Giulio Masetti (1895 – 25 April 1926) was an Italian nobleman and racing driver, known as "the lion of Madonie" from his dominating the

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo, Sicily, Palermo. Founded in 1906 Targa Florio, 1906, it was the oldest sports car ra ...

in the early 1920s.

Early life

Born in Vinci, he was the older brother of the racing driver Conte Carlo Masetti, both living in ''Castello di Uzzano'', a palace in

Greve in Chianti Greve in Chianti (the old name was Greve; in 1972 it was renamed Greve in Chianti after the inclusion of that area in the Chianti wine district) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It is lo ...

owned by the ''Masetti di Bagnano'' family since 1644.

Career

Masetti acquired his first car, a 4.5-litre Fiat S57 B14 from

Antonio Ascari Antonio Ascari (15 September 1888 – 26 July 1925) was an Italian Grand Prix motor racing champion. He won four Grands Prix before his premature death at the 1925 French Grand Prix. He was the father of two-time World Champion Alberto Ascari. E ...

, in which he was fourth at X

(1919), and won the XII

(1921). The next year, he won XIII

in his privately entered ex-

Otto Salzer Otto Salzer (4 April 1874 – 7 January 1944) was a German racing car driver, famous for his contributions to the success of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in Untertürkheim near Stuttgart, where he became team leader in 1903, previously having ...

1914 Mercedes 4.5-litre 115 HP 18/100 (1922). Masetti then raced an

Alfa Romeo RL The Alfa Romeo RL was produced between 1922 and 1927. It was Alfa's first sport model after World War I, designed in 1921 by Giuseppe Merosi. It had a straight-6 engine with overhead valves, and came in three different versions: Normale, Turismo a ...

TF (second at XIV

, 1924) before joining the

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...

Talbot Talbot is a dormant automobile marque introduced in 1902 by British-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément ...

Darracq STD Motors, formerly Darracq & Company, was a French manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines based in Suresnes near Paris. The French enterprise, known at first as A. Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq after he so ...

team. He was third in a

135 bhp 2-litre at the

1925 French Grand Prix The 1925 French Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor race held at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry on 26 July 1925. It was the third race of the inaugural AIACR World Manufacturers' Championship. The race, which was 80 laps, was won by Robert Benois ...

, but failed to finish the

San Sebastián Grand Prix The San Sebastián Grand Prix (''Gran Premio de San Sebastián'') was an automobile race held at the Circuito Lasarte in Lasarte-Oria, Spain. During most of its existence, it was the main race event in Spain, since the Spanish Grand Prix had not y ...

(1925) and the II Rome Grand Prix (1926).

Death

He suffered a fatal accident in

Sclafani Bagni Sclafani Bagni ( Sicilian: ''Sclàfani Bagni'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo. Geography Sclafani Bagni borders the following municipalities: ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

during the XVII

while driving entry #13, a

Delage Delage is a French luxury automobile and racecar company founded in 1905 by Louis Delâge in Levallois-Perret near Paris; it was acquired by Delahaye in 1935 and ceased operation in 1953. On 7 November 2019, the association "Les Amis de Dela ...

2L CV. A stone plaque is erected at the place. Since this incident, the entry #13 is no longer issued at Grand Prix events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masetti, Giulio 1895 births 1926 deaths People from Vinci, Tuscany Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Florence Italian racing drivers Grand Prix drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in Italy