Gino Munaron (born 2 April 1928 in Turin – died 22 November 2009 in Valenza) was a racing driver from Italy.
He participated in 4 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 7 February 1960. He scored no championship points. Info from Wiki
On 22nd November 2009, Virginio Lugli Munaron, best known as Gino, passed away.
Born in Turin on 2nd April 1928, Gino’s first foray into motorsport came in 1949, when he took part in the Aosta-Great St. Bernard in a CDMP Ford, he built along with Paolo Cordero di Montezemolo. In the Fifties, he was one of many gentlemen drivers who took part in racing events, both on the public highway and on tracks. He raced with Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Topolino, Nardi, Osca and other makes and also raced with Scuderia Ferrari cars, obtaining amongst others one of his biggest wins in the 1955 Hyeres 12 Hours.
He also tried his hand at Formula 1, taking part in some Grands Prix in 1960 as a privateer, first at the wheel of a Maserati and then in a Ferrari-powered Cooper, run by Scuderia Castellotti. After he retired from racing in 1961, Munaron stayed in the motoring world working as a manager for BMW among others. Source Ferrari – from https://formula1.ferrari.com
Bio by Stephen Latham
Virginio Lugli Munaron (known as Gino) was born on the 2nd of April 1928 in Turin, Italy, and participated in four World Championship Grands Prix. He was born into a motorsport family as his father Ramiro Munaron participated in the 1903 Giro d’Italia and took part in four Mille Miglia races, from the first one in 1927, with a best finish of eighth in 1929, alongside Guglielmo Carraroli in an Alfa Romeo 6C 1750SS. Gino later became the Alfa Romeo dealer for Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna regions.
Assisted by his friend, Paolo Cordero di Montezemolo (the uncle of the future Ferrari and Fiat President Luca), he built a 4.3 litre CDMP Ford Special and made his racing debut in 1950 in the Aosta-Gran San Bernardo hillclimb, though did not finish. His first victory came in 1951 at the Trofeo Ruota D’Oro in a Fiat Topolino, then he won his class with a Nardi-Fiat 750 in the Sassi-Superga hillclimb but did not finish in his first Mille Miglia, co-driving an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Competizione with Franco Rol.
In 1952 he and Rol shared a Siata 208S 8V Berlinetta in the Giro di Sicilia, finishing twelfth and second in class, and were eleventh, and third in class, in the Mille Miglia while he and Dario Vico were third in the 10 Hours of Messina in an Alfa Romeo 1900. The following year saw a retirement at the Mille Miglia alongside Lucio Finucci though he was third in class with Veglia in the Coppa della Toscana and second in class in the Giro dell’Umbria with Tasinelli. He also contested hillclimbs at the wheel of a Nardi 750 Sport and there was a further retirement in 1954’s Mille Miglia though he won his class in the Rallye Sestriere.
Gino teamed with Andre Canonica for the 12 Hour Hyeres in 1955 in the l’Equipe Nationale Suisse Ferrari 750 Monza and though the car had been a back marker for much of the event they went on to take an impressive victory. After purchasing a Ferrari 500 Mondial, he was fourth at the Circuito di Reggio Calabria and had fifth place finishes at the Circuito di Caserta and the Gran Premio Shell at Imola but retired in the 10 Hour Messina. In October he made his first entry in the Targa Florio, co-driving a 750 Monza with Carroll Shelby, but after Shelby did the first three laps, and was running fifth, after Gino took over he drove the car into a ravine.
Campaigning a Ferrari 500 TR in 1956, he had a second place finish at the Circuito di Sassari, behind Franco Cortese in another Ferrari, and third place results at the Circuito di Reggio Calabria and the GP Pescara plus fourth in the GP Bari. Unfortunately, while racing with Pierre Mayrat, he had a heavy crash during the 1000 km de Paris at Montlhery and suffered severe shoulder and chest injuries. In October he was eleventh (third in class) in the GP Roma with the 500 TR and was second with a Fiat Abarth Vignale at the same meeting.
Racing Ferraris (500 TR and 500 TRC), Gino took 1957’s Italian Sportscar Championship, winning the Sassi-Superga hillclimb and scoring a class win, with eighth overall, in the Mille Miglia. He was fourth in the Giro di Sicili and third at the Circuito di Sassari and Aspern plus tenth (second in class) in the Sverige GP at Rabelovsbanan (then a round of the World Sportscar Championship), with Julio Batista Falla. The Reims 12 Hours in July saw Ferrari 250 GTs take the first five positions, with Gino (racing solo) finishing third, behind Paul Frère/Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill/Wolfgang Seidel though he he and ‘Madero’ did not start in the Tour de France. There was also a Porsche 550 RS drive in the Gran San Bernardo hillclimb, where he finished second and in December he raced a Maserati in the GP Sao Paulo at Interlagos, though he and Mario Valentim did not finish, but in a solo run in the following week’s GP Rio de Janeiro at Boa Vista, Gino finished second to Juan Manuel Fangio’s Maserati 300S.
