Fiat Grand Prix Race Driver, Felice Nazzaro

Story by Graham Gauld

If you read the first article in this series you will recall the photograph of Felice Nazzaro at the wheel of the 18 liter Fiat S-B 4 Corsa “ Mephistopheles” that was sent to England to race against the Napier race car at Brooklands.

The car stayed in England and at the end of WW 1 the car re-appeared at Brooklands. It was run by Jack Duff who paid a modest £100 for it and raced it in 1921 and 1922 but in the latter year Duff decided to modify the engine by fitting aluminum pistons.

He was warned this might overstress the crankcase because the compression ratio had been increased but Duff decided to take a chance in the Lightning Handicap in 1922. Not long after the start, and at high speed, the rear two cylinders decided to separate themselves from the crankcase and Duff was lucky not to be injured by bits of engine flying in all directions.

Duff sold the car to Ernest Eldridge, another Englishman, who stretched the chassis by a foot and a half and replaced the wrecked engine with a Fiat A12 21.7 liter aircraft engine and also remodeled the bodywork. In 1924 he set a new outright Brooklands lap record of 124.33 mph and then took it to Arpajon in France in July 1924. In his first record attempt he broke the World Land Speed record at over 142 mph but was then told it could not stand as the car did not have a reverse gear! Eldridge then jury rigged a reverse gear but Rene Thomas took advantage of Eldridge’s disappointment and set an official World Land Speed record on July 6 in his Delage. Six days later Eldridge, now with a reverse gear, then went back and broke Thomas’s Land Speed Record recording a speed of 146.01 mph. He held the record for just over 3 weeks because Malcolm Campbell came along with his first Blue Bird land speed record car and went slightly faster.

Back on the racetracks, for 1922 there was a new Grand Prix formula for 2 liter cars for which engineer Cappa designed the 804 – a logical development of the 801 that had been Fiat’s first post-war Grand Prix car and Felice Nazzaro was ready.

The 804 was a slim car, almost aerodynamic, and it had servo assisted four-wheel brakes. Three of them were rolled out for the 1922 French Grand Prix with Piero Bordino, Felice Nazzaro and his nephew Biaggio Nazzaro. They were up against all the leading teams from France, Italy, Germany and Britain. The road surfaces were still dirt and heavy rain the night before made it very difficult but Nazzaro ignored the danger and led. Sadly, young Biaggio Nazzaro was killed when he lost a wheel. Then Bordino lost a wheel but he managed to slow his car down and stop. Meanwhile, despite the tragic death of his nephew, Felice Nazzaro raced on to win the Grand Prix for Fiat. The wheel problem was apparently caused by cracks in the rear axles of both cars. Fiat then finished first through fourth at Monza in 1922, the first time the new circuit had been used for a Grand Prix.

One year later and Fiat created history with the 805-405 Corsa; it was the first supercharged Grand Prix car. The engine was now a 2 liter straight eight. The original supercharger was a Wittig vane model but this was to change between the French Grand Prix and the next event at Monza. In France Bordino’s pole average was 5 mph faster than Segrave’s Sunbeam but Bordino retired in the race followed by Giaccone and then Salamano in the other Fiats. Much of the trouble, it was believed, was caused by the Wittig supercharger so before Monza Fiat changed to Roots superchargers which gave them nearly 20 more bhp than with the Wittig. In the race Nazzaro and Salamano finished first and second with Jimmy Murphy’s Miller in third place.

In 1926 Fiat pulled out of Grand Prix racing but there were sightings of a low line car going round Monza at incredible speeds. Engineer Zerbi actually produced a supercharged two-stroke six-cylinder engine but it was never used. Also, there were changes in the Grand Prix formula in 1927 with the capacity reduced from 2 liter to 1.5 liter; however there was an even more important change.

It was agreed that no longer would the drivers need to have a passenger riding with them and Fiat responded by designing a low line pure single seater in the 806 Corsa. The engine was a supercharged twin six that claimed to produce 187 bhp. Bordino won at Milan with the car. Fiat then entered for the British Grand Prix to be held at Brooklands but withdrew their cars. Not long afterwards Fiat withdrew permanently from Grand Prix racing after twenty-six often glorious years as aeroplanes had now caught Fiat’s attention. Mussolini was now in power in Italy and aeroplanes were to become very important to Fiat in the following years.

After Fiat retired the race team Nazzaro was appointed head of the Fiat competitions department and continued to work for Fiat. On the 21st of March 1940 Felice Nazzaro died in his home town after a prolonged illness; he was only 59 years old.

It was touching that one of the press photos taken for the Fiat Balilla Coppa d’Oro model of 1933 showed an ageing but sporting looking gentleman at the wheel. It was Felice Nazzaro.