Scuderia Centro Sud

Scuderia Centro Sud was a privateer racing team founded in Modena by Guglielmo "Mimmo" Dei and active in Formula One and sports car racing between 1956 and 1965.

Founder "Mimmo" Dei (center, with sunglasses) surrounded by Guerino Bertocchi (mechanic, seated in Maserati A6GCS/53) and team drivers Giorgio Scarlatti (left) and Piero Taruffi (right).

A Cooper-Maserati T51 in Scuderia Centro Sud's rosso corsa livery.

Dei had been an amateur driver in the 1930s. In the early 1950s he opened a Maserati dealership in Rome. Keen on maintaining a relationship with motorsport, in 1956 he founded his own team. The name "Centro Sud" refers to the parts of Italy where his adoptive and native cities are (Modena and Rome).

Over the course of nine seasons, Scuderia Centro Sud entered a total of 49 World Championship rounds, with cars such as the Maserati 250F, various Maserati-powered Coopers and, in the 1960s, a BRM P57. After a very promising start (they scored their first points at their debut with Luigi Villoresi), Centro Sud went on to earn a further total of 24 points, mostly with Masten Gregory and Tony Maggs. But they never won a race: Gregory's third place at the 1957 Monaco Grand Prix was the team's best result.

Centro Sud was the only Italian racing team that took part in the Tasman races in Australia and New Zealand during the winter of 1961-1962.^[1]

One of their most notable feats was to be the first team in the history of Formula One to run a female driver, when Maria Teresa de Filippis (who had already raced as a privateer in the 1958 Belgian Grand Prix a few weeks earlier) competed in the 1958 Portuguese Grand Prix as a Centro Sud team driver.^[2] Future 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans) and 1967 24 Hours of Daytona winner Lorenzo Bandini made his Formula One debut with the team at the 1961 Belgian Grand Prix.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
1956	Maserati 250F	Maserati Straight-6	P		ARG	MON	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA
				Louis Chiron		DNS
				Luigi Villoresi				5
				Harry Schell							Ret
				Toulo de Graffenried								7
	Ferrari 500	Ferrari Straight-4		Giorgio Scarlatti							Ret
1957	Maserati 250F	Maserati Straight-6	P		ARG	MON	500	FRA	GBR	GER	PES	ITA
				Harry Schell	4
				Joakim Bonnier	7						Ret	Ret
				Masten Gregory		3				8	4	4
				André Simon		DNQ
				Hans Herrmann						Ret
	Ferrari 500	Ferrari Straight-4		Alejandro de Tomaso	9
1958	Maserati 250F	Maserati Straight-6	P		ARG	MON	NED	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	MOR
				Joakim Bonnier	DNA							Ret
				Gerino Gerini		DNQ					9	Ret		Ret	12
				Maurice Trintignant					7
				Masten Gregory					Ret
				Wolfgang Seidel					Ret						Ret
				Carroll Shelby						Ret	9			Ret*
				Troy Ruttman						10		DNS
				Hans Herrmann								Ret
				Cliff Allison									Ret
				Maria Teresa de Filippis									Ret
1959	Cooper T51	Maserati Straight-4	D		MON	500	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	POR	ITA	USA
				Ian Burgess				Ret	Ret	6		14
				Colin Davis				Ret				11
				Hans Herrmann					Ret
				Mário de Araújo Cabral							10
	Maserati 250F	Maserati Straight-6		Asdrúbal Fontes Bayardo				DNQ
				Fritz d'Orey				10	Ret
1960	Cooper T51	Maserati Straight-4	D		ARG	MON	500	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	POR	ITA	USA
				Roberto Bonomi	11
				Carlos Menditeguy	4
				Masten Gregory		DNQ		DNS		9	14	Ret
				Ian Burgess		DNQ				10	Ret			Ret
				Maurice Trintignant		Ret		Ret		Ret				15
				Mário de Araújo Cabral								Ret
				Alfonso Thiele									Ret
				Wolfgang von Trips										9
1961	Cooper T53	Maserati Straight-4	D		MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA
				Lorenzo Bandini			Ret		12	Ret	8
	Cooper T51			Massimo Natili					Ret		DNS
1963	BRM P57	BRM V8	D		MON	BEL	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA	MEX	RSA
				Lorenzo Bandini				10	5	Ret
				Maurice Trintignant							9
				Moisés Solana									11
	Cooper T60	Climax V8		Mário de Araújo Cabral						Ret	DNQ
	Cooper T53	Maserati Straight-4		Ernesto Brambilla							DNQ
1964	BRM P57	BRM V8	D		MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	USA	MEX
				Tony Maggs		DNS	DNS		Ret	6	4
				Giancarlo Baghetti	DNA	10	8		12	Ret	7	8
1965	BRM P57	BRM V8	D		RSA	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	USA	MEX
				Lucien Bianchi			12
				Masten Gregory			Ret		12		8	Ret
				Roberto Bussinello							DNQ	13
				Giorgio Bassi								Ret

* After retiring his Scuderia Centro Sud-entered car, Shelby subsequently took over Masten Gregory's car, entered by Temple Buell, finishing fourth.^[3]

References

1. "Lorenzo Bandini", The Times, May 11, 1967, Page 12.
2. "Maria Teresa de Filippis, first female Formula One driver, dies aged 89". The Observer. 9 January 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
3. Lang, Mike (1981). Grand Prix! Vol 1. Haynes Publishing Group. p. 138. ISBN 0-85429-276-4.

• Italy's Maserati privateer

Bibliography

• Mimmo Dei, Dei ex Machina: La storia della Scuderia Centro-Sud, Milan, Fucina Editore, 2008. (IT)