ANTONIO ASCARI IN MEMORIAM

A memory on the 75th anniversary of his last race

He was originally from Castel d’Ario, the same Mantovan district where Tazio Nuvolari was born, to whom he was a distant relative. However, unlike the Nuvolari, his father, a grain merchant, soon moved the family to Milan where the young Antonio began to develop in the world of motoring in the Fiat environment.

He successfully alternated purely commercial tasks with those of a tester and pilot, at a time when international category races were scarce and he had to achieve fame by participating in all kinds of tests of the most varied level.

the beginnings

Like many figures of his time, Antonio Ascari always combined strictly commercial activity (representative and dealer of the brands for which he worked) with the tasks of a test driver ready for competition. At first, he developed these activities in the Fiat environment, thanks to which he was able to have a machine after the war break when competition timidly restarted in 1919. The car is a fairly old 1914 Fiat GP, which Ascari, however, , knows how to take advantage of the shortage of proper racing vehicles in these early stages of the postwar period. He manages to stand out in some other national test and his name already sounds like a famous pilot, fast and daring.

At this time, Ascari only attends one international class event, the Targa Florio, with terrible results. Initially listed among the favorites thanks to his previous performances in minor races, his Fiat is involved in a bitter duel for the lead during the first stages of the event, with Rene Thomas’s Ballot and André Boillot’s Peugeot as antagonists. However, an accident before the end of the first lap (let’s remember the great extension of the circuits of yesteryear, and especially this one from le Madonie) forces him to leave, leaving the victory to the Peugeot in an epic finish worthy of the legendary race. sicilian

the alpha adventure

In 1921 Ascari returned to Sicily to race the Targa as an official driver for Alfa Romeo. At that time, the Alfa Corse project is still growing and he is not yet ready to participate in the Grand Prix category races (which in that year are limited to just two appointments in France and Italy). Pouring its limited means into free Formula, Alfa Romeo usually registers its first driver Giusseppe Campari with a 40/60 type at this time, opting for outright victory, together with other drivers from the house aspiring to victory in the lower categories with the Alpha ES sport. Among them, Antonio Ascari, Ugo Sivocci and Enzo Ferrari usually stand out. The Milanese house does not achieve very positive results this year. Always talking about international level races,

In 1922 things begin to change. The local victories are adding up to Alfa Romeo’s credit while some positive results are reaped in the free Formula. Antonio Ascari stands out especially in the Targa Florio where, at his request, the four-leaf clover is painted for the first time on the hood of his car as a symbol of fortune. Ascari would end up winning in his category and signing an excellent fourth place overall. Since then, the “quadrifoglio” emblem has become the symbol of Alfa Corse in all its presentations.

At the end of the season, Ascari presents the new Alfa RL, intended for free formula, at the Autumn Circuit in Monza where the car makes a good impression before suffering from its youth and being forced to retire. For the following season Alfa Corse sees the future with optimism and prepares the assault on the premier category, the “Grand Prix”, which announces for the first time four appointments for 1923.

Lights and shadows

The new season begins in an unbeatable way for the Alfa men. At the Targa Florio held in April, the RL types proved to be superior and Campari’s abandonment was effectively offset by Ugo Sivocci, who won the race, and Antonio Ascari, who seconded him on the podium after setting the fastest lap record in the triumphant day.

In May, Ascari is the only representative of Alfa in the new Cremona circuit, where he manages to prevail without excessive difficulties ahead of Alfieri Maserati who at that time runs for Diatto. In April, a new appointment at the Mugello circuit ends with a positive result: coming back from fifth position, Ascari makes an exciting climb to second place. Not content with this, he continues his attempt to catch up with the leader and, risking the most, misses the line of a corner and needs almost 10 minutes to rejoin the race. However, he manages to finish in third place after another Alfa RL driven by Massetti while Brilli Peri’s Steyr, without harassment, achieves victory.

