There are polymaths, and then there's Piero Taruffi, the man who (literally) wrote the book on motor racing while also designing the vehicles, managing the team, and winning the races. An established sportscar racer who dabbled in Formula One throughout the fifties without ever completing a full season, Taruffi was an Italian racer, engineer, and all-round sportsman who enjoyed racing in all its forms. Like John Surtees, Taruffi first achieved racing success on two wheels before later making the move to four. Having been bitten by the racing bug in his teens, Taruffi combined his PhD in industrial engineering with a nascent competitive career, and in 1932 – at the age of 26 – the Roman...
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