Nino Vaccarella

Vaccarella in 1972
Born	(1933-03-04)4 March 1933 Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Died	23 September 2021(2021-09-23) (aged 88) Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1961-1962, 1965
Teams	Ferrari, non-works De Tomaso, Lotus, Porsche
Entries	5 (4 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1961 Italian Grand Prix
Last entry	1965 Italian Grand Prix

Vaccarella at 1970 1000km Nürburgring with Ferrari 512S.

Nino Vaccarella (4 March 1933 – 23 September 2021)^[1] was an Italian sports car racing and Formula One driver.

His principal achievements include having won the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Targa Florio in 1965, 1971 and 1975, the latter year when it no longer was a World Sportscar Championship event.

Sports car career

Vaccarella walks away from his damaged Ferrari 330 P3 during the 1967 Targa Florio

Sicily-born Vaccarella was well known for being a Targa Florio specialist. According to Vic Elford "he knew the roads on Sicily like the back of his hand". His first Targa was in 1959 in a privately entered Maserati, the car finished 10th. The following year he was teamed with Umberto Maglioli for the 1960 Targa Florio in a birdcage Maserati, which was owned by the Camoradi team. Maglioli had previously won the race twice; Vaccarella was a schoolteacher in Palermo with a great passion for motorsport. They took the lead in the early afternoon on 8 May and maintained it for three laps until the car broke down. The event was won by Joakim Bonnier and Hans Herrmann in a small silver Porsche.^[2]

His participation in this race kickstarted Vaccarella's racing career. He finished 2nd at the 12 Hours of Sebring in the United States, but during the 1963 Nurburgring 1000km, during practice he crashed a brand-new works-entered Ferrari 250P, and broke his arm and was soaked in fuel. He came back to the race a year later to win it with Ludovico Scarfiotti, driving for the factory. He then found even greater success by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Jean Guichet, reaching the pinnacle of sports car racing.

Vaccarella was paired with Lorenzo Bandini in the 1965 Targa Florio when they won with an average speed of 63.7 miles per hour, finishing in 7 hours and 1 minute. 12.4 seconds.^[3] In 1966 Vaccarella and Bandini led most of the race until their Ferrari 330 ran off the track after seven laps and was too damaged to continue.^[4] While waving his hand to acknowledge the crowd, Vaccarella made eye contact with a retaining wall that carried the inscription Viva Nino.^[5] Maglioli and Vaccarella drove a Ford GT-40 to fifth place in the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring.^[6]

The 8 May 1968 edition of Giornale Di Sicilia proclaimed in its headline, Only Vaccarella Can Bring Off The Miracle. The meaning had to do with the Sicilian driver's great task of gaining victory in the Targa Florio in his 2.5-litre Alfa Romeo, called the Tipo 33. He was up against four German competitors who were driving Porsche 910 models. The Porsches had recently swept the endurance races at Daytona and Sebring. Few experts gave the four Alfa Romeos much of a chance against the flawless Porsches, but Sicilians were trusting the skill of Vaccarella's driving.^[5] Vaccarella also found more success by winning the Mugello Grand Prix on a 38-mile street circuit similar to the Targa in July of that year. Vaccarella qualified eighth for the 1970 24 Hours of Daytona in a Ferrari 512S, and he won Sebring that year after Mario Andretti was put into Vaccarella and Ignazio Giunti's car and put in a stupendous drive to win. He also drove the big V12-powered Ferrari 512S in a heroic yet ultimately losing effort in 1970, damaging the car in the final stages. This was one of a series of 11 endurance events held in Europe and North America for the 1970 world manufacturers championship.^[7]

Vaccarella and Toine Hezemans won the 1971 Targa Florio in an Alfa Romeo. They crossed the finish line over a minute ahead of Andrea de Adamich and Gijs van Lennep, who also drove an Alfa Romeo. This race ended the dominance of Porsche, which had finished first in the previous five Targa Florio races.^[8] Vaccarella competed in the 1972 12 Hours of Sebring in one of four Alfa Romeo 33/3TT's to be entered in the event. His driving partner was Nanni Galli.^[9] They qualified fifth after another Alfa Romeo of Rolf Stommelen and Peter Revson, who started third.^[10]

