Gianpiero Moretti – Witness to the Times

In 1984 he again wanted to add a touch of Italian to his participation with IMSA and so he turned to the engineer Giorgio Stirano, owner of Alba, to use one of Stirano’s cars in the IMSA series. The 8-cylinder Ford Cosworth that pushed the small Alba was clearly less powerful than many American engines around at the time but Stirano’s two seater was more sophisticated than the sport made in America and so before you knew it everyone wanted to learn about this car’s aerodynamics and especially the chassis made of composite.

Alba MOMO 1984 - d'Alessio artwork.

The gentleman driver Gianpiero Moretti’s team thus became a reference model for all the categories. There was even a moment in which Mike Kranefuss, the big boss of Ford racing, thought of transforming the Turinese workshop into a sort of official Ford team.

Moretti bitterly recalls, “Kranefuss was in love with the project but in the end nothing came of the idea…and certainly not because of the value of the car which in 1983 won the Group C Junior World Championship, but because of ‘political’ reasons you could say.”

The Alba was an excellent car but to aim higher a more powerful engine was needed and it was for this reason that at the age of 50, the gentleman driver from Milan was forced to go back to his old love, Porsche, converting to the Group C 956/962.

Porsche 962-1989. - d'Alessio artwork.

“No doubt a great car, it’s just a pity about the big difference between the cars that were managed by the head office and the other two seaters of Stuttgart. The top teams always had the latest updates while we had to be satisfied with what was passed down to us,” according to Moretti.

Moretti was unhappy with this situation and reluctantly returned to his post working with Ferrari at Maranello, who season after season used to repeat the same sentence, ”Moretti, next year I’ll have a car for you to race with in the US.” A ‘red’ to race with in the US was a dream that never came true while Enzo Ferrari was alive but did become reality in 1993, thanks to Piero Ferrari.

Moretti’s eyes still sparkle when he talks to us about it, “In 1993, after a lot of insistence, Piero finally realized that building a two-seater sports car designed for the length of the races in American would have been good business for Ferrari. Everyone, in the USA and in Europe, was waiting for this to happen and there was no lack of potential clients.”

Twenty years after the 312 P became world champion in 1972, Maranello went back to building a prototype for competitions, with the same technology deriving directly from the Formula 1 of that period. Italian race-car chassis constructor Dallara took care of the design of the chassis while the task of developing the engine was assigned to Ferrari’s engine tuner Michelotto.

At first the idea was to have a V shaped 12 cylinder with 65° angles and 5 valves per cylinder of the Ferrari F92 A, however the IMSA regulations imposed the use of an engine with a maximum of 4.000 cc. Therefore it was decided once again to go with the F50, which was being designed at the time, bringing it to 4.7 liters.

Ferrari 333 SP - d'Alessio artwork.

Moretti finally had a car to prepare for the IMSA series classics. However, it wasn’t until 1998 that he finally managed to carry out his aspiration, saying, “With the 333 SP we won a lot but we could have done even better had Ferrari put more effort into it. You have to bear in mind that not everyone at Maranello at that time believed in the 333 SP. While we were having our ups and downs on the other side of the Ocean, back in Europe things were not going so well for Formula 1 and a lot of people were not taking it very well. Things changed when the directors of Cavallino realised that apart from the victories gained, the 333 SP project brought home a fortune if you consider that until the year 2000, forty models had been produced. So after the adjustments made by the head office came the long-awaited success.

“During those years we won quite a few races but for one reason or another we missed out on the IMSA classics. There comes a time in your life when you realise that whether you have achieved your goals or not, it is time to close that chapter of your life. After handing over MOMO and entering into a different business venture with the purchasing of a famous brand name in the nautic sector, I decidedthat at the end of 1998 I would stop racing. However, as it often happens in important stories, the results that you have chased after for many years, eventually materialize in just a matter of a few months and when you least expect it.”

In 1998 Giampiero Moretti at the threshold of his 60th birthday, won the 24 Hours Daytona, the 12 hour Sebring and the 6 hour Watkins Glen races (in that order). They were the three most important races in the American series and by doing so he made history in this category. In that same year he also took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the Monza 1000km race before finally hanging up his helmet. He was asked if he had any regrets for making that decision.

“Absolutely not, I retired at the right time. I would be really selfish if I said I had any regrets after a life like that. If anything, because in my life I did the thing I love doing most during a unique moment in history. It’s really hard for me to imagine a professional and competitive activity like the one I lived, set in today’s day and age. Today it is all too calculated, too impersonal and too perfect. No, to be honest I have no regrets.”

Well, we can’t say he is wrong.

Winning MOMO Ferrari 333 SP team at Daytona in 1998. MOMO photo.

Moretti in winning Ferrari 333 SP. 1998 Daytona 24. MOMO Photo.

* According to a couple of books regarding Enzo Ferrari it was the English racing teams in the 1950’s that started calling Ferrari the “Drake.” Supposedly they considered him the Sir Francis Drake of the race track. Not so much the pirate, but the Queen’s man that defeated the Invincible Armada with determination, fighting character and winning intuition.

About the author Paolo D’Alessio:
Born in 1957 in the province of Torino, D’Alessio began working as technical journalist and designer in the car related field in 1978. He collaborated with the most important specialist publications all over the world, contributing detailed articles, images and technical drawings of the most important Formula1 single-seaters of the last year’s competitions. Since the middle Eighties he’s dedicated himself entirely to the car ‘phenomenon’, in particular to car races. He works on corporate image, organizing exhibitions as well as lithographic prints, philatelic and numismatic collections. D’Alessio has also published several volumes. Paolo D’Alessio hasn’t limited his interests to automotive competition. In 1993, after taking a bachelor degree in architecture, he founded an industrial design firm called Multilinea. Since then, he’s been producing watches, bikes, means of transport, helmets, sport glasses, bags, writing sets, mowers, visual displays, air conditioning systems, for customers such as Momo design, Martini & Rossi, Mazda, Honda, Diavia, Momo, Philip Morris, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Ibea, Universal, Bieffe, Aura, Torino Incontra.

[Source: Paolo D’Alessio]

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