5/6/1928 - 7/2/1999
Record updated 05-Jun-06
Maglioli was an occasional F1 Ferrari driver, but enjoyed a distinguished sports car racing career winning the Targa Florio three times, the Sebring 12 hour race and the Carrera Panamericana.
Maglioli was an occasional F1 Ferrari driver, but enjoyed a distinguished sports car racing career which really got off the ground in 1954 when he won the Carrera Panamericana and the Targa Florio.
Born on 5th June 1928 in Biella, Umberto Maglioli was one of the foremost Ferrari long-distance drivers of the early 1950s. The long-distance races of those days were true endurance events and the longer and more difficult they became the more Maglioli excelled at them. A three times winner of the Targa Florio, first in 1953 with a Lancia and lastly in 1968 in a Porsche, his greatest triumph came in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana which he won in a 375, taking home $18,000 first place money and crossing the finish line at Juarez with a record setting average of 107 MPH for the entire 5-day distance! At the same race in the previous year he showed true grit when he survived a massive 125 mph crash in his Ferrari and completely demolished it, then took over team-mate Ricci's car and proceeded to drive at astonishing speed in a vain chase of Fangio's winning Lancia. He averaged 138 mph on one particular leg during his chase.
He left Ferrari in 1956 to join Porsche for a long and successful relationship, giving them their first overall Targa Florio win, but in 1963 he returned to the fold to come third at Le Mans in a 250P shared with Mike Parkes. In 1964, again sharing with Parkes, he won the Sebring 12-hours in a 275P.
He also drove for Ferrari in Formula One but this took place during the lean years of 1954 and 1955. By taking third place at the '54 Monza GP in a Tipo 625 shared with Froilan Gonzales and a sixth place the following year in a Super Squalo he joined the elite few who have driven for Ferrari in F1 and scored points at Monza.
In 1956 he had three races in a Maserati 250F and his final Grand Prix outing came at the Nurburgring in a 1.5-liter Porsche the following season.
He continued racing through to the late 1960s and had a business based in Lugano making exclusive precision watches.
On 7th February 1999, following a long illness, he died in Monza.