stories, as taken from Garrie Cooper's memoirs
“Although the blowing end of a domestic vacuum cleaner was fed into the fuel tanks of the new Mono tubs to assist in the curing process of the sealant, to his consternation Fulvio was to learn that even after several weeks the atmosphere inside the tanks was still extremely volatile. Because the rigidly mounted instrument panel on the early Mono proved detrimental to the gauges due to vibration it was agreed that rubber mounting the fascia would alleviate the problem. Garrie asked Fulvio to weld a couple of brackets to the tubular raised portion of the bulkhead. Two clamps were used, one for each bracket, while Fulvio knelt down on the factory floor, leaning against one side of the tub and with his welding hand piece in one hand and his eye shield in the other he then proceeded to strike the arc. Suddenly there was a huge ‘whoosh’ and the clamps and brackets flew up through the roof and Fulvio was catapulted across the factory floor coming to rest still holding his shield and welding hand piece albeit now disconnected from the welder. While one clamp was located, the other and the brackets were forever lost. Both sides of the tub had bulged out about 200 mm rendering it useless. "I would have spent days making that tub", quipped John Webb 40 years later.”
Edited by SJ Lambert, 25 January 2016 - 09:12.
My injuries were minor [although my neck still plays up sometimes], considering a brand new AGV helmet was cracked, and the seat harness was plainly 'stretched'.
