Comments on: Lapped legends: Piercarlo Ghinzani

By: Clive

Clive — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:17:31 +0000

Yes, Ghinzani wasn’t all that bad. But I have to say a word for Osella too. They were Minardi before Minardi ever came along and they lasted for ten years in F1, never with decent funding. Even so, in their Kelemata years, their car was probably the prettiest on the grid (a tradition that Minardi picked up on). When a small Italian team lasts for a decade, they must have something – and in their case, it was just that they loved F1 racing.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:54:43 +0000

I read with interest what was written about Ghinzani. The article in question says half the truth. There is no mention that Ghinzani won the 1000km of Fuji (Group C) together with Paolo Barilla in 1985. 1986 was a very difficult year for Ghinzani and Osella. Cesare Fiorio has once described Ghinzani, perhaps unkindly, as a driver who could have become a Group C champion if he were not to be distracted by f1. I followed his career closely from 1985 onwards. An unflustered, determined and resilient driver, whom us mortals have a lot to learn from. He got his 2 points for Osella (Detroit ’84) in a Grand Prix where the driver counted much more than the machine. A more balanced approach would have been greatly appreciated. Ghinzani had his lows, but he was surely much better then some mediocre drivers we have seen in the mid and late eighties.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:30:08 +0000

That was even more amazing – 361 competitors between 15 rounds of sportscar races. This means there were an average of just over 24 new drivers in each race that season. Could you imagine what would happen if F1 ever kicked up such a statistic?

By: Ratboy

Ratboy — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 22:34:34 +0000

He was joint 262nd with a guy called Bonky Fernandez its a shame he never made it to F1

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:32:20 +0000

Here's a link to the points table for the 1981 World Sports Car Championship drivers' standings with Ghinzani in equal 262nd (with 16 other drivers): 1981 World Sports Car Championship drivers' standings (external)

By: Julian

Julian — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:07:43 +0000

I remember watching that Piquet hit up the back on TV when I was a kid. Ghinzani’s car just came up out of nowhere. Terrifying.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:55:03 +0000

How on earth does a series get 262 competitors in the first place? Seriously though, if an F1 team (even one as low-ranking as Osella) was happy to have Piercarlo Ghinzani on three separate occasions, he must have been good. Like Robert said, though, the only real problem he had was that he never got a good chance.

And I too think this series is going well.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:17:06 +0000

I agree, although he was never going to set the world on fire, Ghinzani was not a total no hoper either and managed to keep his head up in the face of some rubbish machinery – I’m glad this has come across in the article

By: Robert McKay

Robert McKay — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:31:24 +0000

262nd overall, that’s a feat in itself.

To be fair to the guy, from the article I get the impression he wasn’t a total flop, he just never managed to get a break and a halfway decent team.

Good article though