Scuderia Centro Sud was a
privateer racing team founded in
Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
by Guglielmo "Mimmo" Dei and active in
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...
and
sports car racing between 1956 and 1965.
Dei had been an amateur driver in the 1930s. In the early 1950s he opened a
Maserati dealership in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. Keen on maintaining a relationship with motorsport, in 1956 he founded his own team. The name "Centro Sud" refers to the parts of Italy where his adoptive and native cities are (Modena and Rome).
Over the course of nine seasons, Scuderia Centro Sud entered a total of 49 World Championship rounds, with cars such as the
Maserati 250F, various Maserati-powered
Coopers and, in the 1960s, a
BRM P57
The BRM P57 (originally referred in 1961 as the BRM P48/57 and in 1962 as the BRM P578) was a Formula One racing car built to race in Formula One from 1962 to 1965.
Development 1961
Like the other British teams, BRM was caught off-guard by new ...
. After a very promising start (they scored their first points at their debut with
Luigi Villoresi), Centro Sud went on to earn a further total of 24 points, mostly with
Masten Gregory and
Tony Maggs. But they never won a race: Gregory's third place at the
1957 Monaco Grand Prix was the team's best result.
Centro Sud was the only
Italian racing team that took part in the ''
Tasman
Tasman most often refers to Abel Tasman (1603–1659), Dutch explorer.
Tasman may also refer to:
Animals and plants
* Tasman booby
* Tasman flax-lily
* Tasman parakeet (disambiguation)
* Tasman starling
* Tasman whale
People
* Tasman (name), ...
'' races in
Australia and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
during the winter of 1961-1962.
One of their most notable feats was to be the first team in the history of Formula One to run a female driver, when
Maria Teresa de Filippis (who had already raced as a
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
in the
1958 Belgian Grand Prix
The 1958 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 15 June 1958 at Spa-Francorchamps. It was race 5 of 11 in the 1958 World Championship of Drivers and race 4 of 10 in the 1958 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The ra ...
a few weeks earlier) competed in the
1958 Portuguese Grand Prix as a Centro Sud team driver. Future
1963 24 Hours of Le Mans) and 1967
24 Hours of Daytona winner
Lorenzo Bandini
Lorenzo Bandini (21 December 193510 May 1967) was an Italian motor racing driver who raced in Formula One for the Scuderia Centro Sud and Ferrari teams.
Career
Bandini was born in Barce in Cyrenaica, Libya,"Hulme Takes Monaco Race; Bandini ...
made his Formula One debut with the team at the
1961 Belgian Grand Prix.
Complete Formula One World Championship results
(
key)
* After retiring his Scuderia Centro Sud-entered car, Shelby subsequently took over Masten Gregory's car, entered by Temple Buell, finishing fourth.
References
{{Reflist
Italy's Maserati privateer
Bibliography
*Mimmo Dei, ''Dei ex Machina: La storia della Scuderia Centro-Sud'',
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...
, Fucina Editore, 2008. (IT)
Formula One entrants
Italian auto racing teams