Driver Profiles

Giovanni Bracco #2

Avatar photoDennis David

Giannino Marzotto Biography

He was born at Valdagno on 13 April 1928, the son of the king of the Italian wool industry, Count Gaetano Marzotto. Soon after his 20th birthday he entered his father’s Lancia Aprilia in the Giro di Sicilia and came in second in his class. In 1950 he and his three brothers, Vittorio, Umberto and Paolo competed in Mille Miglia all driving Ferraris. Marzotto purchased his car based upon his experience driving a similar model at a recent hill climb where he won decisively.

Upon testing his new car he found it nothing compared to the previous car. Suspecting some type of deviousness on the part of Ferrari he returned to the factory to confront the old man. Luigi Bazzi, Ferrari’s legendary technician was brought in to explain that he had purposely “strangled” the engine in order to protect the young driver to the consternation of all in attendance. Ferrari, somewhat embarrassed promised to personally see that the car would be prepared for the upcoming race.

Related
Members only$29 / year

Keep going. This is where it gets good.

Sports Car Digest Membership is for people who'd rather spend an hour with one chassis number than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story — and every other one like it — is a few seconds away.

  • 5,000+ members-only stories

    Concours, auctions, race history, driven classics and the full archive.

  • No ads. None.

    The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.

  • The market, every week

    Auction results and classic-car values from the people who were there.

  • 30% off the shop

    Every Sports Car Digest shirt and piece of merch, all year.

Join Sports Car Digest — Keep Reading

$29 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.
Already a member? Sign in

BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY. Your membership keeps a small independent team of historians, photojournalists and racing drivers doing this.

Join — Keep Reading $29/yr