Giovanni “Johnny” Lurani Cernuschi, VIII Count of Calvenzano (December 19, 1905 – January 17, 1995) was an Italian automobile engineer, racing car driver and journalist.
Lurani studied engineering at the Politecnico di Milano and raced cars such as
Salmson, Derby, Alfa Romeo and Maserati, participating eleven times in the Mille Miglia. He took class wins in the event three times: 1933 in an MG K3, 1948 in a Healey and 1952 in a Porsche.[1]
After partaking in the second Italo-Abyssinian War from 1935 to 1936,[2] Lurani founded the racing team Scuderia Ambrosiana in 1937[3] along with Luigi Villoresi and Franco Cortese (1937). Sustaining a bad hip injury in a Maserati 4CM at Crystal Palace, Lurani ended his single-seater career in 1938 but continued racing sportscars until 1953.[4]
After World War II Lurani became more involved in administration and politics, working with the FIA, where he initiated GT in 1949 and Formula Junior in 1959 and was one of the principal organizers of FIA-sanctioned events at Monza, including the Italian Grand Prix there.[5][6]
He also designed record breaking cars based on Moto Guzzi engines. In 1935 the Nibbio 1 was the first 500cc car to exceed 100 mph.[7] The 350cc Moto Guzzi powered Nibbio 2 broke long distance records at Monza in 1956.[8][9][10] He was president of the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) Sporting Commission for several years.[11]
Moto Guzzi Nibbio 2 in the Museo Nazionale Dell'Automobile, Turin[12]
In 1971 he won the prestigious Premio Bancarella Sport literary prize for his book Storia delle Macchine da Corsa (History of Race Cars) [13]
^http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/archive/Giovanni-Lurani-I.html. Archived 2013-11-05 at the Wayback Machine
^"The Golden Era of Gp Racing 1934-40 - Drivers (L)". Archived from the original on 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
^"1937 Grand Prix Season - Part 1". Archived from the original on 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
^"Giovanni Lurani (I) - Complete Archive - Racing Sports Cars".
^"Giovanni Lurani". Archived from the original on 2016-05-07. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
^Motor Sport June 1977. Denis Jenkinson "The Maserati Tipo 4CM".
^The Encyclopedia of Motor Sport page 250 G.N. Georgano. 1971 ISBN 0-670-29405-5
^Autocar 11 May 1956
^The Encyclopedia of Motor Sport. G.N. Georgano. 1971 ISBN 0-670-29405-5
^Moto Guzzi. Styles. 2001 ISBN 0-7603-1004-1
^"Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme | FIM".
^"Museo dell'automobile - Collection". Archived from the original on 2011-03-18.
^":: PREMIO BANCARELLA SPORT::". Archived from the original on 2005-05-07.
Giovanni “Johnny” Lurani Cernuschi, VIII Count of Calvenzano (December 19, 1905 – January 17, 1995) was an Italian automobile engineer, racing car driver...
Sportiva Automobilistica Italiana (CSAI). Count GiovanniLurani Cernuschi (popularly known as Johnny Lurani) was a key commissioner. He was also a senior...
kind, built on commission for race driver and motoring journalist GiovanniLurani Cernuschi. After the war, as the long slow process of reconstruction...
of the Gran Turismo category, conceived in 1949 by Count GiovanniLurani, journalist Giovanni Canestrini and Elio himself revolutionised the world of automotive...
Formula One World Championship. The team was founded in 1937 by drivers GiovanniLurani, Luigi Villoresi, Franco Cortese and Eugenio Minetti and was named...
(d. 1996) 1905 – Irving Kahn, American businessman (d. 2015) 1905 – GiovanniLurani, Italian race car driver, engineer, and journalist (d. 1995) 1906 –...
In 1950 he co-founded the Formula One team Scuderia Ambrosiana with GiovanniLurani, Luigi Villoresi and Eugenio Minetti. "Franco Cortese | Racing career...
bmw-motorsport.com. 9 June 2014. Archived from the original on 20 March 2007. GiovanniLurani and Franco Cortes have to retire on lap seven with their BMW 328 'Mille...
engine. Entered by the Milanese Scuderia Ambrosiana team of Count GiovanniLurani, it was the first car at Le Mans to race with radial tyres. Finally...
stronger VR gearbox. The cars enjoyed some success in Motor Sport and GiovanniLurani bought three which he took to Italy, fitted them with his own design...
London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1948. p. 17. "All Results of GiovanniLurani". racingsportscars.com. Retrieved 22 October 2017. "THE GOLDEN ERA...
his privately owned Maserati 4CS (#1519), previously owned by Count GiovanniLurani and Giuseppe Gilera. In 1938, he was hired to race for Maserati, first...
customer teams was the Scuderia Subalpina, with Luigi Castelbarco, GiovanniLurani and the up-and-coming Giuseppe Farina. With the government backing...
October 1932, Tanner climbed Piz Badile to search for evidence of GiovanniLurani having climbed the mountain in 1893. He was also a member of the Schweizerischer...
Junior class.: 61 The rules for this class had been laid down by Count GiovanniLurani and were intended to create an inexpensive racing series. The rules...
Pirola ran a 6C-1500 "voiturette" with racing journalist Conte "Johnny" Lurani. Two big Mercedes SSKs arrived, raced by Antonio Maino, and Boris Ivanowski...
third places respectively, were from a bigger 'Sport +1.1' category. GiovanniLurani, aided by Cortese won the 'T+1.5' class in a Bristol. Danzi and Bracco...
Letta Giuseppe Leuzzi Arrigo Levi Mimmo Liguoro Giovanni Lilliu Antonio Locatelli Paolo Longo GiovanniLurani Maria Antonietta Macciocchi Stefano Madia Lucio...
including Charles Faroux (the founder of the 24 Hours of Le Mans), GiovanniLurani and Yves Debraine. One of the other contributor, Bernard Cahier was...
was eliminated, demoting the pair to seventh, and promoting Pirola and Lurani to sixth. ^4 — Sénéchal and Frètet were not classified because they failed...
Neumann won in a Dolphin International at Riverside in June 1962. Count GiovanniLurani, who was instrumental in persuading the FIA to make Formula Junior...
borders the following municipalities: Salerano sul Lambro, Borgo San Giovanni, Caselle Lurani, Marudo, Sant'Angelo Lodigiano. The double name of this village...
Giovanni Lodetti (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoˈvanni loˈdetti]; 10 August 1942 – 22 September 2023) was an Italian professional footballer who played as...
and Jovita, enjoying great devotional success. The parish priest Giovanni Battista Lurani Cernuschi, accompanied by popular enthusiasm, requested its safekeeping...
Zenone al Lambro, Lodi Vecchio, Casaletto Lodigiano, Borgo San Giovanni, Caselle Lurani, Castiraga Vidardo. "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane...
ordinary automobiles. The idea to form the new class came from Count Giovanni "Johnny" Lurani who saw the need of a class for single-seater racing cars where...
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