While crafting a long history of innovation, the Italian automotive manufacturer Lancia has created some of the most technically advanced cars ever built, and its story will be told next week at the International Motor Racing Research Center.
Geoff Goldberg, author of Lancia and De Virgilio, At the Center, will speak on Saturday, May 9, about the Lancia company in post-World War II Italy and how its engineers defined a company during its greatest years.
“It is many stories: the reinvention of the company after World War II, the role of the Lancia family in the company and their 1950s competition efforts,” says Goldberg of his book, published last year by David Bull Publishing, with support from the Revs Institute for Automotive Research.
Goldberg uses the documents of leading Lancia engineer Francesco De Virgilio (at far left in photo above), which chronicle his breakthrough with a successful design of the V6 engine — previously believed unworkable — that was central to Lancia’s Aurelia, introduced in 1950, and to its sports racers that dominated both the Carrera Panamericana and the Mille Miglia.
The free Center Conversations talk will start at 1 p.m. The Racing Research Center is located at 610 S. Decatur St., Watkins Glen. For further information about the Center’s work and programs, please visit www.racingarchives.org or call (607) 535-9044.
