28 replies to this topic

[gio66]

@maxpapis: Just heard a sad news my friend and mentor Gianpiero Moretti founder of @MOMO passed away this morning He was a special one RIP

http://images.forum-...simages/336526/









RIP momo, another piece of Italian motorsport history is gone

[jj2728]

R.I.P

[rdmotorsport]

jj2728, on Jan 15 2012, 13:56, said:

R.I.P

helped with my F3 team some years a go with steering wheels etc, always approachable,sadly missed.RIP

[RStock]

Sad news.

[gio66]

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

[Bruno]

un Grande, quando arrivera lassu incontrera Enzo

[buckaluck]

So sad does anyone know why as he was only 67?

[gio66]

buckaluck, on Jan 15 2012, 19:00, said:

So sad does anyone know why as he was only 67?

cancer

[ReWind]

buckaluck, on Jan 15 2012, 19:00, said:

Does anyone know why as he was only 67?

I'm pretty sure he was 71.
He raced as early as 1961 which would have been difficult if he was born in late 1944. I think he was born in March 1940 which makes him nearly 72.
And I think his first name is properly spelled "Giampiero". But I have to leave that to the Italians...

[gio66]

ReWind, on Jan 15 2012, 19:21, said:

And I think his first name is properly spelled "Giampiero". But I have to leave that to the Italians...

In Italy you can find both, there is no precise rule.
On the momo website it says Giampiero, the overlay of the Daytona 24 videoclip says Gianpiero (as Max Papis wrote).
The right name is what he had on his identity card.

ReWind, on Jan 15 2012, 19:21, said:

I think he was born in March 1940 which makes him nearly 72.

Yes, in the videoclip he says "I'm 58"

Edited by gio66, 15 January 2012 - 18:40.

[buckaluck]

ReWind, on Jan 15 2012, 10:21, said:

I'm pretty sure he was 71.
He raced as early as 1961 which would have been difficult if he was born in late 1944. I think he was born in March 1940 which makes him nearly 72.
And I think his first name is properly spelled "Giampiero". But I have to leave that to the Italians...

Wikipedia/SPEED etc. has him born on Nov. 15th 1944 but yes that would put him at 17 starting his race career and they say he was in a university when he starts to race making 1940 a better birth date. Either way sad news.

[Bruno]

link

http://brunodaytona6...html#trackbacks

[E1pix]

Oh, that is sad. RIP, Momo.

[Formula Once]

Very sad news. The last 10 years life was very hard on him, he was a very nice man who put much into the sport. RIP.

[Doug Nye]

Sorry to hear this sad news. Condolences to his family and friends. There,my friends, was an enthusiast.

DCN

[West3]

Terribly saddened to read this news. "Mister Momo" contributed hugely to our sport on several different levels. A lovely bio can be found here.

I am very fortunate to own the trophy he received for taking top honors at the Trieste-Opicina hillclimb in 1970, driving his beloved 512S. I just finished giving it a nice polish, in tribute to one of the last true gentleman racers...

[JacnGille]

Sad news

[barrykm]

R.I.P.

[Arjan de Roos]

I'll never forget his last stint at Le Mans. June 7th 1998, the sun shone bright. Apparantly his mechanics had changed bodywork. Moretti flew underneath the Dunlop bridge, wizzed downhill, slamming his shiny red Momo 333 SP into the Esses! Forza!

[Julian Roberts]

Arjan de Roos, on Jan 16 2012, 08:01, said:

I'll never forget his last stint at Le Mans. June 7th 1998, the sun shone bright. Apparantly his mechanics had changed bodywork. Moretti flew underneath the Dunlop bridge, wizzed downhill, slamming his shiny red Momo 333 SP into the Esses! Forza!

So well put. I admired him as a proper racer.

[richardspringett]

Rest in Peace -- Giampiero. Condolences to his family and friends.

A true Italian.

Richard

[timbo]

Gianpiero Moretti's long tail Porsche 935 at Calder Park during a support race for the Australian GP.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Mike Argetsinger]

JJ O'Malley phoned from Daytona this morning to tell me the sad news. I had already read about it on TNF. JJ told me the story of how Giampiero Moretti was responsible for bringing the 6-Hour race back to Watkins Glen (the race had run from 1968 though 1980). Apparently Moretti had announced that 1995 would be his final full season running the entire IMSA Camel series although he would continue to run in selected events. O'Malley, then Watkins Glen's Director of Communications, asked him what it would take to bring him back to the Glen. "I'll come back if you bring back the 6-hour race," Moretti answered, according to JJ. JJ brought it up with then WGI President John Saunders and, in fact, the race was brought back on the 1996 calendar. The best part of the story is that Moretti and co-driver Max Papis won the race in the Momo Ferrari 333SP. The 6-hour remains a fixture on the Watkins Glen calendar.

[Catalina Park]

timbo, on Jan 16 2012, 22:24, said:

Gianpiero Moretti's long tail Porsche 935 at Calder Park during a support race for the Australian GP.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I met Giampiero at that meeting. A very nice true gentleman.
Fancy bringing that car all the way to Calder for a short sprint support race at a Calder AGP. A lot of effort for a very simple race. I guess it shows what an enthusiast he was.

[Ralf Pickel]

Very sad to read about his passing away.
He was a regular at my hometrack Norisring for a few years during the Grp.5 era.
I always liked him due to him gentleman racer apperance and the good looking MOMO livery of his cars - an interesting addition to the usual contenders in Germany at that time.

[Ralf Pickel]

Could not find a better shot at the moment, sorry...
Norisring 1981 - his car stirred up quite an interested on the grid.

[wildman]

Laguna Seca, 1984: Moretti in the Cosworth-powered Alba AR3:

[David M. Kane]

Very sad news indeed I remember seeing him race at the Daytona-24 Hour in his last racing season I believe. What a true force in racing!

God Bless his Soul.

[karlcars]

A tremendous enthusiast indeed. I knew him well as my company, Formula 1 Enterprises, imported his steering wheels to the USA in the late 1960s.

He was the moving force behind the creation of Ferrari's F333 SP sports-racer.

R.I.P. indeed.