Historic Grand Prix of Bari took place in Southern Italy

Italians’ passionate love for motorsport is eloquently demonstrated by the fact that there were virtually no empty seats in the grandstands of the Imola circuit last weekend. Incidentally, they say that there are almost no more tickets for the race in Monza, although there are still more than four months before the Italian Grand Prix.

But in addition to the Formula 1 stages, many other races, including historic ones, take place in this country. For example, last weekend in the south of Italy in the city of Bari, the capital of the Puglia region, the Grand Prix of Bari was held, organized by the local classic car club, called the Old Cars Club, and the national federation ASI.

Now in the post-war years, from 1947 to 1956, this city hosted its own Grand Prix, only connoisseurs of motorsport history remember. But then this race was quite popular, with celebrities like Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Giuseppe Farina, Alberto Ascari, Achille Varzi and even the young Stirling Moss taking part in it. Of course, they performed on the best cars of the time – Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes, Maserati.

By the way, in 1956 it was Moss who won the last Grand Prix of Bari, he then drove the Maserati 300 S.

Held the Bari Grand Prix on an urban circuit with a lap of 5.54 km and was revived in 2010 in the form of a show of historic cars. Vehicles built in both the 1930s and the post-war era are allowed to participate, but cars that raced from 1947 to 1960 are paramount. Basically, these are cars that meet the then requirements of three categories – F1, F2 and Formula Junior.

Now that these races have become a true celebration of motorsport history, the program was designed for four days and ended yesterday. It is quite diverse, it includes an exhibition of historic vehicles, a safety conference and even a night race. But above all, the public and participants of the competition are waiting for the main events – the races of cars of three categories, which took place on Monday.

This time 50 cars entered the Bari Grand Prix, including unique models from rare Italian brands, such as Stanguellini and Ermini.

By the way, Juan Manuel Fangio was once involved in the creation of the Stanguellini racing car of the Junior category, and the car that took part in the Bari Grand Prix in 2022 was once driven by Pedro Rodriguez, a talented Mexican who competed in Formula 1. in the 60s. x and early 70s.

In Italy, the Bari Grand Prix is ​​included in the calendar of the season of such shows, involving cars of different production years, and the national federation ASI, which organizes this type of competition, considers it its duty to attract attention to the glorious history of Italian motorsport.