Count Trossi and the Monaco racer that never raced

THERE was an unusual car entered in the 1935 Italian Grand Prix on September 8. 

Bearing number 8 and sandwiched between the Bugatti T59 of Piero Taruffi and the Mercedes W25 of Rudolf Carracciola and Luigi Fagioli in the race program, was a Monaco-Trossi.

It was a spectacular bright red newcomer to the golden era of motor racing and behind the wheel was Count Carlo Felice Trossi, one of Italy’s top talents.

However, it had no connection with the Principality of Monaco. Rather, it was the brainchild of engineer Augusto Monaco and largely funded by the wealthy Count Trossi and built in his workshop at Gaglianico, a historic town in Biella province, about 60km from Turin.

He came from an aristocratic family who had made their wealth in the wool industry and from their ownership of the Banca Sella. 

They lived in a magnificent castle, the Castello Gaglianico.

It must have had excellent source of water since it was also the birthplace of racing luminaries such as Antonio Brivio, Giovanni Bracco and Umberto Maglioli.

The Monaco-Trossi had a radical design and was powered by a radial engine, as used in aircraft. Mounted in the nose of the car, it had twin big-bore exhausts protruding forwards from its air-cooled eight-bank, 16-cylinder two-stroke engine that produced 250hp at 6000 rpm and gave the car a top speed of 240km/h.

A few years earlier Augusto Monaco and fellow-engineer Enrico Nardi designed their first racer, a 1000cc lightweight machine called the Chichibio, which was a brilliant performer in hillclimbs.

Next, Monaco designed the big two-stroke radial and convinced  Felice Trossi to become a partner in his project. The streamlined aircraft-type body was the work of Trossi’s friend, Revelli.

 

The finished project was presented to the public in early July, 1935. 

People were amazed to see a racer on the public roads, a very noisy and strange-looking machine sans rego plates, lights or mudguards, but hey, it was red, fast, Italian . . . and the Grand Prix was just two months away.

Grands prix those days were hugely popular and often drew crowds of up to 300,000.

After its public showing, the Monaco-Trossi was taken to Monza for testing – and it soon became clear it had some major issues. 

The big engine right in front gave it unusual mass distribution, which led to a huge over-steering problem and it also ran so hot that the spark plugs sometimes shot out of the engine like bullets.

To improve cooling, the team even removed the engine covers, but that didn’t help much and the scary-handling car was deemed ‘too dangerous’and was withdrawn from the Grand Prix.

Count Trossi himself, though, achieved great success and although he drove mainly Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Mercedes cars, even became president of Scuderia Ferrari.

He had a brilliant season in 1933, driving his Alfa Romeo 8C 2300. 

He won the European Hillclimb Championship, in Italy he won the Pontedecimo-Giovi hillclimb, the Circuito di Firenze, the Targa Abruzzi at Pescara, and finished second in the Stelvio hillclimb and in the Circuito di Alessandria, behind Tazio Nuvolari. 

The following year Trossi, driving an Alfa Romeo Tipo-B P3, won the Grand Prix de Vichy in France, the Montreux Grand Prix in Switzerland and the first Circuito di Biella, after a fierce battle with his team mate Achille Varzi and Nuvolari’s Maserati.

In the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, he finished third, sharing his Alfa Romeo with Gianfranco Comotti. 

He had his debut at the age of 23, driving a Mercedes-Benz in the Pontedecimo-Giovi hillclimb. 

By the way, that car, a Mercedes SSK, is still going today, owned by Ralph Lauren and is sometimes displayed at major concours events.  

In 1932 Trossi joined the newly formed Scuderia Ferrari, acting as its president. That same year he campaigned an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider Zagato, winning the Vermicino-Rocca di Papa – the prestigious Coppa Gallenga, held near Rome – and the Biella-Oropa hillclimbs, and finishing second overall in the Mille Miglia, paired with his fellow citizen Brivio.

1936 marked his best season. Driving a Maserati 6CM,  Trossi won the ADAC Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring, the Grand Prix de Picardie at Peronne, France, the Circuito di Milano at Sempione Park, the Coppa Ciano at Livorno and the Circuits of Modena and Lucca. 

He also took part in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, sharing the car with Richard Seaman and finishing eighth. 

In October of 1936 Count Trossi crossed the Atlantic ocean to take part in the Vanderbilt Cup at the Roosevelt Raceway in New York.

Paired with Frederick McEvoy, he was able to finish the 75-lap race in sixth place.

In 1937 he drove a works Alfa Romeo 12C-36, winning the Coppa Principessa di Piemonte held at Posillipo Park in Naples, the Circuito della Superba at Genoa and the Circuito di Lucca. 

In 1938 he caused a sensation at the 13km Mellaha circuit of thbe Triploi Grand Prix.

Driving a 8CTF Maserati, he set the fastest lap and even challenged for the lead against the might of the German teams before mechanical problems ended his race.

A few events were held in 1940 before racing was banned for the duration of World War II, Count Trossi finished third in the Tripoli Grand Prix in an Alfa Romeo 158, and eighth in the Mille Miglia, sharing an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500SS Berlinetta Touring with Ascanio Lucchi. 

After the end of WWII, Trossi resumed his racing career, again joining the Alfa Romeo squad, alongside long time friends Achille Varzi, Giuseppe Farina, and the French star Jean-Pierre Wimille. 

Driving one of the works Alfa Romeo 158 Alfettas that dominated the post-war season, in 1946 he was runner-up to Farina in the Grand Prix des Nations at Genève and sixth in the Gran Premio del Valentino at Turin, eventually winning the Circuito di Milano at Sempione Park.

In 1947 he scored third places in the Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten and in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, plus an outright win in the Italian Grand Prix, once again at Sempione Park in Milan.

But the popular fair-skinned sporting aristocrat Count Trossi, who was also an avid aviator and a powerboat pilot, was gravely ill.

He had been diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Despite his pain, he had his last race in the Swiss Grand Prix of 1948.

Teammate Jean-Pierre Wimille was by then dominating the racing scene, and, well aware of Trossi’s condition, generously let him win the Grand Prix.

The race was overshadowed by the death of their team mate Achille Varzi in practice accident.

Ironically Wimille would lose his own life during a race at Buenos Aires in January, 1949, three months before Trossi’s death. He was aged 41.

Carlo Felice Trossi died in a hospital in Milan, on May 9, 1949.

He, too, was only 41. 

He is remembered today with streets in Gaglianico and Biella, named after him.

What of his strange Monaco-Trossi racer that never raced?

You can see it at the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile in Turin, thanks to Count Trossi’s wife,  Lisetta, who kindly donated it.

 

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