1961 Ferrari 250 TR 61 Spyder Fantuzzi 34 left 2

Scuderia Serenissima and Scuderia SSS Republica di Venezia were names used by

Giovanni Volpi Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata (born 1938 in Venice, Kingdom of Italy) is an Italian-Algerian nobleman and a former automobile racing manager and Formula One team owner. He inherited a fortune, at the age of 24, from his father, Count Giuseppe ...

to enter his own cars 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, ...

and

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

in the early 1960s. Scuderia Serenissima was an

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

team in the early 1960s. Funded by Giovanni Volpi, Serenissima used

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

s to much success until the founder financed the exiled Ferrari company, ATS. Thereafter,

Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italians, Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari ...

would no longer sell his cars to Serenissima, so the company turned to

De Tomaso De Tomaso Automobili ltd. (previously known as De Tomaso Modena SpA) is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded by the Argentine-born Alejandro de Tomaso (1928–2003) in Modena in 1959. It originally produced various prototypes a ...

, ATS, and

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

. Volpi, and thus Serenissima, halted automobile operations in 1970.

Formula One

In 1961, Scuderia Serenissima entered the

World Championship. They first entered a

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

T51 for

Maurice Trintignant Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (30 October 1917 – 13 February 2005) was a motor racing driver and vintner from France. He competed in the Formula One World Championship for fourteen years, between 1950 and 1964, one of the longest caree ...

at the

1961 Monaco Grand Prix The 1961 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 May 1961 on the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was race 1 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Man ...

, where he finished seventh. In Belgium, Trintignant retired on lap 23 with a broken gearbox after having qualified his car in 19th place. At the

1961 French Grand Prix The 1961 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 July 1961 at Reims-Gueux, Reims. It was race 4 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. By winning the race ...

, Scuderia Serenissima entered two cars. Again the Cooper for Trintignant and a

for

Giorgio Scarlatti Giorgio Scarlatti (2 October 1921 – 26 July 1990) was a racing driver from Italy. He participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 May 1956. Scarlatti's best season in Formula One was as a works Maserati driver ...

. Trintignant finished in 13th place while Scarlatti retired on lap 15 when his engine broke down. At the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...

Trintignant retired on lap 12 when his engine broke down. In the

1961 Italian Grand Prix The 1961 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 1961 at Monza. It was race 7 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was marked b ...

, Scuderia Serenissima again entered two cars, the Cooper for Trintignant and a De Tomaso for

Nino Vaccarella Nino Vaccarella (4 March 1933 – 23 September 2021) was an Italian sports car racing and Formula One driver. His principal achievements include having won the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Targa Florio in 1965, 1971 and 1975, the latter y ...

. Trintignant finished the race in ninth place and Vaccarella retired on lap 13 when his engine broke down. In 1962, now called Scuderia SSS Republica di Venezia, they entered cars for Nino Vaccarella. In Monaco, Vaccarella failed to qualify for the race. Three races later in Germany, Vaccarella finished in 15th place. At the last race for the Scuderia in Italy Vaccarella finished in 9th place. In 1966 Serenissima supplied engines to

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

. And at the

1966 British Grand Prix The 1966 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 16 July 1966. It was race 4 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. It was the 21st Britis ...

Bruce McLaren Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor. His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, ...

finished in sixth place, scoring one World Championship point.

Sports car racing

In 1963, Volpi began developing his own prototype

GT car GT, Gt or G-T may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games * GT Interactive, an American video game developer * GameTrailers, a video game website * '' Golden Tee Golf'', golf video game * ''Gran Turismo'' (series), a series of racing video games ...

, the Jungla GT. It used a new V8 engine, designed by

Alberto Massimino Alberto Massimino (5 January 1895 – 27 November 1975) was an Italian automotive engineer. Biography Born in Turin, he studied mechanical engineering in Switzerland and worked for FIAT (1924–28), where he followed Vittorio Jano who had left fo ...

, with closed bodywork by Francesco Salomone (built by Gran Sport). A later open version was built by Fantuzzi. Also in 1968, Volpi gave some attention to the idea of building a serious GT car, this time with the help of Ghia Studios, came to be known as the Ghia coupe, a one-off car fitted with a 3.0L Alf Francais M176 V8.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

As a constructor

(

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 ...

)

As an engine supplier

(

)

Bibliography

* Michael John Lazzari - Giovanni Faoro. Scuderia Serenissima, Cove Edition, 2018, ISBN 978-88-940667-1-5

References

{{reflist

External links

History of the Serenissima Ghia Coupé (1968)
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Italy Ferrari Formula One entrants Italian auto racing teams Formula One engine manufacturers 24 Hours of Le Mans teams