Teodoro – “Dorino” – Serafini was born in Italy, in the small town of Pesaro on July 22, 1909. From his young age he started racing motorcycles, his most successful being a Benelli of 175cc. He remained loyal to Benellis up to 1933, when he switched to another Italian make, MM. The combination Serafini-MM in 175cc soon became the one to beat, and by the end of the year Serafini had won enough races to be crowned Italian Champion. In 1935 he “jumped” to 500cc racing driving a Bianchi. 1936 would surrender a second Italian Championship to him, this time in the 500cc series. With few things left to prove on home soil, he accepted the offer in 1938 to become works driver for Gilera, mainly in charge of developing their powerful 4-cylinder supercharged machines. Come 1939, and Serafini, now used to the bike, had a fantastic year winning the Grand Prix of Sweden, Germany and Ulster to become European Champion of 1939.
At the end of the war, not being a youngster anymore and using his motorbike record as a calling card, Dorino started racing cars. Not really unusual, as other holders of European two-wheel titles include the likes of Nuvolari, Taruffi, Tenni and Georg Meier. Some of them were more successful than others, but all of them provided entertainment, as the real racers they were.
Biographies tend to mention that he started his four-wheel career driving Austin-Healeys and Frazer-Nashes, which is probably true. But it is only in 1947 when we start seeing Serafini at the wheel of a single-seater. In July that year, on two consecutive weekends, he took the wheel of a Cisitalia D46 and took part in the I Coupe de Petites Cylindrées at Reims and in the IX Grand Prix de l’Albigeois, obviously at Albi. Details are scarce, but he retired in both races.
Later in the year Serafini was entered by Scuderia Milan at the wheel of one of their Maseratis 4CL on the XIII Grand Prix de Comminges to be held at St Gaudens. His performance was a blistering one as he led the race from the start, signing the fastest lap of the race on the early stages. However all that came to an abrupt end in a shocking way when Serafini found that both the steering wheel and the column came away in his hands! He hit a tree head-on and was very seriously injured, his ribs, arms and legs broken, while also suffering some burns. Against all odds – some chronicles of the time even mention that he would never race again – he survives.
His comeback to single-seaters had to wait, though, until the end of the following year, 1948. For the final race of the F2 season, on the Circuito de Firenze, Maserati fielded a works team of three drivers that would stay together like a match made in heaven, although not on the Maserati payroll but on Ferrari’s: Ascari, Villoresi and Serafini. In this race, Serafini retired, but more of this trio would follow.
During the year 1949, Serafini drove an OSCA in several F2 races and, at the end of the year received an offer from Ferrari to join the Scuderia and drive for the team together with Ascari and Villoresi.
1950 is a busy year, Serafini driving both the sportscars and single seaters for Ferrari. He also drove at Le Mans, partnering Sommer. In sportscars, Dorino won both the Giro di Calabria and the Giro di Toscana and finished second in the Mille Miglia, where only Marzotto was able to beat him.
But as a full member of the Scuderia, he also raced single-seaters, starting with an inauspicious retirement on the first lap – after qualifying last – on the Gran Premio di San Remo in April, where he drove a 125. Before getting the taste of the F1 car again, he is charged with a 166 in several F2 races (Modena and Monza in May and Angoulème -partnering Sommer – in June). Only Monza would bring some satisfaction, as Serafini finished second to Villoresi in his heat and completed a Ferrari 1-2-3 in the Final with Ascari completing the picture. Then he was back at the seat of the 125 for the IV Gran Premio de Bari in July, where he finished a distant 7th.
And then finally the new 166F2/50 appeared. Its debut came later in July, at the III Prix de Geneva. Although the Simca-Gordinis of Trintignant and Simon took a convincing first and second place, Serafini finished on the podium with the new car. Next stop was the Nürburgring for the German Grand Prix, run to F2 regulations in 1950. Serafini qualified very well (3rd) but would retire with a broken gearbox on lap 6.
The Grand Prix des Nations at Geneva had marked the first appearance of the 4.1-litre Ferrari, and, driven by Ascari, gave the Alfa Romeo team their biggest fright for some time; the car lying second for 62 of the 68 laps before retiring with water pouring from an exhaust pipe. Villoresi also did well in the 3.3-litre car but had the misfortune of spinning on some oil and sustaining injuries in the resulting crash.
With Villoresi unable to recover in time for the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari decided to offer Serafini his debut in the final race counting towards the World Championship. At some point there were talks of Sommer actually driving the car, but luckily for Serafini those ended in nothing.
