{"id":71603,"date":"2019-11-11T13:35:37","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T11:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/?p=71603"},"modified":"2022-04-21T14:23:46","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T13:23:46","slug":"stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/","title":{"rendered":"Stories of Pirelli-tyred Centaurs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Photographs of motorcycle races from the 1920s to the 1980s go online today on our website<\/p><p><strong>EICMA 2019<\/strong>, the Milan International Bicycle and Motorcycle Exhibition, came to an end yesterday and, to mark the occasion, the Pirelli Foundation has placed a splendid series of photographs in the Historical Archive section of its website, with hundreds of shots showing the exhilarating world of motorcycle racing. The photos include many fascinating portraits of champions of yesteryear &#8211; men who wrote the history of this perilous but thrilling sport right from the early days of the twentieth century.<\/p>\n<p>We see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/archivio-storico\/fotografie\/detail\/IT-PIRELLI-FT0001-0000000495\/il-pilota-erminio-visioli-nel-1921.html?jsonVal={%22jsonVal%22:{%22query%22:%22Visioli%22,%22startDate%22:%22%22,%22endDate%22:%22%22,%22fieldDate%22:%22dataNormal%22,%22_perPage%22:20}}&amp;attachmentMisc=undefined&amp;lang=en#n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Erminio Visioli<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s enigmatic expression just after winning the <strong>Circuito delle Tre Regioni<\/strong> in August 1921 on his <strong>Pirelli-shod Harley-Davidson 1000<\/strong>, just a week after his victory in the historic uphill Como-Brunate race. Wearing a crewneck sweater and Scottish beret \u2013 in August! \u2013 Erminio Visioli looks straight at <strong>Strazza<\/strong>, the photographer for <em>La Stampa Sportiva<\/em>, the newspaper that devoted a triumphant article to him. This photo, now in our Historical Archive, is one of many that can be viewed online as from today.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside Visioli\u2019s smile, we find the \u201ctough guy\u201d look of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/archivio-storico\/fotografie\/detail\/IT-PIRELLI-FT0001-0000000482\/il-pilota-miro-maffeis-nel-1925.html?jsonVal={%22jsonVal%22:{%22query%22:%22Miro%20Maffeis%22,%22startDate%22:%22%22,%22endDate%22:%22%22,%22fieldDate%22:%22dataNormal%22,%22_perPage%22:20}}&amp;attachmentMisc=undefined\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Miro Maffeis<\/strong><\/a>, the \u201c<em>bel Miro<\/em>\u201d, who was so adored by the girls. Maffeis knew every inch of the eight hundred kilometres of the <strong>Raid Nord-Sud, from Milan to Naples<\/strong>: He had won it in 1920 on his <strong>Indian 500<\/strong>, and took third place in 1925 on a <strong>Bianchi 350, which was enough to earn him a reputation as a champion<\/strong><strong>. <\/strong><strong>And then, of course, <\/strong>there is the great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/archivio-storico\/fotografie\/detail\/IT-PIRELLI-FT0001-0000000481\/i-piloti-della-squadra-bianchi-nel-1926.html?jsonVal={%22jsonVal%22:{%22query%22:%22Tazio%20Nuvolari%22,%22startDate%22:%22%22,%22endDate%22:%22%22,%22fieldDate%22:%22dataNormal%22,%22_perPage%22:20}}&amp;attachmentMisc=undefined#n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Tazio Nuvolari<\/strong><\/a><strong>, <\/strong><strong>\u201c<\/strong>the incarnation of the devil\u201d as some saw him, even before becoming the \u201cFlying Mantuan\u201d. Nuvolari, who would let go of his brakes when coming down from the Ghisallo Pass: when he needed to turn, he would run his (padded) elbow against the walls of the houses along the road, using them as a pivot to suddenly change direction and start shooting off again. Ahead of everyone else, needless to say, on his <strong>Bianchi 350 Freccia Celeste<\/strong> fitted with Pirelli Motocord tyres. In one photo we see him with his companions in the Bianchi team: all of them in uniform, except for him, of course. A proud, haughty look can be seen on the face of the driver-engineer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/archivio-storico\/fotografie\/detail\/IT-PIRELLI-FT0001-0000000518\/record-taruffi-sull-autostrada-brescia-bergamo-nel-1937.html?jsonVal={%22jsonVal%22:{%22query%22:%22Taruffi%22,%22startDate%22:%22%22,%22endDate%22:%22%22,%22fieldDate%22:%22dataNormal%22,%22_perPage%22:20,%22persone%22:%22\\%22Taruffi,%20Piero\\%22%22}}&amp;attachmentMisc=undefined\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Piero Taruffi<\/strong><\/a>, who in 1937 set an extraordinary series of speed records on the motorway between Bergamo and Brescia on the Gilera Rondine bike with aerodynamic fairings he made himself, fitted with \u201cultralight ribbed S\u201d Pirelli tyres.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/archivio-storico\/fotografie\/detail\/IT-PIRELLI-FT0001-0000000527\/record-moto-guzzi-nel-1948.html?jsonVal={%22jsonVal%22:{%22query%22:%22Raffaele%20Alberti%22,%22startDate%22:%22%22,%22endDate%22:%22%22,%22fieldDate%22:%22dataNormal%22,%22_perPage%22:20}}&amp;attachmentMisc=undefined\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Raffaele Alberti<\/strong><\/a>, in a photo of <strong>1948, <\/strong>rests his hand on the saddle of his \u201c<strong>Guzzino<\/strong>\u201d and puts on a serious, martial look. To tell the truth, it was not so much a \u201csaddle\u201d as a thin foam rubber mat he would lie on, facing forward, on his way towards the 1 kilometre speed record from a standing start. Alberti clocked up four in a row in February 1948, on the<strong> Charrette-Saxon circuit in Switzerland<\/strong>. and then another nineteen in <strong>Monza<\/strong>, in November, together with <strong>Gianni Leoni<\/strong> and <strong>Bruno Ruffo<\/strong>.\u00a0<strong>Breaking records over the kilometre<\/strong>, over 500 miles, the hour, and twelve hours, winning all the way: on his Guzzi 65 \u2013 raised to 73cc but forever a \u201cGuzzino\u201d. He never abandoned his Pirelli tyres. What you can see today is not just a gallery of historic photos, but a story made up of looks and eyes, and expressions of a legendary world.