Count Carlo Felice Trossi di Pian Villar (27 April 1908 – 9 May 1949) was an Italian
racing driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...
and auto constructor.
Racing career
During Trossi's career, he raced for three different teams:
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
,
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...
and, briefly,
Maserati
Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...
. He won the
1947 Italian Grand Prix and the
1948 Swiss Grand Prix. He relieved playboy-driver
Frederick McEvoy for 51 laps of the 75-lap
1936 Vanderbilt Cup; while the Australian started and finished the race, Trossi earned more points than him under the mileage-based
AAA points system.
Trossi backed one of the most unusual Grand Prix cars, the Trossi-Monaco of 1935. It featured a 16-cylinder, two-stroke cycle, two-row radial, air-cooled engine and an aircraft-like body designed by
Augusto Monaco. The car was a spectacular failure and never raced in a Grand Prix event.
Trossi had many exciting hobbies: racing boats and airplanes in addition to cars. He was also the president of the Scuderia Ferrari in 1932.
Enzo Ferrari said of Trossi: "He was a great racer but never wanted to make the effort to reach a dominant position and I remember him with emotion since he was one of the first to believe in my scuderia of which he was a part".
Personal life
Trossi was born in
Gaglianico
Gaglianico is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southeast of Biella.
Gaglianico borders the following municipalities: Biella, Candelo, Ponderano, S ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. He died of a
brain tumor
A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...
in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
at 41 years of age.
[Saward, Joe]
"Jean-Pierre Wimille: The man who would have been champion..."
at grandprix.com
Motorsports career results
European Championship results
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
;Notes
* – As a co-driver Trossi was ineligible for championship points
Post-WWII Grandes Épreuves results
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
References
! colspan="3" style="background: #99ff66;" , Sporting achievements
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trossi, Carlo Felice
Italian racing drivers
Sportspeople from Biella
1908 births
1949 deaths
Counts in Italy
European Championship drivers
Grand Prix drivers