The Ferrari team started practice for the Italian Grand Prix – our picture – full of confidence, for Ascari had already recorded an unofficial lap time of 1 min 59.0 sec in the 4-litre Ferrari. Alfa Romeo was well aware of this and spent the two days of official practice trying to beat the time. Of the five cars entered though, only Fangio succeeded in breaking the two-minute barrier. He eventually got down to 1m58.6s near the end of the final session to take pole position from Ascari who had previously recorded 1m58.8s. Like Fangio, Farina was also driving one of the new Tipo 159s and he and Sanesi completed the front row of the grid.
As the flag fell on a hot Sunday afternoon the three Alfa Romeos out-accelerated the lone front-row Ferrari with Farina taking the initiative. Ascari, though, was not behind for long and at the end of the first sizzling lap he was right on Farina’s tail, having passed Sanesi and then Fangio. For thirteen laps Farina held off the Ferrari challenge but then on lap 14 Ascari shot past the leading Alfa only to be overtaken two laps later. Ascari continued to hold out until lap 22 when the Ferrari’s rocker gear broke. Two laps later it was Fangio’s turn to retire when his gearbox seized. Sanesi was already out after his engine had blown up; the terrific pace was certainly taking its toll…
Now the remaining Alfas began their first stops for fuel and tyres and when Taruffi stopped, his car was handed over to Fangio. But it was not to be Fangio’s day and on lap 35 he retired a second time when the engine dropped a valve. By then Ascari had walked back to the pits and taken over from Serafini, who was fighting with Fagioli for second place, when he stopped for tyres but Farina was now well over a lap ahead and even Fagioli, now in second place, was nearly half a minute away. The Lago-Talbots of Sommer, Étancelin and Rosier completed the first six.
By lap 50 Farina had made his second and final stop for fuel and was still nearly a lap ahead of Ascari so consequently he was able to ease off. Fagioli remained second until his fuel stop on lap 51 allowed Ascari to move ahead. For the remainder of the race there was no change on the leader board apart from Sommer retiring with gearbox trouble on his 49th lap. Farina went on to win the race at his own pace, the victory making him the first World Champion.
Really delighted about the performance of his third driver, Ferrari was reassured by his performances in October. First, on the Circuito del Garda, he followed Ascari to finish second in the last F2 race of the season. A fortnight later, the whole team travelled to Barcelona to take part in the X Gran Premio de Penya Rhin, at Pedralbes. Serafini qualified second and finished second again to Ascari. A final race in Argentina, for the Eva Perón Cup at Buenos Aires also resulted in second place for Serafini.
The year 1950 had yielded nine podium finishes for Serafini. The two wins on the Giros, a second in the Mille Miglia, three more second places in Formula One races, and two thirds in Formula 2. Surely what was expected of a Ferrari driver, so he was retained by the Scuderia for 1951.
The 1951 season started in March with the Gran Premio di Siracusa. Serafini drove a 212, qualifying in third spot and finishing second to Villoresi: his third second place in succession in a Formula One race.
Then came Easter Monday, which in the fifties meant Pau and although Dorino again qualified third, once more at the wheel of the 212, he experienced problems during the race, had to stop to change plugs and finally retired on lap 49.
On April 8, Dorino qualified his usual 166/50 in third spot for the IX Grand Prix de Marseille, run to F2 rules. Villoresi won the race, and Serafini finished in fifth position. On April 22 he finally got his hands on a 375 for the VI Gran Premio di San Remo. Performing as usual, he qualified the car fourth and, you might guess, finished second yet again, this time to Ascari.
Next on the agenda was the Mille Miglia and, of course, after the performance in 1950 and the experience accumulated during the year, the combination Serafini-Ferrari was favourite for the win. Chronicles recall that in Martinsicuro, in the region of Abruzzo, the Ferrari had a brake fade and Serafini had to make an emergency move to avoid hitting a house. It was too late, and car and driver disappeared into the bottom of a steep riverbank. Thankfully, Serafini was alive – obviously one of his specialties! – but as in 1947, seriously hurt. This time though, that ditch signalled the end of his racing career, and poor Dorino would have to suffer a lengthy and painful recovery process involving several operations over the years.
By 1954 he tried to make a comeback, now at the wheel of his Lancia on the Brescia-Roma-Brescia race. He won the GT class and finished seventh overall, but had probably decided that his racing days were over.
49 years after the Martinsicuro accident, July 3, 2000, Dorino Serafini, just two weekends away from his 91st birthday, died peacefully in a hospital in his hometown, Pesaro. The man thought to be a steadying influence within Scuderia Ferrari, the motorbike European Champion of 1939, the survivor of two World Wars and two frightening accidents, the man who finished second in five of the seven Formula One Grands Prix he participated in – that man now rests in peace. God bless him.
Info from
