Nino Tempestini

Palermo, Italy

**Nino Tempestini** (Born 9th December 1955) is an Italian racing driver who raced predominantly for Brabham & Lotus in the Formula One World Championship. He made his debut in the 1978 Argentine Grand Prix.

## Early Life

Nino Tempestini was born in Palermo, Italy, into a rich family. He had a wealthy upbringing and was spoiled as a child, mellowing throughout adult life.

## Racing Career

### **1970-77 (Pre-F1)**

He raced motorbikes from an early age, graduating to the Grand Prix Motorcycle racing circuit. He was successful in this field, racing motorbikes successfully up to the 350cc class, the 2nd highest. He competed until 1977, driving British F3 alongside in that year.

He was a midfielder in British F3, but nonetheless graduated to the cash-strapped Brabham team for the 1978 Formula One Season alongside fellow pay-driver William Worcestershire-Smythe, though Smythe would bring considerably more funding to the team.

### **1978**

Tempestini started the season well, qualifying 5th and finishing 4th in the Argentine Grand Prix after a lengthy battle with Spocinklass. Tempestini quickly gained a reputation for being a hot headed and aggressive driver, lashing out at Spocinklass after the race for supposedly pushing him off prior to Tempestini making his own error.

The South African Grand Prix was a cleaner affair for Nino, as he scored his first podium finishing 2nd to van Damme. He drove a clean race, inheriting places as others crashed, after criticism of his flamboyant and dangerous sliding in the practice and qualifying sessions which had caused a few collisions.

Another top 5 came for Tempestini in round 3, US GP West, as he mirrored his strategy from South Africa to come home 4th as others had problems. This was despite being involved in a lap 1 incident and having to make some aggressive overtakes, notably damaging Reinaldo Molina's Arrows in the process, though it was minimal.

Round four, the Monaco Grand Prix, was a disappointment for Tempestini - after being involved in a turn 1 accident, he would spend the race trying to recover, eventually finishing 7th after a 2nd collision.

The following few rounds would be plagued by misfortune. Running well at the San Marino Grand Prix, he was involved in a very high speed accident after lapping Max Westland, who appeared to have damage, and accidentally swerved, clipping the Italian's rear wheel entering Tamburrello. Tempestini hit the wall backwards, heavily damaging the rear of the car and spitting it into the path of Westland, before having the front of the car ripped off by the now out of control McLaren travelling at 185 kmh. Tempestini escaped injury despite being exposed in the wreckage. Westland would suffer a broken leg. Many drivers, Tempestini included, described the lack of injury as a miracle.

Neither Brabham would participate in the French Grand Prix after a pitlane fire severely damaged both cars.

Tempestini started the second half of the season well, taking home 2nd place in the British Grand Prix, having boldly gone for a 0-stop on the Softer compound of tyre, ignoring the advice of senior drivers. The only other driver to do this was Scott Amor, and the pair of them had ruined the tyres by the finish. Tempestini started 9th, and believes that the result could have only taken place after reforming his driving style. Amor finished 6th.

Rounds eight & nine were two non-points finishes for Tempestini following a spin in Hockenheim and an incident with Sterling Eldridge-Moffat at the Osterreichring. Nino got sideways exiting the Texaco Schickane, giving Eldridge-Moffat nowhere to go and the two had contact sending Tempestini into a spin with some rear damage. He would climb back up to finish 10th, having started 13th. Following the event, he was involved in some controversy as a number of the drivers went drinking in Vienna and were arrested. Tempestini was in the toilet at the time and missed the trouble.

The end of the season was disappointing, following a points finish in the Italian Grand Prix. Tempestini would drop from 4th in the final three races, to finish the season 6th behind fellow italian Vivaldo Margheriti.

### **1979**

1979 would be a breakout year for Tempestini. The season started well, with a pole and victory at Buenos Aires, his first in both, after faster drivers Stefan Van Damme and Vivaldo Margheriti would crash battling for 2nd. The Brabham had climbed a few positions on the grid in the offseason. This was evidenced as Tempestini would take another pole at the second race, the South African Grand Prix - while the success of a win wasn't repeated, he would finish 2nd behind 1978 champion Chuck Dingley, leaving them equal on points at the top of the standings.

