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Formula One team owner
Osella (right, standing) at the Iglesias-Sant'Angelo hillclimb in 2013
Vincenzo "Enzo" Osella
(born 26 August 1939) is an Italian former racing driver and team owner. He is the founder and chairman of
Italian
auto manufacturer
Osella
. The team competed in
Formula One
between 1980 and 1990.
[1]
Career
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]
Enzo Osella was born in
Volpiano
,
[2]
near
Turin
, to Luigi and Maria Osella. His parents ran a grocery store and a transport company in
Volpiano
until the end of the
Second World War
. After the war Luigi Osella took over a garage in the centre of Turin. Enzo Osella first job out of school was in a gravel plant. He then started helping his father at the garage by working on the customers' cars.
One of his father's regular client was an amateur rally driver who enticed Enzo to assist him as navigator. From 1957 Osella competed as co-driver in several events, including the Sestriere Rally. Osella later switched to the driver seat and borrowed his sister's
Fiat 600
to race. He then purchased a
Lotus 11
, which he modified according to his own wishes and equipped with an
Osca
engine and an
Alfa Romeo
differential, and took part in hillclimb races.
In 1963
Carlo Abarth
invited Osella to replace Mario Poltronieri as test driver for Abarth's racing cars and
motorsport
team in Turin. The experience gave Osella the opportunity to earn insight into chassis and engine production and tuning aspects. Osella also worked as a mechanic and driver supervisor.
At the end of 1964 Enzo Osella went into business for himself and took over an
Abarth
factory agency in Turin. In 1971 Carlo Abarth sold the name rights and production facilities to
Fiat
and retired to
Vienna
. Osella purchased the entire racing department, and started operating it under the name
Osella
Corse. After a few years spent competing mostly in
hillclimbing
,
Can Am
,
Formula Three
and
Formula Two
, in 1980 Osella established a
Formula One
team. The Osella team participated in 132 Grands Prix, achieving three top-six finishes and scoring five world championship points.
In 1990 Osella retired from Formula One and relocated his team to
Verolengo
, in the Turin metropolitan area, to focus again on sports car and
hillclimb
races.
Personal life
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]
Enzo Osella is married and has two children, a boy and a girl. His son died in 1991.
References
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External links
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