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photographs of motorcycle races from the 1920s to the 1980s go online today on our websiteEICMA 2019, the Milan International Bicycle and Motorcycle Exhibition, came to an end yesterday and, to mark the occasion, the Pirelli Foundation has placed a splendid series of photographs in the Historical Archive section of its website, with hundreds of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":71823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historical-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stories of Pirelli-tyred Centaurs - Fondazione Pirelli<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stories of Pirelli-tyred Centaurs - Fondazione Pirelli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photographs of motorcycle races from the 1920s to the 1980s go online today on our websiteEICMA 2019, the Milan International Bicycle and Motorcycle Exhibition, came to an end yesterday and, to mark the occasion, the Pirelli Foundation has placed a splendid series of photographs in the Historical Archive section of its website, with hundreds of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fondazione Pirelli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-11T11:35:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-21T13:23:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/11130135\/1_4A_207_1949_Favre_Gran-Premio-di-Losanna-Copy-e1573472098366.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"417\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"fondazionepirelli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"fondazionepirelli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/\",\"name\":\"Stories of Pirelli-tyred Centaurs - Fondazione Pirelli\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/11130135\/1_4A_207_1949_Favre_Gran-Premio-di-Losanna-Copy-e1573472098366.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-11T11:35:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-21T13:23:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/c31fcf5937a0e6afa45497f3f8b6d7a0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/11130135\/1_4A_207_1949_Favre_Gran-Premio-di-Losanna-Copy-e1573472098366.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/11130135\/1_4A_207_1949_Favre_Gran-Premio-di-Losanna-Copy-e1573472098366.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":417},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stories of Pirelli-tyred Centaurs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/\",\"name\":\"Fondazione Pirelli\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/c31fcf5937a0e6afa45497f3f8b6d7a0\",\"name\":\"fondazionepirelli\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cb486421ce1d6eddbf6c4fb66841b4325b786695f7aedf1dde2222428218696?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cb486421ce1d6eddbf6c4fb66841b4325b786695f7aedf1dde2222428218696?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"fondazionepirelli\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/author\/fondazionepirelli\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stories of Pirelli-tyred Centaurs - Fondazione Pirelli","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stories of Pirelli-tyred Centaurs - Fondazione Pirelli","og_description":"Photographs of motorcycle races from the 1920s to the 1980s go online today on our websiteEICMA 2019, the Milan International Bicycle and Motorcycle Exhibition, came to an end yesterday and, to mark the occasion, the Pirelli Foundation has placed a splendid series of photographs in the Historical Archive section of its website, with hundreds of [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/","og_site_name":"Fondazione Pirelli","article_published_time":"2019-11-11T11:35:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-21T13:23:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":417,"url":"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/11130135\/1_4A_207_1949_Favre_Gran-Premio-di-Losanna-Copy-e1573472098366.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"fondazionepirelli","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"fondazionepirelli","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/","name":"Stories of Pirelli-tyred Centaurs - Fondazione Pirelli","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/11130135\/1_4A_207_1949_Favre_Gran-Premio-di-Losanna-Copy-e1573472098366.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-11T11:35:37+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-21T13:23:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/c31fcf5937a0e6afa45497f3f8b6d7a0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/11130135\/1_4A_207_1949_Favre_Gran-Premio-di-Losanna-Copy-e1573472098366.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/11130135\/1_4A_207_1949_Favre_Gran-Premio-di-Losanna-Copy-e1573472098366.jpg","width":600,"height":417},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/historical-archive\/stories-of-pirelli-tyred-centaurs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stories of Pirelli-tyred Centaurs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/","name":"Fondazione Pirelli","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/c31fcf5937a0e6afa45497f3f8b6d7a0","name":"fondazionepirelli","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cb486421ce1d6eddbf6c4fb66841b4325b786695f7aedf1dde2222428218696?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cb486421ce1d6eddbf6c4fb66841b4325b786695f7aedf1dde2222428218696?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"fondazionepirelli"},"url":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/author\/fondazionepirelli\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71603\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=71603"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71603\/revisions\/"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73735,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71603\/revisions\/73735\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71823\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=71603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=71603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=71603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}