Hello Everybody,
I have conflicting information about the driver Pasquale Ermini.
According to an article published by italian newspaper "Il Resto del Carlino" dated Aug 15, 1961 he was killed along with two spectators, mother and son, on Aug 13, 1937 at the XIII Coppa Acerbo, in Pescara.
That date is confirmed by the book "Albo della Gloria" by Emanuele Carli (Modena, Italy, 1972, privately printed), but I have also several other sources that indicate a Pasquale Ermini racing after the war, and this post
http://forums.atlasf...476#post1112476
claims that he was involved in another accident in Florence, where several spectators were killed in 1948.
Pasquale Ermini is not a very common name in Italy, therefore I doubt that these sources are talking about two different persons.
On the other hand I have some concerns that the same driver was involved in two so dramatic accidents.
Can anybody provide a bio for him?
Thank you
pyrytus
Pasquale Ermini
Started by
pyrytus
, Oct 06 2004 09:08
4 replies to this topic
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#2
alessandro silva
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- 758 posts
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Posted 06 October 2004 - 09:22
Pasquale "Pasquino" Ermini did not die at Pescara 1937. He killed three spectators and was also injured.
Ermini was not lucky with spectators, or better you should not go watch him when he raced, as the following biographical lines explain.
Pasquale “Pasquino” Ermini (1905-1958) was a famous mechanic and a good driver. He had started in the 1920s as a mechanic of the Materassi team, which had purchased the works Talbots Grand Prix. After Materassi’s fatal accident at Monza in 1928, Ermini opened – in his native Florence - a workshop specializing in tuning high performance cars, taking part in a few local events as the driver of some customer’s car. After the war Ermini was one of the first to resume racing and tuning racing cars. In 1947 he set up his own team – called Tess, for Testa Emisferica Super Sport – with two Alfa Romeo-engined and two Fiat 1100-engined Specials. His two-ohc head for the Fiat 1100 engine was extremely successful (see below), so he relinquinshed the 2500SS Alfa Romeo engine to concentrate on this one. For 1948 he ordered new chassis from GILCO in Milan.
At the Florence F2 Grand Prix, in 1948, Pasquino Ermini, the local boy, crashed into the crowd, killing five spectators. His brakes failed and he aimed his car towards a spot where he knew there should not have been spectators. Unfortunately this was not the case. Ermini never raced again. Since three of the casualties were war refugees, reaction from the local press was rather subdued.
After the terrible crash in this Circuito di Firenze, Ermini quit racing, but kept developing his 1100 engine. This unit was mainly used in proprietary chassis, but a few complete cars were built in the Florentine works. Drivers Siro Sbraci, Piero Scotti and Ugo Bormioli were extremely successful in the Italian 1100cc class, mainly in open road races and hillclimbs in the years 1949 and 1950 at the wheel of Ermini-engined Specials. Later Attlio Brandi, Luciano Pagliai and Azzurro Manzini raced a few Erminis complete cars with success until 1956: one of these had been bodied by Scaglietti. This marque disappeared after Pasquino’s death in 1958, but no new cars had been built since 1955.
The Ermini 1100cc engine was a complicated device, which used the Fiat 1100 cylinder block. An Alfa-Romeo inspired light alloy two-ohc head with hemi-spheric combustion chambers was mounted in top of it. This engine featured two single vertical carburettors mounted in the centre of the head where a train of gears acted by a chain drove the camshafts. Its mechanical sophistication seems unlikely have been the designed in Ermini’s small shop. In fact Andrea Curami, that fastidious historian of the Italian sports car specials, writes that:”It is a singular coincidence that Auto Italiana announced during 1947 that the well known engineer Guido Cattaneo had prepared a two-ohc head capable of being mounted on a Fiat 1100 block, just as the one made by the Florentine motorist”.
Ermini was not lucky with spectators, or better you should not go watch him when he raced, as the following biographical lines explain.
Pasquale “Pasquino” Ermini (1905-1958) was a famous mechanic and a good driver. He had started in the 1920s as a mechanic of the Materassi team, which had purchased the works Talbots Grand Prix. After Materassi’s fatal accident at Monza in 1928, Ermini opened – in his native Florence - a workshop specializing in tuning high performance cars, taking part in a few local events as the driver of some customer’s car. After the war Ermini was one of the first to resume racing and tuning racing cars. In 1947 he set up his own team – called Tess, for Testa Emisferica Super Sport – with two Alfa Romeo-engined and two Fiat 1100-engined Specials. His two-ohc head for the Fiat 1100 engine was extremely successful (see below), so he relinquinshed the 2500SS Alfa Romeo engine to concentrate on this one. For 1948 he ordered new chassis from GILCO in Milan.
At the Florence F2 Grand Prix, in 1948, Pasquino Ermini, the local boy, crashed into the crowd, killing five spectators. His brakes failed and he aimed his car towards a spot where he knew there should not have been spectators. Unfortunately this was not the case. Ermini never raced again. Since three of the casualties were war refugees, reaction from the local press was rather subdued.
After the terrible crash in this Circuito di Firenze, Ermini quit racing, but kept developing his 1100 engine. This unit was mainly used in proprietary chassis, but a few complete cars were built in the Florentine works. Drivers Siro Sbraci, Piero Scotti and Ugo Bormioli were extremely successful in the Italian 1100cc class, mainly in open road races and hillclimbs in the years 1949 and 1950 at the wheel of Ermini-engined Specials. Later Attlio Brandi, Luciano Pagliai and Azzurro Manzini raced a few Erminis complete cars with success until 1956: one of these had been bodied by Scaglietti. This marque disappeared after Pasquino’s death in 1958, but no new cars had been built since 1955.
The Ermini 1100cc engine was a complicated device, which used the Fiat 1100 cylinder block. An Alfa-Romeo inspired light alloy two-ohc head with hemi-spheric combustion chambers was mounted in top of it. This engine featured two single vertical carburettors mounted in the centre of the head where a train of gears acted by a chain drove the camshafts. Its mechanical sophistication seems unlikely have been the designed in Ermini’s small shop. In fact Andrea Curami, that fastidious historian of the Italian sports car specials, writes that:”It is a singular coincidence that Auto Italiana announced during 1947 that the well known engineer Guido Cattaneo had prepared a two-ohc head capable of being mounted on a Fiat 1100 block, just as the one made by the Florentine motorist”.
#3
pyrytus
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Posted 06 October 2004 - 09:50
Thank you very much! Very quick response.
pyrytus
pyrytus
#4
dretceterini
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Posted 06 October 2004 - 16:21
I would assume that the engine design mentioned was actually done either by the Cattaneo of Isotta fame, or his son. They had an engineering firm after WW2 called CABI-Cattaneo (see other thread)
Stu
Stu
#5
dretceterini
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Posted 08 October 2004 - 21:14
There is a photo of a 1100cc Fiat/Ermini DOHC motor with 2 downdraft carbs between the cams and spark plugs on the side of the motor on pg 147 of "La Sport"
Can't really tell from the photo, but it appears that the plugs and exhaust are on the same side, so I'm not sure if it is a cross-flow head or not.....
I also can't figure out why the carbs are where the plugs normally are, and vice-versa...
Can't really tell from the photo, but it appears that the plugs and exhaust are on the same side, so I'm not sure if it is a cross-flow head or not.....
I also can't figure out why the carbs are where the plugs normally are, and vice-versa...