Missing the most important test of the year, the ACF Grand Prix, and the first big event in San Sebastian (which would not receive the name of the Spanish Grand Prix until the following year), Alfa Romeo has announced its debut in the premier class for the III Italian Grand Prix in October. The new P1 racing car has been prepared, of which three units are registered. As the season progresses, the Milanese house surprises no one by announcing that the cars will be driven by Campari, Sivocci and Ascari, their three aces at the moment. You have confidence in both men and machines and you hope to make your debut on the right foot.

However, history was written tragically differently when, during the training sessions prior to the race, Ugo Sivocci died crashing his P1 at the height of the current Ascari variant, where many years later the great Alberto would meet the same end. Alfa Corse withdraws from the test as a sign of mourning. In 1923 a Grand Prix category race is still held at the brand new Sitges racetrack, near Barcelona; but Alfa Romeo has decided to wait another year.

The preambles of the consecration

In 1924, the Machiavellian good offices of Enzo Ferrari managed to wrest the best designer of the moment from Fiat, Vitorio Jano, who fine-tuned the first of a series of successful models conceived for Alfa Romeo, the P2 8-cylinder turbocharged engine. The three scheduled grands prix will begin with the ACF in August. Meanwhile, the pilots of the house are once again at ease in the free formula with the already consecrated Type RL. With him they go in April to the annual appointment with the Targa Florio.

The Sicilian event is experiencing a particularly vibrant edition this year with the duel between the Mercedes and the Alfa RL. Especially inspired is Werner, from Mercedes. The German driver has observed how in previous editions of the Targa a part of the public, unsportsmanlike, was dedicated to sometimes more or less surreptitiously blocking the road to the passage of foreign vehicles. In anticipation of this problem, Werner takes the exit with his Mercedes painted red. By the time the criminals scanning the horizon realize that it is not an Italian car, it is already too late and the Mercedes almost always completes the course with the road as clear as the local drivers. In the end, despite Alpha’s tough resistance, Werner is rewarded for his efforts with victory.

Before going to France for the big event, Alfa Corse takes advantage of the most “conventional” Formula Free circuits to test the P2. The car made its successful debut at the Cremona circuit, where, driven by Antonio Ascari, it achieved the fastest lap record and the final victory. In the Acerbo Cup however, the only P2 in the race with Campari at the wheel is forced to retire. Fortunately for the Milanese house, it is Ferrari with an RL type that ends up claiming victory. Alfa rewards this good result by preparing a fourth P2 for Ferrari on the occasion of the ACF Grand Prix, where the presence of Campari, Ascari and Wagner with the same model was already announced.

The definitive assault on the Grand Prix

Finally, on August 3, 1924 in Lyon, the most important event on the international automobile calendar got under way with three Alfa Romeo P2s entering the fray for the first time. The ACF Grand Prix knows a vibrant fight in which up to four brands are involved. The once successful Fiat piloted by Borodino and Segrave with the Sunbeam (created by ex-Fiat designers with a tremendous resemblance to the Italian racing car) follows one another in the lead. Late in the race, the English Guinness with Sunbeam leads the test; but the unleashed Alfa Romeo P2 snatch his head first through Campari and then at the hands of a very confident Antonio Ascari who ends up establishing himself in first place with authority, until on lap 31 out of 35 his P2 begins to show a mechanical failure which makes performance drop ostensibly. At an abnormally slow pace, Ascari tries to complete the final turns while his opponents pass him one after another. One lap from the finish line, his P2 stops definitively. Victory, however, went to his teammate Campari while Wagner completed Alfa Romeo’s triumphant debut with fourth place. La Delage, who has never disputed the lead, is rewarded for his regularity with second and third place obtained by Divo and Benoist respectively; while Ascari, even without being able to finish, is classified in ninth place. Victory, however, went to teammate Campari while Wagner completed Alfa Romeo’s triumphant debut with fourth place. La Delage, who has never disputed the lead, is rewarded for his regularity with second and third place obtained by Divo and Benoist respectively; while Ascari, even without being able to finish, is classified in ninth place. Victory, however, went to teammate Campari while Wagner completed Alfa Romeo’s triumphant debut with fourth place. La Delage, who has never disputed the lead, is rewarded for his regularity with second and third place obtained by Divo and Benoist respectively; while Ascari, even without being able to finish, is classified in ninth place.

