Mario Alborghetti (23 October 192811 April 1955) was an Italian

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

driver who raced in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

for the Volpini-Arzani team. He was killed in an accident during his Grand Prix debut.

Career

A wealthy man, Alborghetti commissioned designer Gianpaolo Volpini and engineer Egidio Arzani to build him a Grand Prix car to drive. The group acquired an ex- Scuderia Milano Maserati 4CLT with a Speluzzi engine. The vehicle was overhauled, with new bodywork and an engine which conformed with the 2.5l

regulations then in place. The special was entered for the 1955 Turin Grand Prix but work was not finished and the team failed to arrive.

Accident and death

The car was ready in time for the 1955 Pau Grand Prix. Pau was considered to be a difficult circuit, especially for a driver as inexperienced as Alborghetti. In practice he set 15th fastest time out of 16 runners, nearly 19 seconds slower than

Jean Behra Jean Marie Behra (16 February 1921 – 1 August 1959) was a French racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Behra contested 54 Formula One Grands Prix across eight seasons for Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Ferrari, and Behra-Porsche. ...

's pole time. By the 19th lap of the race he was far behind the majority of the field after three pit-stops when Alborghetti was distracted at the hairpin by the approach of Jacques Pollet's

Gordini Gordini () is a division of Renault Sport Technologies (Renault Sport). In the past, it was a sports car manufacturer and Car tuning, performance tuner, established in 1946 by Amédée Gordini (1899–1979), nicknamed "Le Sorcier" (The Sorcerer) ...

to lap him. Alborghetti seemed to hit the wrong pedal as he came to the bend, pressing the accelerator instead of the brakes and ploughing into the straw bales. Several spectators received minor injuries in the accident while Alborghetti suffered fatal chest and head wounds, the impact having torn his helmet off. His death was not announced until after Behra had won the race. The Volpini-Arzani special was mothballed until the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, when it was unsuccessfully entered for Luigi Piotti before disappearing once again.

Motorsport career results

Non-championship Formula One results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

1928 births 1955 deaths Italian Formula One drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in France Racing drivers from Milan {{s-end Italian racing drivers