Historic Minardi Day looks at Tecno… and Tazio

The Historic Minardi Day took over Imola. Not only Minardi was in the picture, but also the little-known Tecno effort and Tazio Nuvolari as well.

The Historic Minardi Day is first of all a weekend and not a day. At the end of August, Imola plays host to a rich collection of mostly Italian-owned historic racing cars. Giancarlo Minardi himself was the Master of Ceremony the entire weekend. He oversaw the on-track action, where historic racing cars mingle with modern GTs. Divided into separate sessions, you could see F1s, F3000s, Formula Juniors and Formula Fords enjoying some track time.

Six-wheeler in action

An impressive line-up of Formula 1 Jaguars certainly caught the eye, just like Pierluigi Martini’s laps in the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 or the different Minardi’s that went out on track. If you want to know more about Pierluigi Martini, we warmly recommend our issue 5 in which the Italian driver talks at length about his remarkable career.

Argentinian driver Miguel Angel Guerra made a return to the track where he started his only Grand Prix in Formula 1, in 1981 with Osella. With Riccardo Patrese and Luca Badoer in attendance as well, there was certainly no shortage of Italian star drivers.

Tazio’s private archive

Next to the dynamic program, the Minardi Day event always has interesting static displays to admire as well. The first one came from our friends from Scuderia Tazio Nuvolari Italia. You may remember the photos we received from them from Tazio Nuvolari’s private archive from issue 3. The Scuderia showed many more photographs from that archive in Imola. Also present in the exhibition was a Bianchi 500 motorcycle Tazio rode (see issue 4) and a 1946 Cisitalia D46.

Tecno

Next to that, there was the exposition on the Tecno brand. Tecno was founded by the Pederzani brothers in Bologna, already famous for their Technokarts. Between 1962 and 1973, the team would move its way through the single-seater ranks, all the way up to Formula 1. The F1 adventure with Chris Amon would prove short and unsuccessful. The Chris Amon Tecno F1 was on display in Imola, as a part of the Andrea Baroni collection.

(All photos courtesy of Calamelli, Isola Press and Luca Martini)