8 replies to this topic

[BRG]

In the Countdown to Bahrain, DeKnyff, who is doing sterling (or should that be Stirling?) work by concentrating on female competitors, posted this splendid shot:-

 

Anna Maria Peduzzi, driving an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 at the 1933 Pontedecimo-Giovi race.

 

Born in 1912, she started racing in her early twenties, driving for a newly formed team called 'Scuderia Ferrari'. With them, she won the 1,5 litre class at the 1934 Mille Miglia.

 

She continued racing after the war, retiring as late as 1961. She passed away in 1979.

It led me to wonder if there had been other female drivers employed by Scuderia Ferrari either in its Alfa Romeo team days or in its later form as an independent manufacturer.  Obviously there have been Ferraris driven by women on a number of occasions but were these exclusively private entries?  Did the Scuderia itself ever use any other female drivers after Ms Peduzzi?

[Vitesse2]

In its very early days, the Scuderia was really just a support system for gentleman (and lady) drivers, handling things like entry forms, maintenance, transport, etc in order that the amateur driver didn't have to invest time or money in them. The fact that she was married to Gianfranco Comotti - who was a 'pukka' Ferrari works driver from 1932 onwards - is probably relevant too ...

 

http://speedqueens.b...ia-peduzzi.html

[Tim Murray]

Maria Antonietta Avanzo co-drove an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 with Francesco Severi in the 1932 Mille Miglia. The car is listed as a Scuderia Ferrari entry:

http://www.wsrp.cz/prewar1932.html#2

[BRG]

So with the proviso that they may have been essentially just managed and expedited paying drivers, we have two cases from the Alfa days.  Nothing more from the Ferrari proper era?  The Speedqueens site doesn't seem to suggest any.

[Vitesse2]

Given that Il Commendatore was something of a reactionary/conservative - see his trenchant views on rear engined racing cars, for example - I'm not sure he would have considered the cockpit of a racing car (especially one of his racing cars) a suitable place for a woman.

 

And more generally, it's not as if women were hired by any other works racing teams either.

[BRG]

And more generally, it's not as if women were hired by any other works racing teams either.

True.  The rally world has a better record with Pat Moss-Carlsson at BMC, Rosemary Smith at Rootes and of course Michele Mouton at Audi.

[Roger Clark]

Maria Antonietta Avonzo, who was apparently a baroness, also drove a Ferrari entered 1750 to third place in the 1931 Coppa Pierazzi, a hill climb. 
 

The photgraph of Anna Maria Peduzzi in the first post does not, I believe, show a Scuderia Ferrari car. Pontedecimo- Giovi was a hill climb not a race. She was Ferrari entered with her husband in the 1934 Mille Miglia. They won their class and were 13th overall. She also drove a Ferrari 1500 in the 1934 Parma-Poggio hill climb, finishing 31st. These were the only Ferrari entries I found for her in Scuderia Ferrari by Orsini & Zagari. As mentioned in the Speedqueens article linked by Vitesse2, she often used the pseudonym Marocchina. 

[Roger Clark]

As a aside, I am always intrigued by Enzo Ferrari's alleged views on rear-engined cars.  He is supposed to have said made a comparison with a horse pulling rather than pushing carriage.  Even leaving aside the advantages of rear-engined racing cars, the analogy is clearly not a good one but does anybody know whether there is any proof that he actually said it and when he said it.  He could have held such views in 1958-59, and he would not have been alone, but by 1960 he clearly saw the future.  I am sure that the 1960 Formula 1 car would have been rear-engined if it wasn't the last year of the formula.  He could also have said it in response to the Alfa 512, designed by his nemesis Wilfredo Ricart but it would be interesting to know.

[Doug Nye]

I first came across a reference to Mr Ferrari saying that from Gioacchino Colombo's story of their initial postwar meeting to discuss design of a new V12 car to carry the Ferrari name.  I believe Mr Ferrari himself used the analogy in an early press conference when asked if he had ever considered Auto Union-style layout perhaps, in contrast to that of an Alfa Romeo.  I can't reference 'My Terrible Joys' just now to see if he used it in the original Italian edition.  When Hamish Hamilton launched the English translation it was 1963 I believe...and times had changed.

 

The prime mover towards rear-engined configuration at Ferrari was certainly Carlo Chiti - not The Old Man.

 

DCN