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| Ultimate Italy / High
Tech / Giotto Bizzarrini |
| Giotto Bizzarrini |
 Advancements
in science and technology in the twentieth century brought about
great changes in many fields including the automobile industry.
The Italians were among the forerunners of these developments in
this industry. The names Ferrari and Lamborghini are known throughout
the world for their achievements in this field and primarily for
the sports cars they developed. These are names synonymous with
innovative, stylish, high-performance cars. However there is yet
another lesser-known Italian who deserves to belong to this illustrious
group and that is Giotto Bizzarrini.
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| Bizzarrini’s
youth and education |
| Giotto Bizzarrini was born in a tiny village called
Quercianella in the Livorno province in Tuscany on 6th June 1926.
Bizzarrini’s antecedents were all engineers. Imbued with the
typical wild Tuscan spirit, Bizzarrini spent his youth mostly in the
rough, in the forests of his birthplace, hunting and fishing, later
deciding to take up his family trade. He enrolled in the University
of Pisa to study engineering. As a mark of completing his course,
he demonstrated his learning and skills by building an entire car
from scratch. He then went onto become a teacher at the same university. |
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| Pitstop
1 - Ferrari |
 Giotto
Bizzarrini was born in a tiny village called Quercianella in the Livorno
province in Tuscany on 6th June 1926. Bizzarrini’s antecedents
were all engineers. Imbued with the typical wild Tuscan spirit, Bizzarrini
spent his youth mostly in the rough, in the forests of his birthplace,
hunting and fishing, later deciding to take up his family trade. He
enrolled in the University of Pisa to study engineering. As a mark
of completing his course, he demonstrated his learning and skills
by building an entire car from scratch. He then went onto become a
teacher at the same university.>>>>>More |
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| Pitstop
2 - Iso |
 This
was the time another significant personality entered Bizzarrini’s
life. Renzo Rivolta, owner of Iso, a small car manufacturing company
in Bresson, Milan was looking for an enterprising individual to test
drive and make design changes to a prototype called Gordon GT that
he had developed in association with British engineer John Gordon.
Bizzarrini exactly fitted the bill and was hired by Rivolta. Bizzarrini
absolutely hated the car’s design parameters but fell in love
with its V8 engine, a Corvette 327. He advised Rivolta to scrap the
original design and instead design a car from scratch but with this
same engine. It was during this period that Bizzarrini set up his
own consulting company Autostar in Livorno. In 1963 the contract with
Rivolta ended and Bizzarrini went on to work for Campagnolo and ASA,
another GT manufacturer for whom he developed the ASA 1000 GT. |
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| Pitstop
3 – Lamborghini |
 Bizzarrini’s
next pitstop was at the stables of the legendary Ferruccio Lamborghini.
Lamborghini allowed Bizzarrini to give full vent to his creative genius.
Lamborghini commissioned Bizzarrini to build a 350hp engine with 12
cylinders. As an incentive, Lamborghini promised him a bonus for every
additional horse power that Bizzarrini could extract from the engine.
The final engine, a 3500cc, 350hp, 9000rpm model, was completed in
4 months. Lamborghini was delighted and rewarded Bizzarrini well.
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| Pitstop
4 – Iso |
 Not
longer after Bizzarrini left Iso, Rivolta came back to him. This time,
Rivolta wanted him to build a mass-produced luxury car. But Bizzarrini
at that time had a full-blown racing machine in mind. But Rivolta
was insistent and so Bizzarrini worked with Rivolta’s engineers
supervised by chief engineer Bertone to build the A3/L model while
working on his own ideas separately which resulted in the A3/C model.
The A3/L, named the Iso Grifo, was a huge hit in the Turin Auto Show
in October 1963. The A3/C was not far behind in tasting success, as
it won the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hour race in its class. >>>>>More
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| A
look at Bizzarrini’s successful designs |
| Ferrari
250 GTO, A3C,
5300
GT S/C, 5300
SI Spyder, The
name still lives on |
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