6 replies to this topic

[Parkesi]

According to Speedweek/CH Romolo Tavoni (94) has passed away.

Motorsports for me started only in 1965 therefore I ask TNF members for your recollection. 

[sabrejet]

I seem to recall that he and John Surtees were close friends. 

[guiporsche]

Secretary of Enzo Ferrari from 1950 to 1957, team director from 1957 until 1961, when he was fired after sending with other senior staff a much famous letter protesting about Laura Ferrari's interference in the team. By all accounts an affable, thoughtful, and intelligent man, who as a key witness (and probably the last still living until now) of Scuderia Ferrari's first decade gave precious testimonies to authors like Luca delli Carri, Chris Nixon, and Anthony Pritchard. 

[Doug Nye]

Very sad news, though not unexpected...

 

Tavoni endured a tumultuous period in Ferrari history, including the loss of Castellotti, de Portago, Musso, Collins...and Hawthorn...and then of Trips.  As The Old Man's secretary he saw - and heard - it all.  As team manager he was absolutely in the front line.  He was one of the justified yet wrong-headed signatories of the incendiary letter of complaint about Signora Laura's interference which triggered the mass dismissal late in 1961.  By having a local lawyer draw up the document they had washed grubby Ferrari linen in public, they had taken an internal matter outside those walls...outside the family, and doing so stood no chance of forgiveness.  He told me once of that palace revolution "...and then we make a big mistake".  They had indeed.

 

Mr Ferrari's sense of betrayal by Tavoni was demonstrated by the poor man finding himself blackballed for a year when it came to seeking alternative employment.    

 

His troubled subsequent tenure at ATS was finally followed by considerable success as promotion manager of the Monza Autodrome, which became a comfortable new home for him.  He created the Monza 1000Kms, Monza 4-Hours, the Monza F3 Lottery GP and then Formula 875. He then became assistant to Giuseppe Bacciagaluppi at the Racing Commission of the Automobile Club of Italy and in 1972 General Manager of the Monza Autodrome, running thirty-plus races a year there. From 1983-1991 he was in charge of all activities there.  And he would say he loved it. He finally retired on his 71st birthday in January 1997.

 

Surviving drivers from his Ferrari period would recall 'Tavvy' with considerable affection, and sympathy. Mr Ferrari worked him into the ground, and to distraction - and paid him a pittance.  But Tavoni still respected many secrets and always struck me as notably discreet, when it might have been so easy to have been quite the opposite.  He was impressive.  He must not be forgotten.

 

Sincere condolences to his family and many friends.

 

DCN

[Richard Jenkins]

A highly intelligent man, with an unbridled enthusiasm for the sport which lasted until his dying day. His service to the Monza Autodrome is arguably a greater legacy than his time at Ferrari.

 

He was also quite a dignified, patriotic and principled man and I think history will serve him well.

 

Very much an end of an era with only (I could have forgotten someone) Tony Brooks surviving from that Tavoni era.

 

I'm sorry to hear of his passing. RIP 

Edited by Richard Jenkins, 21 December 2020 - 22:09.

[FLB]

This is an interview of Sig. Tavoni that was done by Chris Nixon and that is available on Motorsport's website:

 

Enzo's Right-Hand Man - Motor Sport Magazine

[FLB]

A highly intelligent man, with an unbridled enthusiasm for the sport which lasted until his dying day. His service to the Monza Autodrome is arguably a greater legacy than his time at Ferrari.

 

 

Fully agreed, right up to making sure changes were made to the first Variante so the Autodromo would not lose its international licence, after a fatal motorcycle accident during a national superbike race in 1991.