In the following year’s World Sportscar Championship, he was sixth in January’s Buenos Aires 1000 kms with Luciano Mantovani in a Ferrari 500TR then, co-driving a Ferrari 250 TR58 with Wolfgang Seidel and Luigi Musso, they were fifth in the Nurburgring 1000kms in June. In a solo 250 TR drive he was third in the GP Napoli at the end of April and, contesting the Coppa Shell Monza with a Ferrari Dino 206S, he won the first race though did not finish the second. In 250 GT outings he and ‘Madero’ were third in April’s 3 Hour Pau and there was a similar podium finish when he raced solo in the Venezuelan GP at Caracas in November.
In his first race in 1959, Gino failed to qualify a Rainieri-Fiat for a GP di Cortina FJunior race, which took place on ice and there was only one Ferrari outing this year, finishing sixth with Lino Fayen at Le Mans in a 250 GT Interim. In a number of OSCA drives there were retirements at the non championship GP Berlin and GP Pau plus the Coppa Sant Ambroeus at Monza while finishes included third and fourth in the Trophée d’Auvergne at Charade and the GP Messina plus ninth in the Gran Premio di Siracusa.
Thanks to the help of his friend Juan Manuel Fangio, he made his World Championship debut in 1960 where he raced a Maserati 250F in February’s Argentine GP at Buenos Aires and finished thirteenth, eight laps behind Bruce McLaren’s winning Cooper T45. In the following two weeks he was third with a Scuderia Eugenio Castellotti 250F in a non championship Buenos Aires GP at the Parque Sarmiento circuit in Cordoba, behind Maurice Trintignant and Dan Gurney, but retired a Maserati in the GP Cuba. The Targa Florio saw retirement driving an Alfa Romeo powered Conrero 1150 Sport (with Francesco de Leonibus) and in two World Sportscar outings with Camoradi he, Masten Gregory and Umberto Maglioli were fifth with the Maserati Tipo 61 in the Nurburgring 1000kms though his Le Mans race with Giorgio Scarlatti ended in the third hour, after twenty two laps (electrics). In further Scuderia Castellotti drives, now with a Cooper T51, he was thirteenth in a non-championship Silver City Trophy at Brands Hatch while in World Championship rounds he did not qualify at Monaco, retired at Reims (transmission after sixteen laps), was fifteenth at Silverstone and retired at Monza (twenty seven laps, oil line).
He was eleventh in the following year’s British Empire Trophy at Silverstone in a Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper T51 while drives in Conrero Squadra Corse’s Cooper T43 brought third place in the Mont Ventoux hillclimb though in two non championship races he retired at Pau and did not qualify at Syracuse. In European Touring Car rounds with Scuderia Jolly Club’s Alfa Romeo Giulia he was second at Monza but he and Gianni Balzarini did not finish in a round at Nurburgring. There was a retirement in the Targa Florio alongside Francesco de Leonibus in a Lotus 11 (gearbox) though they were eighth in the Coppa Ascari at Monza in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ.
Following this Gino raced occasionally in Italian hillclimbs and GT car races for a few seasons. In 1964 he drove an Alfa Romeo Giulia TI in the European Touring Car Championship and was second in the 4 Hour Monza (behind Giancarlo Baghetti’s similar car) while shared drives saw retirement with Gianni Balzarini in the 6 hour Nurburgring and fifth in the 24 Hour Spa with Andrea de Adamich. He drove a BMW 1800 TI in two races in 1965, sharing with Hubert Hahne for the 4 Hour Monza and the Spa 24 Hours with Heinz Eppelein, but retired from both.
After deciding to retire from racing, his business career evolved and he was one of the founders of BMW Italia and became the sales director of TWR Italy in 1986. He focused on the vineyard that his family owned at Castlenuovo Belbo, Italy, and participated as an active competitor in the Historic Challenge Series, being a member of the ASI Italian Historic Car federation. He also became an accomplished writer, publishing a book ‘Ferrari, le 4 Cilindri Sport’ in 1987. Gino passed away at home in Pecetto di Valenza, province of Alessandria, on the 22nd of November 2009 after a long illness.
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