Tazio Nuvolari – the legendary racing-car driver from Mantua

This Audi design study has been named for the legendary motor racing star Tazio Nuvolari, the last driver to win a Grand Prix in an Auto Union car – in Belgrade on September 3, 1939.

Nuvolari was born in Mantua, Italy in 1892 and died in 1953 – 50 years ago on August 11, 2003. He wrote motor-racing history like scarcely anyone else in the first half of the last century. His trademarks were his daring, spectacular driving style and the yellow pullover that he always wore in the car.

This small, slim Italian driver started his career on two wheels: Nuvolari was a motorcyclist until 1926. After numerous victories with other cars, he switched to Auto Union in 1938 and drove its 12-cylinder Type D mid-engined cars in Grand Prix races and hillclimbs.

He won his first race in 1938 in his home country: he was the first across the finishing line in the Italian Grand Prix held in Monza on September 11, 1938. Only a few weeks later, he won another race in Donington, England.

An event that honours Tazio Nuvolari has been taking place annually for the past twelve years in September: the Gran Premio Nuvolari, a long-distance historic car race covering a distance of approximately 850 kilometres, with the start and finish in Mantua. The main sponsors of this event, in which numerous high-calibre racing cars participate, are AUDI AG and its Italian importer, Autogerma.

The name Audi has given to its Grand Turismo study pays homage to one of the greatest racing car drivers of all time while bringing together the Audi Nuvolari quattro’s progressive technology and the history of the brand with the four intersecting rings, which, on the road and in car races, has always stood for both style and sport.