Piero Taruffi

Name: Piero Taruffi

Nationality: Italy

Date of birth: October 12, 1906 - Rome

Date of death: January 12, 1988 - Rome

Known as the "Silver Fox" due to his shock of prematurely silver hair, Taruffi was an all-round sportsman who qualified as a doctor of Industrial Engineering and spent many years dovetailing the task of managing the Gilera motorcycle team with his many car racing commitments. Taruffi started motorcycle racing in the 1920s before switching to a Fiat car in 1923. He raced in the Mille Miglia for the first time in 1930, finishing third in 1933, but it would take him another 24 years to win the famous Italian road race, a success he achieved in its final edition. When the official World Championship began in 1950 he drove an Alfa Romeo 158 in the Italian Grand Prix, switching to Ferrari the following year when he finished fifth in the overall Championship rankings. In 1952 he won his sole World Championship race, the Swiss Grand Prix at Berne, in a Formula 2 Ferrari 500. From then on his Formula 1 career dipped as he signed with Lancia to race sports cars in 1954. He finally quit the cockpit at the age of 51 after that Mille Miglia victory. His subsequent book "The Technique of Motor Racing" (published in 1966) is regarded as one of the sport's all-time classics.

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