Engineer Giovanni Marelli has passed away at the age of 84. Born in 1940 and graduated in mechanical engineering in Padua, he joined Ferrari in 1967, tasked with overseeing the Dino in both Formula 2 and hill climbs in the racing department. After successes at the Tasman Cup with driver Chris Amon, beating Jim Clark’s Lotus, he followed the sports competitions and Formula 1 until the early 1970s, when he left Ferrari to join Alfa Romeo. He received a direct call from Alfa Romeo President Giuseppe Luraghi, who wanted him to work alongside engineer Carlo Chiti as Alfa expanded its involvement in the Prototype Championship with the Alfa Romeo 33 and in touring races with the GTA and GTAm. He also worked on rallying in preparation for the arrival of important models like the Alfa Sud and Alfetta, which went on to win in every category they participated in. Among his achievements were 8 out of 8 victories in the Prototype Championship with the 33 Stradale, the Group 2 Rally Championship with Pregliasco’s Alfetta, and the European Championship with the GTAm.
Alfa Romeo’s racing department, Autodelta, had to grow to compete in Formula 1, as well as in experimentation and production. Alfa Romeo had factories in South Africa and South America, and racing was strategic for testing new solutions. Marelli himself recounted in recent years: “Those were fascinating but also complicated years. With Luraghi, Alfa was expanding more and more: factories in South Africa, increasing presence in Europe and the USA… racing was strategic, and everyone was involved. But political pressures were immense. In touring races, we were very strong with a car born in 1965, the GTA. In ’77, we won eight out of eight races with the 33 Fernet, and we had two engines, naturally aspirated and turbo. Because we always had to experiment, innovate, to stay on top.”
He explained that with Chiti, they were constantly working and experimenting because they could never be satisfied. “In Ferrari, there was meticulous development with designs and specs; in Alfa, it wasn’t like that, it was all hustle and bustle because we were really engaged in a much more ambitious and strategic industrial reality with very few people,” Marelli said. “Nowadays, it’s said that everything is accelerating, but it has always been like that. From tubular frames to boxed chassis, on all fronts, we were never satisfied, and with engineer Chiti, we insisted on rallying and entering Formula 1 after our experience as engine suppliers to Brabham. Let’s say we reached a position of absolute leadership: rally, prototypes, F1, production: we managed to be everywhere with an exceptional network of companies around us. Brembo, for example, we pushed a lot, and we reached the top with the 4-piston caliper for the Giulietta Turbodelta: it braked better than the Porsche; with Spica, we accelerated high-pressure fuel injection… And the rallies? The people from Turin would arrive with helicopters and endless resources; we were a state-owned company with parties intervening in budgets, which were cut to the bone, but with engineer Chiti, miracles were performed! In rallies, our support was my Alfetta with a dry sump, 4-valve head, and 150,000 km on the chassis, also serving as a reconnaissance mule along with the Romeo van and a Giulia Break for fast assistance,” he recalls. “We quickly developed the Alfetta GTV Group 2 because we wanted to respond to the Turin teams who were dominating: generous wheels from the 33, suitable suspensions, lightweight parts, and a powerful but not overly pushed engine. Conrero’s Opel was there with Ormezzano. Our Alfetta ran like a train in the hands of Mauro Pregliasco. A great driver and man, like Ickx, Andretti… In Group 2, we managed impossible feats, like staying ahead of the many Fiat 131s, including those of Verini, Bettega, and Tony Fassina, or Vudafieri’s Stratos.”
Marelli’s story continues: “At the same time, we were developing our return to F1, which, with great effort and commitment, led us to take pole with Bruno Giacomelli at the end of the 1980 season. We had done an extraordinary job; it was the era of ground effect, the fight between FISA and FOCA, between Jean Marie Balestre and Bernie Ecclestone, with a heavily involved Ferrari but also Renault with the turbos, Jones’ Williams, and Piquet’s Brabham, especially Bernie Ecclestone with Parmalat’s super budgets. It was a period where President Ettore Massacesi, engineer Carlo Chiti, and I were under immense pressure because some parts of politics wanted us to close down. Many people came from Olivetti, a lot of marketing, but little product and performance. I want to stress that, together with Ferrari, we were the only ones to do everything in-house, from the chassis to the engine, but with many constraints. In Ferrari, one person decided, in Alfa… a parliament! Seeing our car on pole at the Watkins Glen GP, just two years after debuting, and after losing one of my dearest friends and drivers, Patrick Depailler, was truly one of the most important and difficult moments of my life. The car we had was finally very strong, Bruno gave a twelve-second lead in a few laps to the pursuer. Then, the electrical failure. It happens. We didn’t take it badly because we knew we had all the chances to win the Championship the following year. And it was decided to call Andretti, also to give more support to Bruno because we wanted to win big, and we really had the chance.”
