Can I start? Okay.
The story... (I’ll look over there, sorry)
My father’s story...
Okay. Ready.
Ronnie’s interview, take one.
My father’s story, if we want to call it that, is a bit atypical.
He received an Alfa Romeo Giulietta as a gift from his parents at eighteen.
He decided to take his first driving courses in this car,
got a racing license,
and one of his first races was a timed uphill race,
the renowned Bormio – Stelvio.
It just so happened that from there
his manager helped him along the path from Formula 3 to Formula 2,
which then allowed him to land in Formula 1 in 1976
where he spent about a year, year and a half.
In those days, as you can imagine, it was much more complicated.
Not having huge sponsors, everything my father did
he tried to do by his own means.
Formula 1 in those years was, in short, “the” Formula 1.
Reporters called it the Formula 1 of the years when
“The sex was safe and racing was dangerous."
It was very dangerous to race in those cars,
so much that, sadly, there were fatal accidents in almost every race.
Obviously, having raced with these drivers,
they were rivals - but they were also friends on a journey.
It's true, there was a lot of competitiveness on the track,
but in the end they were friends that shared the same occupational hazards.
My father managed to grow some meaningful friendships
with folks like Clay Regazzoni, and also Ronnie Peterson,
who he decided to name me after when I was born in '87.
Towards the end of the 80s,
when my father had closed his life’s competitive racing career chapter,
he decided to buy a '76 Formula 1 car, an Ensign,
a car that was dear to him for a number of reasons:
First of all, it had been driven by his all-time idol, Clay Regazzoni;
secondly, it was sponsored by the same sponsor that introduced my father to the sport
and allowed him to make it to Formula 1.
Last but not least, it was a fantastic car to drive.
Twenty years later, with a bit of nostalgia for those wonderful times,
together with the Racing division guys,
we said, well, why shouldn’t we
bring this beautiful car back to its past splendor
and take part in some sort of historical race.
And that's how we signed up for the race
dedicated to the historic Formula 1 in Monte Carlo with Alex Caffi.
Well, when Ronnie Kessel asked me the first time to drive this car
it was really exciting.
It was like I think to have a time machine
to go back in the ‘80 and ‘90. That was my era, my era in Formula 1.
It was the era where the drivers count much more than the cars.
And so I think it's a car that gives you the opportunity
to show how is your talent also.
It's really beautiful when, all the time that I have a chance to sit in the car
and try to drive and put gear,
especially in Monte Carlo, is really something fantastic.
It's like to come back like a baby for me.
Alex was chosen as the driver because, besides being a family friend,
he is a driver who raced our GT cars in the 2000s,
and also because he is an expert of those times,
a driver who raced in Formula 1 in the 80s-90s.
In short, he’s not scared of a manual gearbox.
I think that Monte Carlo, like every Formula 1 driver say:
You love or you hate. It's not halfway, in the middle,
and I love, I love it, I love to drive here.
Because you’re close to the wall, close to the rail, cars are really...
You don’t have real straight, you’re always in the corner,
you have tunnel, you have up to the hill, down to the hill.
I love it. I love really very much
and I accept to come here and race in this touring,
because I think it's the only chance to have like a time machine
to go back for me 30 years ago
and prove exactly the same emotion I have in that time.
Among the various races, and all the small and big satisfactions we got from this car,
a special mention goes to the victory
at the Historic Grand Prix of Monte Carlo two years ago.
When my father passed away in 2010,
we soon realized that our operation ultimately has three souls:
the soul of classic cars,
the soul of modern cars
and, obviously, the soul of racing cars.
If we take classic cars, modern cars,
those belonging to the modern automotive world, and racing
and put these initials together,
we end up defining a key concept which is the CAR concept.
The C stands for Classic,
the A stands for Automotive,
meaning the cars we offer as an official dealer,
and the R stands for Racing, which has always been in our DNA.
The classic car today is constantly gaining more value
and importance at the international level.
It is certainly a field to be approached in a different way compared to today’s cars,
and also the way in which we work on them is very different.
The car is not just a means of transportation,
the car represents technology,
art, culture, as well as obviously having so much adrenaline,
and bringing together hosts of enthusiasts
all over the globe, and uniting them.
I think this is truly a fantastic thing.
Basically, when you are on the starting grid,
you lower the visor and the race is about to start,
you feel an adrenaline, an emotion
that only someone in the car right then could describe.