Round three, the United States Grand Prix West, would go poorly for Tempestini, after starting 6th and retiring with a suspension problem. Dingley would start 3rd and finish 2nd.

Round 4, Monaco, saw a 4th place finish for Tempestini. This downturn in form was expected, and reflected his performances of 1978. Chuck Dingley would take the victory, extending his championship lead. Vivaldo Margheriti would climb the standings with consistency.

Imola would be a surprise 1-2 for the Ferrari team in qualifying, with Fabiano Margheriti on the pole ahead of teammate Richard Jockey. Fabiano would take the win, his first. None of the championship leaders would finish on the podium.

Dingley would win once again from Tempestini in France, another podium for the italian - though the following race, the British Grand Prix, would be another 4th position. Dingley would finish outside the points, Fabiano taking another win.

The West-German Grand Prix would see Nino finish outside the points after a spin from 2nd place. It would not worry the Brabham team however, as for the next race at the Osterreichring, they would bring a massive upgrade - the "Fan Car". Tempestini would start on pole, ahead of teammate William Worcestershire-Smythe, and they would finish the race in that order after a dominant display.

The dominant display would be repeated in round 10, the Italian Grand Prix. William Worcestershire-Smythe would take the pole this time, but would blow an engine having lost the lead early on to Tempestini. Tempestini would take his second win on the trot and third of the season, taking the championship lead from Dingley. The "Fan Car" would be withdrawn for the following rounds after a number of teams protested, the team reverting to the BT48 used in the rest of the season.

In the Canadian Grand Prix, round 11 of 12, both Dingley and Tempestini would both retire from the race after Richard Jockey would miss his breaking zone and barrel into both of them after a good start on the first lap.

The final round of the season at Watkins Glen would be a showdown between Tempestini and Chuck Dingley for the championship. Dingley would win out, taking 3rd, as Tempestini would end the race P5. Chuck Dingley would take the championship by one point.

### **1980**

1980 would be another solid year for Tempestini, taking the fastest lap in the first race at Buenos Aires and finishing 2nd. Round three, the United States Grand Prix West, would be a grand slam victory for the Italian at the Long Beach circuit. Unfortunately, following podiums in rounds five and six, Tempestini would only finish in the points twice in the remaining six rounds.

Tempestini would take home a surprising 3rd in the championship with one victory in 1980.

### **1981**

Tempestini moved to the well established Lotus team for 1981, Partnering the great Stefan Van Damme. Nino fulfilled a lesser role in the team, learning from the experience of the Belgian and notably improving in his diplomatic abilities. Expectations were high for the team.

The first five races saw zero points for the Italian and frustrations began to brew. It wasn't for lack of pace - Tempestini scored a pole at the San Marino GP (round three), but collided with Chuck Dingley and would retire, reliability problems plaguing the other races. After these first five rounds, teammate Van Damme had a win and three podiums.

Tempestini did not yet complain as he later reported that it was part of his contract with the team. However, in Detroit, round six, Tempestini would take fastest lap and a 2nd place after being pipped to the victory by fellow Italian Vivaldo Margheriti. Van Damme retired, after the team tested an experimental gearbox on both machines.

Tempestini would take two further podiums in Round eight and nine, winning his home race at the Italian Grand Prix to end the season. Plagued by reliability, Tempestini finished the year 5th, repeating his worst finishing position since 1978.

### **1982**

Tempestini started the 1982 season well with a 4th placed finish in the 1978 South African Grand Prix, but a string of poor results and retirements through the next four rounds saw the relationship with the now struggling Lotus team sour. Not all of the issues were down to Tempestini, but collectively the start of the season was a complete failure compared to the previous seasons.

Tempestini had relied upon the experience and team management brought to the table by veteran Stefan Van Damme when Nino had joined the team in 1981, but after Van Damme's move to Ferrari for 1982, Tempestini was left as the senior driver of the team. He was joined by rookie Dafydd Emrys for Kyalami, but after Emrys' accident in South Africa he would not drive for the team again. The Lotus was not as strong as it was in 1981, and Tempestini did not have the commanding nature needed to bring the team back to the next level.