“Unfortunately, we underestimated the fact that everyone had realized that our Alfa was hard to beat on the track, so the British, as well as others, pushed for rule changes, and the fight between FISA and FOCA intensified with the British teams that weren’t politically correct. They interpreted the rules while we followed them to the letter. And we lost competitiveness,” Marelli said. “We therefore accelerated in making Autodelta a more independent entity, trying to anticipate what AMG and BMW’s Motorsport would become. With engineer Chiti, we had prepared everything. We were for rear-wheel drive and the gearbox behind the engine to avoid losing power, but the wind of front-wheel drive was already blowing strong, even for sedans. We even had a 400-horsepower mid-engine twin-turbo two-seater with a boxed frame and composite materials to keep it light. It had the power that arrived ten years later with the Ferrari F40. But politics had decided to sell Alfa. And I left Alfa Romeo, and so did Chiti, our beloved company.”
Opportunities never fail if you know what you want. Carl Haas had a Formula Indy team co-owned with actor Paul Newman. The idea was born to work with Eric Broadley, founder of Lola, to build a lighter car with composite materials. In Italy, engineer Marelli had started a profitable collaboration and company with Monfrini, which was later acquired by Raul Gardini for the Moro di Venezia. He brought Haas and Broadley to Italy, and the two were deeply impressed by the technological advancements, even surpassing those of Boeing. They were so impressed that they gave carte blanche. And in 1984, that car won the CART Championship with Mario Andretti. Marelli also worked with Yamaha on the bike that competed in the Paris-Dakar, prepared by the French team Sonauto, working on the suspension, engine intake, and head. In 1991, the Ténéré achieved a triple victory, with Gilles Lalay finishing second, behind the legend Stéphane Peterhansel, and Thierry Magnaldi in third.
In the interview mentioned above, engineer Marelli explained what his greatest success was: “Returning from my first work mission with Ferrari, sent personally by the Commendatore, with the victories of the Dino. And the next day, sitting at the table with his wife Laura and him. Then repeating the victories with the Dino in the Mountain Championship with Schetty and also setting records that lasted for years.” And the bitterest moment? “Leaving Alfa Romeo. We had everything, absolutely everything, to make the leap that the Germans later made. I’m referring to BMW, for example, but also Audi and Mercedes. There was a very short-sighted vision from too many people. Ferrari was myth and passion; Alfa Romeo was an industrial project with much wider repercussions. A real missed opportunity, also for the country.”
“The Alfetta with the Montreal V8 to beat the Americans and the Porsche 935,” Marelli recounted. “A race car for customers developed in the mid-1970s, from which we also derived road versions for the German market. We had developed an engine on the test bench that ran at 9,000 rpm with turbo, Spica injection. The car had a covered bottom, ground effect, dual ignition with 4 valves, supercharging… It was really ahead of its time. But also the ethanol engines in the early 1970s for environmental benefits: the 1.5 turbo 4-cylinder with 1000 horsepower, the 3-liter V6 twin-turbo with 4 valves, delivering 400 horsepower for road use, which should have been the answer to BMW’s six-cylinder turbo for a new-generation flagship to rival the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series. Alfa had all the potential to become what Audi, BMW, and Mercedes are today, giants producing over 1 million cars, to whom we only wanted to show our exhausts—and we succeeded. Think that by 1978, we had already developed a SUV version for Alfa Romeo based on the Alfa Sud.” The engineer closed: “We had envisioned everything, but it was very difficult to deal with the cold wall of ignorance and mediocrity that prevailed over those projects.”
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