All motorheads know that Stanguellini is a big name in the world of motor racing. Its cars have left a memorable mark on motorsport, bringing to the track ingenuity, innovation and that typical spirit of craftsmanship from the Emilian Motor Valley. But behind every racing car, every victory and every technical brainwave, there are always people.
Brave drivers, visionary mechanics, highly talented technicians and bodywork specialists: they are the ones who turned a workshop in Modena into a brand that would make its mark on racing history. With their hard work, passion and determination, they have helped create, grow and establish Stanguellini, making it a real benchmark over time for generations of fans.
Retracing the brand’s history therefore also means telling the stories of the people who made it great. So here are five people who, with their talent and commitment, made a crucial contribution to creating the legend of Stanguellini.
Stanguellini’s drivers, mechanics and technicians
Juan Manuel Fangio
Considered one of the greatest drivers ever, this Italian-Argentine had a special bond with the Stanguellini workshop in Modena. While he was making a name for himself in Europe, he was a regular fixture around Stanguellini, building a relationship of respect and becoming friends with the family, a relationship founded on their shared passion for racing and mechanics.
Alongside his talent out on the track, Fangio had a solid technical background: he worked as a mechanic from a young age, an experience that gave him a deep understanding of how cars behaved and allowed him to work with constructors.
He drove several Stanguellini single-seaters, strengthening their reputation for quality and reliability. From this collaboration with the Argentine champion came the Junior Stanguellini, an iconic car designed for training young drivers, which is still one of the most famous symbols in the brand’s history.
Michael May
The Swiss driver and engineer Michael May is a motorsport legend, famous not just for having added the aerofoil onto racing cars, but also for his link with Stanguellini. May won his first Formula Junior race driving a Stanguellini, at the 1959 Monaco Grand Prix, and achieved excellent finishes in other races, marking an important page in the history books of this brand from Modena.
However, his contribution went beyond driving: as a highly talented engineer, May collaborated with Stanguellini bringing technical expertise and innovations that improved the quality and performance of cars. His experience in aerodynamics, partly developed with pioneering projects such as the aerofoil on the Porsche 550 RS, strengthened the brand’s know-how and consolidated its reputation in the world of lightweight single-seaters and international racing.
The collaboration between May and Stanguellini left an unforgettable mark, combining racing talent and technical innovation.
Danilo Tavoni
Danilo Tavoni, born in Modena on 10 December 1935, started to work in the workshop on Via Schedoni while still a teenager, quickly learning the trade and honing his extraordinary talent in metalwork. Vittorio Stanguellini and even Enzo Ferrari used to call him “golden hands” due to his unique ability in beating aluminium and welding frames and exhaust pipes.
His craftsmanship and creativity allowed him to turn a simple piece of sheet metal into a key part for racing cars, making a crucial contribution to the quality and innovation of Stanguellini single-seaters. Tavoni worked for the brand for over 15 years, becoming a go-to person at the workshop and making an unforgettable mark on the brand’s history. His work tools are now kept at the Stanguellini Museum, as testimony to the talent and dedication of the people who helped create the brand’s legend.
Lorenzo Bandini
Lorenzo Bandini, born in Libya and raised in Emilia-Romagna, was not just a driver for the Stanguellini team, but also a real part of the family, sharing a deep emotional bond with those around him. He had a difficult upbringing: he lost his father and saw his hotel bombed in the war, events that strengthened his character and determination.
Following the 1959 season when he was a constant fixture in Stanguellini cars, he became the brand’s official driver in 1960. He shone right away on début, winning two big races at the Grand Prix in Cuba and in Monza, where he became friends with another talented youngster called Giancarlo Baghetti. These victories marked the start of a promising career and strengthened Bandini’s ties with Stanguellini, built on passion, talent and a sense of belonging.
Ermanno Cuoghi
Ermanno Cuoghi, known as “the champions’ mechanic”, began his career as an apprentice at a bicycle workshop, before he moved on to a small petrol station right in front of the Stanguellini workshop. Here, he took his first steps in the world of motors, joining the Stanguellini team and quickly becoming a highly talented mechanic.
He had an in-depth, detailed understanding of cars and knew everything there was to know about every bolt and mechanical part. Thanks to these skills, Cuoghi started out on an extraordinary career in motorsport, from his collaboration with Carroll Shelby right up to working for Ferrari in Formula 1, where he was Niki Lauda’s chief mechanic contributing to the champion’s historic success in Ferrari’s single-seaters.
His link with Stanguellini formed the roots of a talent forged in Emilian craftsmanship, where passion, precision and dedication turned a young apprentice into one of the most respected and successful mechanics on the international motor racing scene.
These people’s stories show how Stanguellini’s success is not just down to extraordinary cars, but also the passion, talent and dedication of people who turned a workshop in Modena into an icon of international motorsport.