At the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix, round five, relations began to deteriorate between the driver and team at an increased rate. The team supposedly had no spares, forcing Tempestini to run with an engine issue throughout qualifying and the race. Having started from the pits, the engine would fail after Tempestini had to stop on track to avoid the spun car of Veikko Nyquist. Tempestini referred to the event as a "*shitshow*" and hit out at the team, saying "*I am not surprised that Stefan left. There is no urgency at all to win here at Lotus*." Tempestini had been catching the field after starting from the pitlane in the event before the engine failure.

The following race at Detroit would be a climax in the hostilities between Tempestini and Lotus. Tempestini stormed out of practice, having appeared to have some kind of extreme steering issue throughout. Leigh Edwardson of ABC Sports reported a rumour that the engineers had purposefully compromised Tempestini's steering column. Tempestini would not compete in the race and could not be reached for comment.

   Tempestini would participate in just one event following the incident, finishing 8th in the 1982 German Grand Prix following a late spin from the points positions.

### **1983 - 1989 (Post-Formula One)**

Following the poor season in 1982, Tempestini fell out of love with Formula One and returned to racing Motorbikes. In 1983 he picked up where he left off, the 350cc class, finishing 5th in that year's Championship.

1984 saw Tempestini win the 350cc class and graduate to the highest level of Motorcycle racing, MotoGP's 500cc class for 1985 with Rothmans-Honda HRC (pictured right) aged 30.

The four-wheel bug would bite again however in 1989 when Tempestini attempted the Indianapolis 500 for the first time, and in 1990 Tempestini would complete the full CART season.

### **1990-1995 (CART)**

Tempestini would move to the well-established Team Penske as a partial-schedule driver for 1991, immediately impressing with a podium in the season opener at Surfer's Paradise. He would miss round two at Long Beach, a circuit he drove on in Formula One, but took home a top five at round three, Phoenix. Though Roger Penske was very happy with Tempestini's performance, he was largely overshadowed by Formula One legend Chuck Dingley, who had moved to Penske after leaving Ferrari and Formula One as a whole. It marked the first time the pair raced on the same team. Relations between the 1979 F1 title rivals were cordial and the pair became good friends.

#### 1991: Near-Fatal Accident

Nino's blooming IndyCar career almost came to a swift end in the 1991 Indianapolis 500. After a strong month of May, Tempestini was a dark horse for the race victory, running in the top 10 throughout practice. However, during qualifying, disaster would strike.

Roger Penske, Tempestini's car owner, explained that a water line had broken as Nino entered the short chute between turns one and two. By the time the car got to the second turn, it started sliding on the wet track and, after making a complete 360, struck the wall so hard it was lifted into the air, turning over on its left side. It spun three and a half times before coming to a stop. Tempestini fractured both feet in the accident as well as his right wrist, and would not drive again in 1991 as he trained to regain sensitivity in his feet. While injured, Nino would temporarily work as a spotter for teammate Chuck Dingley, leading to some particularly entertaining broadcasted content as Nino commented on Chuck's rivals.

#### 1992-95: Penske Success

Nino would reflect on his 1992-1995 period with Team Penske as his favourite years in racing. Collecting a dozen of wins, Tempestini solidifed himself in the top 10 of the CART field, before retiring at the end of 1995.

### **Retirement**

During his short tenure at Penske and IndyCar in general, Nino quickly fell in love with the bravado attitudes he felt the series encapsulated at the time, and would remain at Team Penske working as a spotter and behind the scenes.

## Driving Style

Tempestini, with limited experience from a short open-wheel career, is a hard charging racer who prioritises wrangling the car around the circuit over conserving tyres, fuel or the condition of the car itself. This aggressive style makes him one of the more spectacular drivers to watch, drifting more frequently than other drivers comfortably can. It also makes him inconsistent however, tending to either finish in the points or crash out of competetive running, and has garnered criticism from opponents who struggle to predict his movements.

After his accident with Max Westland in the 1978 San Marino Grand Prix, Tempestini reformed his approach, maturing as a driver. Still a charger with little regard for the car, he became notably calmer on the throttle, sliding the car less.