Giulio Masetti (1895 – 25 April 1926) was an Italian nobleman and racing driver, known as "the lion of Madonie" from his dominating the

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 ...

in the early 1920s. Born in Vinci, he was the older brother of the racing driver Conte

Carlo Masetti Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

, both living in ''Castello di Uzzano'', a palace in

Greve in Chianti Greve in Chianti (the old name was Greve; in 1972 it was renamed Greve in Chianti after the inclusion of that area in the Chianti wine district) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It is lo ...

owned by the ''Masetti di Bagnano'' family since 1644. Masetti acquired his first car, a 4.5-litre Fiat S57 B14 from

Antonio Ascari Antonio Ascari (15 September 1888 – 26 July 1925) was an Italian Grand Prix motor racing champion. He won four Grands Prix before his premature death at the 1925 French Grand Prix. He was the father of two-time World Champion Alberto Ascari. Ea ...

, in which he was fourth at X

(1919), and won the XII

(1921). The next year, he won XIII

in his privately entered ex- Otto Salzer 1914 Mercedes 4.5-litre 115 HP 18/100 (1922). Masetti then raced an

Alfa Romeo RL The Alfa Romeo RL was produced between 1922–1927. It was Alfa's first sport model after World War I. The car was designed in 1921 by Giuseppe Merosi. It had a straight-6 engine with overhead valves. Three different versions were made: Normale, ...

TF (second at XIV

, 1924) before joining the Sunbeam-

Talbot Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...

Darracq A Darracq and Company Limited owned a French manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines in Suresnes, near Paris. The French enterprise, known at first as A. Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq after he sold his Gladi ...

team. He was third in a Sunbeam 135 bhp 2-litre at the 1925 French Grand Prix, but failed to finish the

San Sebastián Grand Prix The San Sebastián Grand Prix (''Gran Premio de San Sebastián'') was an automobile race held at the Circuito Lasarte in Lasarte-Oria, Spain. During most of its existence, it was the main race event in Spain, since the Spanish Grand Prix had not y ...

(1925) and the II

Rome Grand Prix The Rome Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio di Roma), also known as the ''Premio Reale di Roma'' (1925–1932) and ''Gran Premio di Roma'' (1947–1991), was an automobile race held in Rome, Italy from 1925 until 1991. Through the years a number of d ...

(1926). He died at

Sclafani Bagni Sclafani Bagni ( Sicilian: ''Sclàfani Bagni'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo. Geography Sclafani Bagni borders the following municipalities: ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, during the

XVII 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as ...

, while driving entry #13, a

Delage Delage was a French luxury automobile and racecar company founded in 1905 by Louis Delâge in Levallois-Perret near Paris; it was acquired by Delahaye in 1935 and ceased operation in 1953. On 7 November 2019, the association "Les Amis de Dela ...

2L CV. A stone plaque is erected at the place. Since this incident, the entry #13 is no longer issued at Grand Prix events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masetti, Giulio 1895 births 1926 deaths People from Vinci, Tuscany Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Florence Italian racing drivers Grand Prix drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in Italy