Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari

Tazio Nuvolari was born on 16 November 1892 at Casteldario, a village near Mantua (Mántova) in Northern Italy. Nuvolari was a man that really lived for racing. Neither bad equipment nor wounds from his uncountable crashes could keep him from driving flat out. Known to the Italians fans as the "Flying Mantuan" or the "Great Little Man", Nuvolari was just 160 cm tall and he soon found out that he did not have the muscular strength to force the cars around the corners with the steering wheel. So instead he developed a technique where he put his car into a four wheel slide and then controlled the slide with the trottle.

Nuvolari was known for his busy driving style. His head was close to the steering wheel, his arms were constantly working with his elbows going up and down like pistons and when inspired he was unable to sit still but instead seemed to jump up and down in his seat. Early on he developed his personal "uniform", blue trousers and a yellow jersey with the letters "TN" on the left breast and a tortoise brooch pinned on to it. It is ironical that the fastest driver in the world had selected the tortoise as his mascot, it was sometimes also painted on the car. Money did not mean that much to Nuvolari who lived in a fairly modest way. He did however have his own airplane. Nuvolari was also a very keen photographer, and he was often seen walking around in the pits with his camera.

In 1920 he began racing motorcycles and turned to cars in 1927.
Nuvolari's last race was at Monte Pellegrino, on 15 April 1950, and he won his class with a 1500cc Cisitalia. Nuvolari died at home 11th August 1953. His last wish was to be buried in his "racing uniform" with helmet, yellow jersey and blue trousers.