Vivaldo Margheriti

Venice, Italy

**Vivaldo 'Viv' Margheriti** was an Italian racing driver, who raced for Williams in Formula One.

## Early Years

Born in Venice on the 14th of August 1955 to Antonio and Maria Margheriti, Vivaldo is the older brother of Fabiano, and the two spent much of their childhood competing against each other in local boat racing events. The two highly competitive and talented brothers were singled out by scouts as bright future prospects. In 1974, following a partially successful but very illegal experiment with a high horsepower engine swapped canal boat, the two were forced to relocate to the mainland to further pursue their love of speed, pizza and attractive women, the latter of which were allegedly a secondary reason for their forced relocation. Now based in Verona, the two used their considerable wealth from family inheritance to fund continued experiments, much of which either did not survive or were confiscated by the local Italian authorities. Before their forays into official Italian motorsport series, they were locally renowned for modifying regular roadgoing Alfa Romeos for use in local street racing.

## Racing Career

From 1975-1977, the two brothers entered various racing events, including the Junior Italian Karting Championship and The Italian National Formula 3000 Series, where they enjoyed some success.

Following the close of the 1977 season, several teams from the Formula One World Championship approached Vivaldo, offering the position of reserve driver for the upcoming 1978 season.

### **1978**

For the German round of the 1978 Championship, Vivaldo was called up at short notice to race for Wolf. Stunning all onlookers, he proceeded to qualify on pole position for the race following some tweaks made to the car from his mechanical background. During the race, Vivaldo made a good start and lead into the first corner, but ran wide onto the kerb and spun, lightly tapping the wall and damaging his front wing. Fighting back through some of the field, he recovered to 7th by the end of the race.

For the next round in Austria, Vivaldo was again racing for Wolf due to the continued absence of their main driver. Vivaldo continued his form from the previous round during free practice, setting the second fastest time behind Chuck Dingley. During qualifying, however, Vivaldo's car suffered from an intermittent misfire with the resultant drop in pace relegating him to 4th on the grid.

During the race, it was immediately obvious that the misfire from the previous day had not been fixed overnight, and as a result Vivaldo was passed by Stanley Robson on lap 3, relegating him to 5th position. On lap 9, race leader Stefan Van Damme and Stanley Robson pitted for new tyres, promoting Vivaldo to 3rd despite continuing engine troubles. A lap later, Van Damme spun behind Vivaldo as he was about to be re-passed, allowing him to manage the engine issue without pressure from behind. He finished in 3rd, 19.8 seconds behind race winner Chuck Dingley.

Directly following the race, it was announced that Vivaldo would race for Williams for the remainder of the 1978 season.

With the next round in Monza being Vivaldo's home race, and competitive lap times recorded during the practice sessions, hopes were high within the Williams team of a podium result, which for various reasons had eluded them all season. During qualifying, a small collision with traffic forced Vivaldo to swap to the spare car, and meant he could not challenge Chuck Dingley and Stefan Van Damme for the front row of the grid, lining up in 3rd postion for the race. Making a good start, he passed Van Damme on the run down to the first corner, and the two briefly battled before Van Damme regained the position on lap 3. Not having the pace to challenge either of the top two directly, Vivaldo decided to save his tyres in hopes that they would last longer than his faster rivals as they battled each other, and give him an opportunity for a late race charge. However, Van Damme spun on lap 16, which while promoting Vivaldo to 2nd, meant that race leader Chuck Dingley was able to manage his tyres without pressure from behind. Vivaldo crossed the line in 2nd, while his brother Fabiano, after a difficult first half of the race, fought back through the field to make it a second successive double podium for the Margheriti brothers.

