VeloceToday.com

The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

taraschi

Formula Junior at Sebring, 1960

By

Sebring, leading up to Friday. March 25th. Jim Hall poses next to his DKW-powered Elva FJ. His body man Foy Barrett is on the left, and the fuel man is Chester “Chet” Hines. Chet was Hap Sharp’s aircraft mechanic, often drafted to serve as part-time race mechanic.

By Willem Oosthoek All photos taken by Bob Jackson [Willem Oosthoek Collection]

The 1960 edition of the Sebring 12 Hours was scheduled to start at 10 AM Saturday, March 26. But competition actually began a day earlier. For the first time in its history, the 12-hour event featured two opening races, one for Formula Juniors on Friday morning and a 4-hour event for Under-1-liter GT entries in the afternoon. [Read more…] about Formula Junior at Sebring, 1960

Fiat 1100 Part 6

By

Meico Koudstaal owned this OSCA Formula Junior car several years and participated it in many races on European circuits. Photos courtesy Coys Classic Auto Auctions

Story by Gijsbert-Paul Berk

The Formula Junior was the brain child of Giovanni “Johnny’ Lurani, an Italian nobleman, engineer, racing driver, speed record holder, author, publisher and the Italian representative in the CSI (International Sporting Commission) of the FIA, the governing body for automobile sports. Like Piero Dusio before him, he saw the need for a new formula for affordable single-seater racing cars, allowing a new generation of drivers to gain experience. True or not, at the time some thought and even wrote that Lurani promoted his Formula Junior idea to compensate for the lack of success of Italian cars and drivers in the British dominated 500 cc. Formula 3. However, in October 1958 the FIA officially recognized the International Formula Junior.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

Etceterini File: Hugues Vanhoolandt

By

Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Click to enlarge

From the archives May 19,2015

Hugues Vanhoolandt

Belgian Hugues Vanhoolandt has been image-making for VeloceToday since 2007, and covered every major event from Monterey to Monaco. Below, he has gathered up 27 photos of what we call Etceterinis and a Formula Junior or two. [Read more…] about Etceterini File: Hugues Vanhoolandt

A Touch of Dante’s Genius: The Junior Racers

By

Meico Koudstaal owned this OSCA Formula Junior car several years and participated it in many races on European circuits. Photos courtesy Coys Classic Auto Auctions

Story by Gijsbert-Paul Berk

The Formula Junior was the brain child of Giovanni “Johnny’ Lurani, an Italian nobleman, engineer, racing driver, speed record holder, author, publisher and the Italian representative in the CSI (International Sporting Commission) of the FIA, the governing body for automobile sports. Like Piero Dusio before him, he saw the need for a new formula for affordable single-seater racing cars, allowing a new generation of drivers to gain experience. True or not, at the time some thought and even wrote that Lurani promoted his Formula Junior idea to compensate for the lack of success of Italian cars and drivers in the British dominated 500 cc. Formula 3. However, in October 1958 the FIA officially recognized the International Formula Junior.

This content is for Premium Subscriber members only.
LoginSubscribe

VeloceToday Gallery: Vanhoolandt’s Etceterinis

By

Ermini 357 Sport: Mille Miglia 2010, San Quirico

Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt
Click to enlarge

From the archives May 19,2015

Hugues Vanhoolandt

Belgian Hugues Vanhoolandt has been image-making for VeloceToday since 2007, and covered every major event from Monterey to Monaco. Below, he has gathered up 27 photos of what we call Etceterinis.

The term Etceterini may require some explanation. According to Andrea Curami in the indispensable La Sport e i suoi Artigiani (1937-1965), (The Sport and Its Artisans), there were at least 84 different constructors of small displacement racing cars to compete in the Italian National Championship races. There were many more that were simply listed as Fiat Specials, both in the 750 and 1100 cc classes. Etcetera, from which the word Etceterini is derived, means ‘and so on’ or ‘and the like’. Tacking on the ‘ini’ was a stroke of linguistic brilliance; not only were most of the artisan cars built from Fiat components and therefore somewhat like, all but seven of the 84 constructors had names that ended in a vowel such as “Stanguellini”; hence the ‘ini’. So fitting is the moniker that to try to categorize the cars by any other means seems hopeless. We believe the term was first used by an American enthusiast in California in the late 1980s. For more on this, read “The Essential Etceterini.”

In alphabetical order, with the event and year, Vanhoolandt’s Etceterinis:

Alfa Maserati Prete: Museo Mille Miglia, Brescia, 2011

Autocorse Gilco Panhard 750 Sport: Mille Miglia 2010, Urbino

Bandini 750 Siluro barchetta: Villa d\’Este 2013

Bandini 750 Sport saponetta: Museo Mille Miglia, Brescia, 2011

De Sanctis Formula Junior: RM Auction Monaco 2010

Ermini 1100 Sport: Mile Miglia 2011, Pieve Santo Stefano

Ermini sport siluro, Mille Miglia 2010, Brescia

Faccioli Formule Junior: Goodwood Revival 2010, Bonhams Sale

Giannini 750 Sport: Mille Miglia 2010, Urbino

Giaur Champion 750 (Motto): Villa Erba, Cernobbio, 2010

Gilco Fiat 1100: Mille Miglia 2011, Brescia

Monaci 8C Bimotore: Mille Miglia 2007, Buonconvento

Moretti 750: Rétromobile, Paris, 2012

Moretti 750 Grand Sport: Villa d\’Este 2012

Morettini Fiat 508 S: Mille Miglia 2011, Barberino di Mugello

Nardi Danese 1500 Sport: Mille Miglia 2007, Buonconvento

Nardi Danese Alfa Romeo: Rétromobile, Paris, 2010

Nardi-Danese 750 Boby Sport: Techno Classica Essen 2014

Patriarca 750 Sport: Mille Miglia 2010, Brescia

Stanga 750 Sport: Mille Miglia 2010, Urbino

Stanga 750 Sport: Mille Miglia 2007, Brescia

Stanguellini 1100 Bialbero Sport: Gooding Auction Monterey, 2010

Stanguellini 1100 Sport: Mille Miglia 2011, Brescia

Stanguellini Barchetta: Essen Motor Show, 2007

Taraschi Formule Junior: Monterey Reunion Laguna Seca, 2008

Taraschi-Fiat: Goodwood Revival, 2012

The Essential Etceterini

By

Why are we so fascinated by Ecterinis?
Because we don’t know much about them. Because they are so rare. Because they are so tiny. Because they are so cute. Because they raced the great races. Because they were built by artisans. Because they are like miniature Ferraris. Because they sound great. Because they represent an era we will never see again. Because they are Italian.

So, exactly what is an “Etceterini” anyway?
Broadly speaking, Etceterinis are tiny, jewel-like race cars from Italy with names that usually ended in a vowel. But today, with vastly increasing prices, limited availability, and international recognition, it might be time to definitively define the word, the class, the car. So we asked two who should know, Italian car historian John de Boer, and Stu Schaller, who reportedly coined the term back in the 1970s. [Read more…] about The Essential Etceterini

MENU