21/10/1932 - 10/5/1998
Record updated 21-Oct-06
Cesare made his mark driving a Maserati T200S sports car in 1954. He went on to drive for the Maserati and Ferrari works teams.
He came from from a family of wealthy journalists and newspaper publishers, who owned the motoring magazine "Quattroroute". Perdisa first made his mark on the racing scene in 1954 with some excellent drives in his Maserati T200S sports car, finishing fourth at the Imola GP, fifth in the Portuguese GP and third at Syracuse. Proving this was no flash in the pan, the 1955 season saw wins at the Imola Shell GP and the Bari GP and second place at the Monza Supercortemaggiore in works machines, and his first Grand Prix, at Monaco, where Behra took over his car to share a third-place finish.
In 1956 after missing the early-season Argentine races due to appendicitis, he finished third in the Belgian Grand Prix held at Spa-Francorchamps on June 3 and a fifth in the French Grand Prix held at Reims on July 1. Cesare was injured in a practice crash at the German Grand Prix and did not race for the Maserati team again. Lining up for rivals Ferrari in Argentina at the start of 1957, Cesare drove his Ferrari up to lap 33 but then had to then hand it over at Peter Collins, who finished in sixth place. He also finished seventh in the Buenos Aires City GP.. That was the last Grand Prix and Cesare did not appear again apparantly constrained by budget. Cesare benefited from racing at a time when if you had to share your car you were credited with a share of the points. Perdisa was also famous for eating raw eggs. And he particularly used to love to irritate Moss by breaking raw eggs and swallowing their contents in a single gulp - sometimes while sitting in the cockpit on the starting grid.
Perdisa also raced sports cars. In 1956 he competed in the 1000 Km Race at the Nuerburgring with a Maserati 300S but went out with suspension problems. In 1957 however he had better luck and went on to win the 1000Km of Buenos Aires with Gregory, Castellotti and Musso. On returning to Europe, Perdisa had a huge accident testing for Ferrari at Modena, and perhaps due to pressure from his family, Cesare suddenly announced his retirement from racing.
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