For the penultimate round in Watkins Glen, Vivaldo qualified 3rd, just 0.009s behind Stefan Van Damme. The start of the race was hectic, with the top 3 drivers battling non stop for the first 10 laps, during which the lead changed several times, often more than once a lap. On lap 11, Vivaldo and Van Damme collided while battling for 2nd on one of the fastest parts of the circuit, the Belgian driver spinning into the wall but able to continue after pitting for repairs. Vivaldo escaped any meaningful damage, and for the rest of the race traded faster times with race leader Chuck Dingley, the two finishing 3 seconds apart by the chequered flag. Due to the collision with Van Damme, Vivaldo was handed a post race penalty by the stewards, which dropped him to 3rd.

Vivaldo came under much criticism after the race for the incident with Van Damme, who said in a post race interview "I'm not taking any of the blame...it was a rookie mistake from him". Critics highlighted the collision in an era where driver safety was questionable at best, after Vivaldo himself making comments about the poor runoff area during the Friday press interview.

The 1978 season concluded with the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park. Vivaldo qualified second behind the new world champion Chuck Dingley, with Van Damme in third. While Vivaldo and Van Damme started the race on hard tyres, Dingley opted for softs, and had pulled a 7 second lead by lap 11. Vivaldo and Van Damme were locked in a close battle, the two rarely more than 1.5 seconds apart. Soon it was clear that Dingley was on the superior strategy after he pitted and quickly caught the battling pair. Both Vivaldo and Van Damme pitted for softs, and the gap between them stayed under one second for the rest of the race, with Van Damme unable to find a way past the young Italian. Dingley won, with Vivaldo second and Van Damme third.

The race was overshadowed by the deaths of Jermaine Ashwood and Max Westland as they were involved in a high speed accident, with Ashwood pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene, while Westland survived in a coma for a number of months before succumbing to his injuries in September 1979.

### **1979**

1979 began for Vivaldo with a retirement in Argentina, after the new gearbox introduced by Williams experienced teething troubles. Williams teammate Stanley Robson finished third, his first podium in Formula one, showing the potential pace in the car if the reliability issues could be ironed out. A 5th place in South Africa followed where Vivaldo showed good pace, running in 3rd for much of the race before spinning on the penultimate lap and dropping two places. Redemption came for the next race at the US-West Long Beach, however. A commanding pole position, fastest lap and lights-to-flag victory made Vivaldo's first ever Formula One win also a grand slam. For Monaco, Vivaldo qualified 3rd, showing that the Williams' dominance of the previous race was short lived as rivals McLaren and Lotus introduced upgrades. He eventually finished 2nd after passing a slow starting Stefan Van Damme into the first corner. 4th place in both San Marino and France was followed by a retirement along with Chuck Dingley at Silverstone in torrential conditions, as both cars aquaplaned off the circuit at Stowe corner. Another wet race in Germany saw another disappointing result as Vivaldo finished 5th after a lack of pace all weekend. 4th place in Austria behind the hugely controversial Brabham 'fan cars' was followed by 5th in Italy as the Brabhams again romped to a dominant 1-2. By this point in the season it was clear that the Williams, while not lacking for pace, was exceedingly difficult to drive on the limit, an issue highlighted by the disappointing performances during the wet races as both drivers struggled to control their cars in the slippery conditions. Vivaldo came home 4th in Canada after suffering skirt damage on the first aborted start, and again came 4th at the season finale in US-East Watkins Glen after losing 3rd place to Chuck Dingley in the closing laps.

On the whole, 1979 proved to be a promising, yet disappointing, season for Vivaldo. Though he drove impressively during the first half, taking his maiden win and qualifying well, the fundamental issues with the Williams car prevented any serious title contention, although Vivaldo was still able to finish 3rd in the Driver's Championship, albeit 15 points behind eventual winner Chuck Dingley.

