Ilario Bandini - 1950s Racing in Italy

1950s Racing in Italy

In 1953, the Bandini was adapted for new Italian racing regulations, which required fenders (mudguards) to be integrated into the body shell. Entered in the Mille Miglia, the 750 proved the World Sportscar Championship result at Sebring had been no fluke, but failed to finish in Forlì. Nevertheless, it was consistently placed in the top three at Salerno, Ascoli Piceno, Teramo, Macerata, Senigallia, Montenero Circuit, and the Consuma (Bologna) hillclimb, which concluded a successful fourth year in the Italian 750 cc championship.

At the Mille Miglia, Massimo Bondi driving a Bandini 750 finished an excellent ninth in his class, out of a field of 69 entrants. A further 13 entries by other driver teams would be undertaken by 1957 (including Zanini-Vitali, Tinazzo-Sintoni, Fouls-Pacitti, Camisotti-Sintoni and Garavini). Notably, in 1955, two years before the final 'true' Mille Miglia, the Bandini 750 shared by Rusconi and Sintoni had to retire after a refuelling fire at Florence, but not before having reached Rome in just 7 hours 35 minutes 30 seconds, which was more than an hour quicker than two years earlier.

In 1954, production of the two seat sport torpedo continued alongside the new single seater Formula 3 car, for which an impressive 93 hp (69 kW) at 9,000 rpm was claimed. A lowered centre of gravity was achieved by combining the gear box with the differential in a combined unit mounted across the rear axle. In 1957, following the success of Jaguar's C- and D-types at Le Mans in beginning in 1951, the brakes were upgraded to discs on all four wheels. This car came in second at the championship race at Forlì. Bandini also entered a two-seater at the same circuit in the sports category, but the car was forced to retire while lying third. He nevertheless won the Consuma 'climb, and placed third at the Compiano Vetto d'Enza. At this stage Ilario bought together his racing activities, his vehicle development and production, together with his dealership and service centre business into the "Gruppo sportivo Bandini" ("Bandini Sports Group").