The Alfa P2s are not present at the Spanish Grand Prix in San Sebastian, so it is Bugatti, Delage and Sunbeam that compete for the victory that falls to the English side thanks to Segrave. The French company Delage, for its part, decides not to attend the Italian Grand Prix, where the already fearsome P2 will find less opposition.

In fact, the Italian race represents the revenge and the consecration of Antonio Ascari who, as soon as he starts, reaches his head to not leave it at any time during the five long hours of testing. On his triumphant day, he sets the fastest lap and crosses the finish line victorious ahead of his teammates Wagner and Campari. Minoia with the efficient but obsolete Mercedes is in a creditable fourth place.

The first World Championship for Makes

Ascari is the man of the moment. In February 1925 he started the season with the First Royal Prize of Rome in Formula Libre. He does not finish the race due to a minor accident that has no major consequences; but in anticipation of greater evils, Jano decides to reserve it for really important companies. Ascari will only be entered in the Grand Prix.

For that season, the number of first category tests rises to four with the addition of the Belgian Grand Prix to the usual ones in France, Italy and Spain. There is then talk of organizing some kind of official Championship and it is decided, after appropriate deliberations, to establish a World Championship in which only the manufacturers will compete, not the drivers. The four European Grand Prix plus the Indianapolis 500 are declared scoring for the title, specifying the obligation to participate in at least two of them to appear in the final classification.

By then the P2s have increased their original power with a view to the new season; but the Delage also increases the performance of its racing cars with the adoption of a new turbocharged mechanics. The first date at Spa is impatiently awaited to find out where everyone is. For its part, Alfa is confident that the growing sporting rivalry between its two leading drivers, Ascari and Campari, will benefit the final results.

The triumph and the end

The story of the Belgian Grand Prix is ​​well known: an overwhelming display of superiority by Alfa Corse that put Ascari and Campari in the top two positions despite a long lunch break with a table and tablecloth laid out by Jano in the Pits as response to an adverse public. Antonio Ascari not only wins for Alfa, but also comes out stronger in his particular sporting fight that pits him against Campari for the lead in the team. After the Spa Race and such a convincing demonstration, this seems to be the only incentive that the season will have.

But again the story is written differently than expected. The ACF Grand Prix takes place on July 26 at the modern Montlhery circuit, opened a year earlier near Paris. Everything seems to be going according to plan there. Coming out from behind at the vagaries of the draw, the P2s soon reach the head of the race and begin to distance themselves with no real opposition. Also as it seemed predictable, it is Antonio Ascari who prevails over Campari who once again has to settle for running second in his increasingly distant trail. No surprise then until lap 22. The #8 Alfa Romeo P2 driven by Antonio Ascari then leaves the track uncontrolled; hood, it turns… the blow is deadly of necessity and the Italian ace dies instantly.

Epilogue

After the accident in Montlhery, Alfa withdrew its drivers from the test, leaving the victory in the hands of Delage, who would later also win the Spanish Grand Prix. For his part, Duesemberg, after winning the Indianapolis 500, also went to the Italian Grand Prix in search of the world title. At Monza, however, the performance of the Alfa Romeos was once again as expected. Brilli Peri achieves a victory “in homage to Antonio Ascari” which would ultimately mean the award of the first manufacturer’s championship.

Since then, the Alfa Romeo emblem has been surrounded by a laurel wreath that identifies it as the first World Champion in History. Some laurels that began to intertwine with the victory in Spa of Antonio Ascari, who like the great legendary characters died tragically and surprisingly… at the wheel of a racing car, when he was leading a race held 75 years ago now.