Villoresi Il Gigi Nazionale

Product description

Many enthusiasts – especially the younger ones – are convinced that motor racing’s story only goes back, more or less, to 1950 and the beginning of the Formula One World Championship. For them, Luigi Villoresi (1909-1997) is almost a nobody. But the motor racing career of Italy’s “National Gigi” as his country affectionately dubbed him, spans three decades, from the 1931 Coppa Invernale delle Alpi to the 1958 Acropolis Rally. They are just two of an impressive list of prestigious victories won by this great driver in road racing and on the circuits of Europe, Africa and South America. The ability of an authentic champion, generous and versatile like few others, came out in every branch of the sport in which Villoresi competed, from the Mille Miglia to the Giro di Sicilia, from the Targa Florio to the period’s track races. It is, therefore, about time a biography was devoted to him, with the reconstruction of his long, but not always happy, sporting and human existence. The book’s author, interviewed Villoresi many times – the last occasion was a few months before the driver died – and has conducted an exhaustive investigation into his personal archives.