### **1982**

#### South African Grand Prix:

Margheriti qualified second behind polesitter Chuck Dingley during the Saturday session, and it proved to be a thrilling season opener despite the early crashes that saw the deaths of both Nathan Meiri and Rien Cantrell. Both Vivaldo and Dingley started on the medium tyre, and after an uneventful first start, the restart provided much more action. Stefan Van Damme passed Vivaldo into the first corner, and the two drivers were side by side down the now flat out back section of the circuit. This only ended when the Italian held the inside line through Sunset corner, retaking second. Afterwards, both Dingley and the elder Margheriti brother proved to be in a class of their own, rapidly pulling away from the rest of the field. The McLaren driver appeared to have a pace advantage though, and steadily built up a 10 second gap to Vivaldo before pitting on lap 16 for fuel and another set of medium tyres. Vivaldo pitted three laps later, also for fuel and mediums.

However, Dingley had opted for a 2 stop strategy, and so his lead of 14 seconds by lap 30 meant he rejoined some 6 seconds behind the Williams after stopping for fresh softs and fuel. His now much faster car was able to catch Vivaldo by the end of lap 32, and the American was in the tow of the Williams coming up the hill over the start/finish line. Soaring past, it was then his turn to be slipstreamed, and as the two cars braked for turn one, they were wheel to wheel. Dingley on the inside, Margheriti on the outside, the two were separated by inches as they flew round the corner upwards of 100mph. Neither driver was yet ahead, and they continued side-by-side down the back section of the circuit to the fast right hander of Sunset. Vivaldo still on the outside, Dingley lunged into the corner, relying on the superior grip from his new soft tyres. Vivaldo could not hang on around the outside, and the McLaren was slightly ahead as the two braked into the tight left of Clubhouse. Again using his better tyres, Dingley was able to outbrake the Williams and swept into the lead of the race, where he was able to pull a gap of 8 seconds by the end of the race.

#### US Grand Prix:

Qualifying in second behind Dingley, Vivaldo appeared to be running a heavier fuel load compared to those around him. While the top 5 started on mediums, a charging Nino Tempestini, who had started on soft tyres, passed him for second place on lap 4, but then spun into the wall on lap 8, meaning that the running order was unchanged as the pit stops approached. Van Damme, who had started third, was putting Vivaldo under a great deal of pressure, running less than a second behind the Italian until lapped traffic baulked Vivaldo on lap 14. Pouncing on his opportunity, Van Damme slipstreamed and passed Vivaldo on the back straight, but into turn 6 the Italian lunged up the inside under braking. The two were side by side for the next two corners, but Van Damme was able to hold onto his newly won position. However, he pitted at the end of that same lap, allowing Vivaldo with his heavier fuel load to take his medium tyres to lap 16, when he pitted for softs. He emerged some four seconds ahead of Van Damme, who was struggling on his second set of mediums, but despite the softer compound compared to Dingley in the lead, Vivaldo was unable to close within 10 seconds of the race leader, and at the flag the gap was 14.8 seconds.

#### San Marino Grand Prix:

The first round of the European season proved to be the most exciting of the year so far; Vivaldo scored his first pole position of the year, two tenths clear of closest rival Chuck Dingley. On the first lap of the race the two drivers were side by side until Aqua Minerale, where Dingley slotted into the lead. For almost the whole of the first stint, the two were separated by less than a second, and the lead changed hands 5 times before the first round of stops on lap 12. Vivaldo pitted a lap before Dingley, and emerging behind the McLaren he quickly caught and passed the American after Dingley was baulked by lapped traffic. However, Dingley had superior pace on his second set of soft tyres, and, turning up his turbo boost, re-passed Vivaldo 6 laps before the end of the race. The two remained almost identical in pace, with the gap at the finish line a mere two seconds.

#### Belgian Grand Prix:

Vivaldo arrived at the Spa Francorchamps circuit with an intent to halt Dingley's string of victories. With another blistering lap, he once again edged out Dingley for pole position, and started the race well, holding off the American on the first lap but coming under pressure from World Champion Stefan Van Damme on the second lap. The Belgian overtook on the Kemmel straight, but Vivaldo remained within striking distance for the remainder of the lap, where Van Damme made a slight error on the exit of Stavelot 2. This gave Vivaldo an excellent run as the two approached the flat out left hander of Blanchimont. Trying to hold it round the outside, Vivaldo's rear left wheel made contact with the front right of Van Damme, instantly spinning the Italian driver into the barrier on the outside of the corner at around 100km/h.

