VENICE (ITALPRESS) – Engineer Giovanni Marelli has passed away. Protagonist in the automotive world: first with positions as technical director at Ferrari and Alfa Romeo, then CEO of MCM. Born in 1940, he was a leading figure in F1 and Formula Indy/Cart from the late 1960s to the 2000s, always enthusiastic about his choices, albeit difficult ones to which he dedicated himself with passion and generosity. With a degree in mechanical engineering from Padua and joining Ferrari in the late 1960s, Giovanni Marelli immediately drove the Dino to victory with Chris Amon beating Jim Clark’s Lotus and thus entering the heart of Commendatore Ferrari, who then had him follow the Dino for the Mountain Championship with Peter Schetty all the way to F.1 with Mauro Forghieri and with the important introduction of the first aerodynamic wings developed by Engineer Giacomo Caliri. In the 1970s Engineer Marelli left the Cavallino called by President Luraghi for the Biscione and with Engineer Carlo Chiti they won in tourism with the Alfa Romeo GTAm and with the Alfa Romeo 33 they came to dominate the Prototype Championship with 8 races won out of 8 bringing to the race both a consolidated 12-cylinder naturally aspirated engine and a more advanced turbo. Buoyed by the successes of the cars with the Biscione on all circuits, in the late 1970s engineer Marelli followed Alfa Romeo’s great return to Formula 1, aided by the Alfetta’s results in rallies, 1978 Group 2 Tourism Title with Mauro Pregliasco at the wheel. Only two seasons after Alfa Romeo’s return to Formula 1, at the end of the 1980 World Championship, in the Watkins Glen GP, for Alfa Romeo came pole position and for more than 30 laps absolute domination, until a coil stopped Bruno Giacomelli’s 179. The Alfa for the ’81 season, if the regulations do not change, is the car to beat and Mario Andretti arrives on the team. But the struggle between Fisa and Foca results in the banning of miniskirts, circumvented with trim regulators that Alfa decides not to adopt in order to follow the regulations to the letter and not interpret them as many British teams did. This political choice leads to mediocre results to which are added brakes on the development of special series for production and a freeze even on internal research and development because it is decided to outsource them. All signs of a crisis that increases exponentially throughout Alfa Romeo and with a domino effect begins to bring everything down, even very important industrial choices for the brand, such as the Alfa – Nissan joint venture that then opens the doors to the screwdriver factories of the Japanese in Uk to the detriment of Italy as well. The Alfa Romeo president at the time, Ettore Massacesi, who was very focused on competition, product and employees, but also the CEO Corrado Innocenti struggled to hold the helm, pressed by politicians but also by Industrial Groups that did not want a strong Alfa Romeo. The game of a worthy Alfa Romeo antagonist to Germany’s noble industry is understood to be lost. Engineer Marelli decides to leave Alfa with great sorrow at the decline taken that does not bode well for a serene future for the Biscione. “One door closed, another one opens,” he used to say but never uttered it for Alfa’s farewell. Leaving Alfa Romeo he gave birth to MCM with which he developed a turbocharged four-cylinder in two displacement versions. The 2.1-liter version with over 600 horsepower is for the Ford Probe for the Imsa Championship, the 1.5 for F.1. At the same time Carl Haas and actor Paul Newman founded a team and with Erik Broadley patron of Lola involved him in the development of the composite chassis of the F.Indy/Cart car for the 1984 season. Season that saw American actor Paul Newman’s team win the championship with driver Mario Andretti. Composite materials had risen to prominence, and in addition to their use in automotive and aeronautics, engineer Marelli introduced them to other industries, such as skis, boots, and helmets with Nava. He works on magnesium and carbon rims. An eclectic personality, engineer Giovanni Marelli has also worked for Yamaha on both the Paris Dakar and the Supermono 600 for the track, but he has also worked on special road cars such as the 16-cylinder Cizeta Moroder. So many drivers had him as track engineer, among those he was closest to, first of all, Mario Andretti, but also Jackie Icks, Chris Amon, Arturo Merzario, Patrick Depailler, Peter Shetty, Ignazio Giunti, Bruno Giacomelli, Mauro Pregliasco, Derek Bell. One of Marelli’s mantras was tire size, “the wider the better,” he used to say, back when everyone still didn’t consider the importance of wheel size, because he said, “They give more grip and improve safety with better braking distances, and this applies to both competition and road cars.”
photo: Marelli Archives
(ITALPRESS).