Vaccarella would win the Targa Florio one more time, in 1975 driving an Alfa Romeo 33TT12- the Targa was no longer part of the World Championship but was an Italian national event. After this, Vaccarella retired from racing. His son Giovanni had been born in 1972 and he wanted to be alive to raise his son in this very dangerous era of motor racing. In a later interview, although he was known as a Targa Florio specialist Vaccarella admitted that he preferred fast circuits like Le Mans, Monza and Spa over slow circuits the Targa, Monaco and the Nürburgring. He also admitted in this interview that Le Mans was his favorite circuit.^[11]

Formula One

Vacarella was selected for the 1962 Ferrari Formula One race team by Enzo Ferrari. He was joined by John Surtees, Mike Parkes, Willy Mairesse, Lorenzo Bandini, and Ludovico Scarfiotti. He participated in five World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 10 September 1961. He scored no championship points. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races.^[12]

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1961	Scuderia Serenissima	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Maserati Tipo 63	S 3.0	53	DNF (Engine)
1962	Scuderia SSS Republica di Venezia	Giorgio Scarlatti	Ferrari 250 GTO	GT 3.0	172	DNF (Engine)
1964	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Jean Guichet	Ferrari 275 P	P 5.0	349	1st	1st
1965	North American Racing Team	Pedro Rodríguez	Ferrari 365 P2 Spyder	P 5.0	320	7th	1st
1966	Scuderia San Marco North American Racing Team	Mario Casoni	Dino 206 S	P 2.0	7	DNF (Water leak)
1967	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Chris Amon	Ferrari 330 P3 Spyder	P 5.0	105	DNF (Fire)
1968	Autodelta SpA	Giancarlo Baghetti	Alfa Romeo T33/2	P 2.0	150	DNF (Fuel pump)
1969	Equipe Matra - Elf	Jean Guichet	Matra-Simca MS630	P 3.0	359	5th	3rd
1970	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Ignazio Giunti	Ferrari 512 S	S 5.0	7	DNF (Engine)
1971	Escuderia Montjuich	José Juncadella	Ferrari 512 M	S 5.0	186	DNF (Transmission)
1972	Autodelta SpA	Andrea de Adamich	Alfa Romeo 33TT3	S 3.0	307	4th	4th

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1962	Scuderia SSS Republica di Venezia	Carlo Maria Abate	Maserati Tipo 64	S3.0	16	DNF (Shift linkage)
1963	S.E.F.A.C. Ferrari	Willy Mairesse Lorenzo Bandini	Ferrari 250 P	P3.0	208	2nd	2nd
1964	S.E.F.A.C. Ferrari	Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari 275 P	P+3.0	213	2nd	2nd
1967	Brescia Corse Team	Umberto Maglioli	Ford GT40	S5.0	223	5th	1st
1969	Autodelta, S.P.A.	Lucien Bianchi	Alfa Romeo T33/3	P3.0	17	DNF (Overheating)
1970	Ferrari S.P.A., S.E.F.A.C.	Ignazio Giunti Mario Andretti	Ferrari 512 S	S5.0	248	1st	1st
1971	Autodelta, S.P.A.	Andrea de Adamich Henri Pescarolo	Alfa Romeo T33/3	P3.0	248	3rd	2nd
	Autodelta, S.P.A.	Toine Hezemans	Alfa Romeo T33/3	P3.0	27	DNF (Fuel system)
1972	Autodelta, S.P.A.	Toine Hezemans	Alfa Romeo T33/3	S3.0	233	3rd	3rd

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1968	Autodelta, S.P.A.	Udo Schütz	Alfa Romeo T33/2	P	617	5th	4th
1970	Ferrari S.P.A.	Ignazio Giunti	Ferrari 512 S	S	89	DNF (Accident)

References