The tragic tale of a lost Italian F1 star
Eugenio Castellotti was a rising grand prix star of the 1950s. But as NIGEL ROEBUCK explains, his life and career were suddenly cut short.
Francesco Castellotti was a wealthy man, a lawyer who wished his son to take up the same profession, but from childhood Eugenio thought only of motor racing. Taught to drive by the family's chauffeur, he first raced in 1951, not long after his father's death.
This was not in some minor event, but the Giro di Sicilia, and Castellotti - just 20 - drove his own, black, Ferrari. From the outset he was overly brave: "After going off the road six times, I had to retire - I had no racing experience..."
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