Mario Alborghetti (23 October 192811 April 1955) was an Italian

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

driver who raced in

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

for the Volpini-Arzani team. He was killed in an accident during his Grand Prix debut.

Career

A wealthy man, Alborghetti commissioned designer Gianpaolo Volpini and engineer Egidio Arzani to build him a Grand Prix car to drive. The group acquired an ex-

Scuderia Milano Scuderia Milano was an Italian Formula One motor racing team founded in Milan by Arialdo and Emilio Ruggeri, two brothers who had raced Maseratis in the early post-war period. The team scored two World Championship points on its debut, when Felic ...

Maserati 4CLT The Maserati 4CL and its derived sister model the Maserati 4CLT are single-seat open-wheel Grand Prix racing cars that were designed and built by Maserati. The 4CL was introduced at the beginning of the 1939 season, as a rival to the Alfa Rome ...

with a Speluzzi engine. The vehicle was overhauled, with new bodywork and an engine which conformed with the 2.5l

regulations then in place. The special was entered for the 1955 Turin Grand Prix but work was not finished and the team failed to arrive.

Accident and death

The car was ready in time for the 1955 Pau Grand Prix. Pau was considered to be a difficult circuit, especially for a driver as inexperienced as Alborghetti. In practice he set 15th fastest time out of 16 runners, nearly 19 seconds slower than

Jean Behra Jean Marie Behra (16 February 1921 – 1 August 1959) was a Formula One driver who raced for the Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Ferrari and Porsche teams. Appearance and personality Behra was small in stature, stocky, and weighed 178 pounds.''B ...

's pole time. By the 19th lap of the race he was far behind the majority of the field after three pit-stops when Alborghetti was distracted at the hairpin by the approach of Jacques Pollet's

Gordini Gordini () is a division of Renault Sport Technologies (Renault Sport). In the past, it was a sports car manufacturer and performance tuner, established in 1946 by Amédée Gordini (1899–1979), nicknamed "Le Sorcier" (The Sorcerer). Gordini be ...

to lap him. Alborghetti seemed to hit the wrong pedal as he came to the bend, pressing the accelerator instead of the brakes and ploughing into the straw bales. Several spectators received minor injuries in the accident while Alborghetti suffered fatal chest and head wounds, the impact having torn his helmet off. His death was not announced until after Behra had won the race. The Volpini-Arzani special was mothballed until the

1955 Italian Grand Prix The 1955 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, in Monza, Italy on 11 September 1955. It was the seventh and final race of the 1955 World Championship of Drivers. In the wake of the 1955 Le Mans dis ...

, when it was unsuccessfully entered for

Luigi Piotti Luigi Piotti (October 27, 1913 in Milan – April 19, 1971 in Godiasco) was a racing driver from Italy. He participated in nine Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open ...

before disappearing once again.

Motorsport career results

Non-championship Formula One results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

1928 births 1955 deaths Italian Formula One drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in France Racing drivers from Milan {{s-end Italian racing drivers