Scuderia Serenissima
Encyclopedia
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
team in the early 1960s. Funded by Giovanni Volpi
Giovanni Volpi
Count Giovanni Volpi di Misurata was an automobile racing manager. He inherited a fortune, at the age of 24, from his father, Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, a politician financier and founder of the renowned Venice Film Festival....
, Serenissima used Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
s to much success until the founder financed the exiled Ferrari company, ATS
Automobili Turismo e Sport
ATS was an Italian automotive constructor and racing team that operated between 1963 and 1965, formed after the famous "Palace Revolution" at Ferrari....
. Thereafter, Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari
Enzo Anselmo Ferrari Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian race car driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari car manufacturer...
would no longer sell his cars to Serenissima, so the company turned to De Tomaso
De Tomaso
De Tomaso Automobili SpA is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded by the Argentine-born Alejandro de Tomaso in Modena in 1959. It originally produced various prototypes and racing cars, including a Formula One car for Frank Williams' team in 1970. The company developed a reputation...
, ATS, and Maserati
Maserati
Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993...
.
In 1963, Volpi began developing his own prototype GT car, the Jungla GT. It used a new V8 engine, designed by Alberto Massimino
Alberto Massimino
Alberto Massimino was an Italian automotive engineer.Born in Turin, he studied mechanical engineering in Switzerland and worked for FIAT , where he followed Vittorio Jano who had left for Alfa Romeo. The 1500 cc, 12-cylinder 806/504 was driven by Pietro Bordino in the Gran Premio di Milano...
, with closed bodywork by Francesco Salomone (built by Gran Sport). A later open version was built by Fantuzzi.
The company also developed Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
cars, using McLaren and Lola chassis. Another V8, developed by Jaguar, found its way into a single-seat closed sports car built by Carrozzeria Sports Cars
Carrozzeria Sports Cars
Carrozzeria Sports Cars was a niche carrozzeria in Modena, Italy, active in the 1960s. The company was founded by one-time Formula One driver, Piero Drogo, and it quickly began taking on small sports car and racing body orders from the manufacturers in that city. His bodies were used by Scuderia...
in 1969. The final Serenissima car was designed by Ghia that same year. Using the same Jaguar V8, the Agena GT featured modern sharp styling, but never reached production.
Volpi, and thus Serenissima, halted automobile operations in 1970.