Giotto Bizzarrini

Biography

Giotto Bizzarrini was born in Quercianella, in the province of Livorno, on 6 June 1926, the son of a landowner. He graduated in engineering from the University of Pisa in 1953 with a thesis that redesigned a Fiat Topolino. In August 1954 he joined Alfa Romeo, worked on Giulietta chassis development and trained as a test driver.

He moved to Ferrari in 1957, first as a test driver, and was soon in charge of experimental, sports and GT car development. He influenced the 250 Testa Rossa and the 250 GT SWB, and from 1960 he led the development that produced the 250 GTO in 1962. In 1961 he and four other engineers left Ferrari in a dispute over the company's reorganisation. With Carlo Chiti and other former Ferrari engineers he founded ATS to build a Formula One car and a GT.

In 1962 he set up Società Autostar for freelance work. It turned a 250 GT SWB into the car known as the Breadvan, and the 3,464 cc Lamborghini V12, first produced in 1964 for the 350 GT, came from this period. Autostar also developed the Iso Rivolta IR 300 and the Iso Grifo. After a dispute with Iso his company, renamed Bizzarrini SpA in 1966, built Grifo-based cars under its own name; the 5300 GT Strada, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Bertone, was made from 1965 to 1968. The University of Florence gave him an honorary degree in industrial design in 2012. Bizzarrini died on 13 May 2023, aged 96.