While the speed of impact would not usually be a cause for concern, later investigation found that a loose fuel fitting on top of the fuel tank failed on impact, spraying fuel directly onto the exhaust manifold and turbochargers. Within seconds the car was fully ablaze, and, trapped in the car by a loose section of tyre barrier, Vivaldo was subject to the heat and fumes for almost two minutes until fire marshals could extinguish the blaze and clear the debris sufficiently to remove him from the car. On top of this, the tyres trapping Vivaldo had begun to melt in the blaze, dripping molten rubber onto his head and upper torso. Unknown to the marshals for almost a further 3 minutes, this continued to cause incredible pain and skin damage before the doctor arrived and cut away the scraps of burning race suit.

Vivaldo was airlifted to Liege hospital, where his injuries were listed later by a statement from Williams F1 Team as: Widepread upper body 3rd degree burns including face, neck, torso and arms, severe lung smoke damage, and septic shock.

#### British Grand Prix:

Remarkably, Vivaldo survived his injuries and was able to return to racing for the British Grand Prix at Donington just 6 weeks after the crash at Spa. Although suffering from incredible pain and with his half-healed head burns weeping fluid into his eyes, he was able to finish 6th for a single point.

#### French and German Grands Prix

Vivaldo struggled during the next round in France at the Dijon Circuit, with his brother Fabiano taking a commanding Grand Slam victory while Vivaldo came home 7th.

In Germany the situation was similar, as Vivaldo was plagued by a poor setup, meaning that he failed to score points for the second race in a row, also finishing 7th.

####  British Grand Prix:

Remarkably, Vivaldo survived his injuries and was able to return to racing for the British Grand Prix at Donington just 6 weeks after the crash at Spa. Although suffering from incredible pain and with his half-healed head burns weeping fluid into his eyes, he was able to finish 6th for a single point.

#### French and German Grand Prix

Vivaldo struggled during the next round in France at the Dijon Circuit, with his brother Fabiano taking a commanding Grand Slam victory while Vivaldo came home 7th.

In Germany the situation was similar, as Vivaldo was plagued by poor setup problems, meaning that he failed to score points for the second race in a row, finishing 7th once again.

#### Austrian Grand Prix

A major Williams car upgrade for Austria saw Vivaldo return to the top of the timing sheets in qualifying at the Österreichring, scoring his first pole position since Spa. During the race, he battled with his brother as the two pulled away from the pack as a struggling Dingley fought back after a poor start. After Fabiano went wide during an epic side-by-side duel, Vivaldo immediately lost the lead to an opportunistic Van Damme, but after the stops Vivaldo once again emerged in front, but lost the lead once again to a fast charging Dingley, eventually coming home 2nd.

#### Italian Grand Prix

Monza was once again the scene of an epic battle between the Margheriti brothers, with Van Damme and Dingley way down the order after various issues. Vivaldo's temporary replacement Sid Donnelly caught and overtook Vivaldo, but in doing so collided with the Italian and was handed a 10 second penalty by the race stewards. Able to continue without damage, the two brothers battle lasted right to the line, as they finished within 3 seconds apart. This was also the first time the two brothers finished 1st and 2nd in a Formula One race.

## Personal Life

Following their relocation to Verona in 1974, Vivaldo and his Brother Fabiano ran a joint workshop business by the name of Fratelli Margheriti Ricambi Auto, in which they modified regular roadgoing Alfa Romeos for use in local hillclimb and street racing events. The workshop is owned by the two brothers to this day, although due to their successful racing careers it is only open for business during the winter. Upon his signing for Williams Formula One Team, Vivaldo imported his own personal car to the UK, where he was fined for speeding twice in just 45 minutes upon the car's arrival into the country.