![Giulio masetti delage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Giulio_masetti_delage.jpg)
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
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 ...
(1919), and won the XII
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 ...
(1921). The next year, he won XIII
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 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
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 ...
, 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 ...
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 ...
, 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