Scuderia Brescia Corse Part 3: Rebirth

Story by Dino Brunori

As we have seen in Part 2, Read Part 2 Scuderia Brescia Corse seemed to have died, but, as we mentioned, fire was smoldering in the ashes. One day in the spring of 1994 Dr. Belponer received a phone call from his first vice president, Ugo Gussalli Beretta. A group of friends who were active in historic racing had gathered around Beretta, who explained to Belponer the desire of these friends to revive the never-forgotten name of Scuderia Brescia Corse. Belponer was surprised and delighted of this request and gave his approval, leaving the name in the hands of these new/old friends, happy to see his badge up on the shields again until his death at 83, in 2009.

So in 1994 new blood was injected into the veins of the Scuderia and the transfusion worked perfectly. At the beginning they were just 30 friends active in historic racing, very proud of the lioness badge on their cars, but within a couple of years the requests of new gentleman drivers flocked in. The board then decided to keep the rule, as always in the past, of 100 members only.

One thing was common to all of the new members: the passion for historic racing like regularity time trials, hillclimbs, formula racing, and even concours d’elegance. Not all the members are drivers, because in regularity the co-driver is as important as the driver, and over the years this helped to build very strong relationship in the crews, that often last longer than a marriage!

In the last 20 years the Scuderia has been very active on the Italian playground, but many important races abroad have also seen the cars with the white and blue badge on the bonnet. Just to mention a few of them: Le Mans Classic, Tour Auto France, Tour de Espana, Slovenia Classic Marathon, Liege-Rome-Liege, Ennstal Classic, Rallye des Alpes, Mil Millas Argentina, and the Monaco GP Historic. The results are also in line with the story: since the revival in 1994, Scuderia Brescia Corse has collected 164 overall victories, including 2 Mille Miglia, 4 Gran Premio Nuvolari, 1 Tour Auto France, 2 times Le Mitiche Sport, 1 Mil Millas Argentina and 4 Winter Marathon events.

Although not all the members of Scuderia own a classic car, the majority of them have more than one classic in their garage. The total is over 200 cars, and what a wonderland of toys! The name Brescia and history influenced their choices, so the garages host a lot of makes that entered the original Mille Miglia, and cars that were owned or driven by the drivers of the original Scuderia. A breathtaking vision for a lot of enthusiasts! Name a prestigious marquee, or a model or a minor coachbuilder and it is probably there, with a special attraction for sport models: Ferrari, Maserati, Osca, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ermini, Bandini, Colli, Stanguellini, Siata, Nardi, Stanga, Cisitalia, Abarth, Bugatti, Arnolt Bristol, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Jag, Austin Healey, Triumph, MG and so on. And a good bunch of Formulas too: F1, F Junior, F3, F Aurora.

Today’s leading star of the Scuderia is without any doubt Bruno Ferrari. Bruno is an architect that has won the Mille Miglia twice, the first time with an Abarth Zagato 750 and the second in a Bugatti T 35A. Among his prestigious victories in regularity events are the GP Nuvolari and Winter Marathon.
In the last couple of years he moved to Formula racing, at the beginning with a Stanguellini F Junior and then with a Branca, ending in Historic F 1 with the ex Ronnie Peterson March 701.

Giorgio Taglietti is a doctor who, at the beginning, shared a Lotus XI as co-driver but soon after moved to the driving seat, showing his capabilities in historic hillclimb races. Initially with an Austin Healey Sprite, he then graduated to his faithful Lancia Fulvia Zagato, with which he gained several class victories .

Ugo Gussalli Beretta is the president of the Scuderia and owns the worldwide famous Beretta firearms company. He is a bridge between past and present and although ‘president’, in the majority of occasions is merely an honorific title, this does not apply to Ugo. None of the cars in his fabulous collection sleeps long and every time the work gives him the chance you are sure to see him attending an event. He does not worry about his results, but push the others and is always eager to see the Scuderia badges at the top.

Patty Sbardolini owns a service station and represents the female members of Scuderia. In the majority of regularity events, the Ladies Cup is a battle between female crews of the team, but Patty moved up. She competes in European and Italian F Junior championship, and quite often the ‘B’ side that pilots can admire is the rear of her 1963 Merlyn!

Paolo Mazzoldi is a furniture dealer and lives in a small town in the Alps. In his garage, parked beside a Stanguellini Sport, a Dino 246 GTS and others, sits a 1932 Ford Saloon. The peculiarity of the car is that in the title it shows as first owner ‘Al’ Capone. During the restoration on the floor of the car were found some hidden boxes: weapons, alcohol, notes – who knows? History and races well matched in the garage of Scuderia!

Roberto Gaburri is an insurance broker and takes on the role of treasurer of Brescia Corse. He is an expert regularity driver, and among his victories he can list several races including a Tour Auto France, a Stella Alpina, a Circuito del Garda and a 2nd at the Mille Miglia. In the last few years his presence at events has mainly decreased due to new engagements: he is now the president of the Mille Miglia committee that organizes the race, and this does not leave him much time to play with his wonderful toys.

The Scuderia’s tradition of the dinner at the end of the season still continues and last December a big party was the occasion for a reunion of old and new pilots to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the foundation, hoping that somebody else will carry the flag and celebrate in 2064 the first 100 years of Scuderia Brescia Corse.

So next time, when you see a car with the white and blue lioness badge, hats off ! …. A great story is passing in front of you.

Read Part 1 Scuderia Brescia Corse

Read Part 2 Scuderia Brescia Corse

Scuderia Brescia Corse Part 2