• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Smithfield Garage

I remember Mario Deliotti when he had the Alfa Romeo Car Dealership in Sparkhill and what a nice chap he was, a former motor cycle grand prix racer and he had been Bruno Giacomelli's race engineer when at Alfa works Team!
He ran the business to finance his racing team with the cars being made at workshops in Walsall and I remember having seen the cars being built there and also finishing touches to the livery and decals for sponsorship at his dealership on the Stratford Road. He was a true motor racing enthusiast turned F1 Team Owner just the same as Frank Williams started back then something you can't do today! Frank became a personal friend of his and he took an interest in the Team and on one occasion when he saw one of the cars which had been prepared made comment that "it was a neat little package" and that "it might go well with a good engine" and this is where the engine came from? A Customer Cosworth DFV from Williams on loan and test replacing the Matra V12 engine because it was shorter! It went better and when in the hands of a competent driver its improvement in handling was immediately obvious and the car went quicker and then twin four pot brake calipers had to be installed on the front wheels to stop the car!! The car became a serious contender and many young aspiring drivers got to debue the car in anger including an experienced Geoff Lees who was chosen over the then young Nigel Mansell to compete at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
When Mario closed the Dealership the Team continued as a Racing Team hence the name Mario Deliotti Racing and they moved to Ireland and then Mario passed away and the Team moved onto Switzerland competing as Mario Deliotti Racing (Switzerland). The Team is in America and the brand lives on and was in the hands of privateers Bob Moshinski and Dave Ferrari competing in the US Masters Series with the same cars and the same name somewhere in New England and they have workshops maintaining Ensigns and other racing cars of the same period.
Thanks for the good article and most interesting facts about the Team and the Man himself!
I knew that the Cosworth DFV engine had powered the Ensign but wasn't aware that the V12 engine was a Matra? Thought it was an Alfa Romeo V12 instead? The much shorter and lighter DFV allowed for a reduced wheel base and then better and tighter cornering which translated into a faster lap time. I had some knowledge of the Team having gone abroad but didn't know where and glad to hear that the Brand lives on carrying the great mans name!! :)
 
The engine was a Matra? To be exact it was a Ligier-Matra V12 which had done testing at Williams on more than one chassis before they decided to adopt the Ford Cosworth DFV which was better for them? Mario got the engine off Frank! Its the old boy network again LOL!! The V12s had more grunt but the Teams who couldn't build their own engines concentrated their efforts more on getting the cars to go faster on corners than in a straight line and the shorter Ford engine paid dividends for them! I remember seeing the car as a clay model at their centre in Leafield in Oxfordshire and I was shown the Matra Engine which had been assembled by Gordini a French equivalent of our Cosworth. When they moved out of the Cotswolds the site had since been the Team headquarters for Arrows Tom Walkinshaw Racing and think Super Aguri F1?
 
I remember Mario Deliotti when he had the Alfa Romeo Car Dealership in Sparkhill and what a nice chap he was, a former motor cycle grand prix racer and he had been Bruno Giacomelli's race engineer when at Alfa works Team!
He ran the business to finance his racing team with the cars being made at workshops in Walsall and I remember having seen the cars being built there and also finishing touches to the livery and decals for sponsorship at his dealership on the Stratford Road. He was a true motor racing enthusiast turned F1 Team Owner just the same as Frank Williams started back then something you can't do today! Frank became a personal friend of his and he took an interest in the Team and on one occasion when he saw one of the cars which had been prepared made comment that "it was a neat little package" and that "it might go well with a good engine" and this is where the engine came from? A Customer Cosworth DFV from Williams on loan and test replacing the Matra V12 engine because it was shorter! It went better and when in the hands of a competent driver its improvement in handling was immediately obvious and the car went quicker and then twin four pot brake calipers had to be installed on the front wheels to stop the car!! The car became a serious contender and many young aspiring drivers got to debue the car in anger including an experienced Geoff Lees who was chosen over the then young Nigel Mansell to compete at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
When Mario closed the Dealership the Team continued as a Racing Team hence the name Mario Deliotti Racing and they moved to Ireland and then Mario passed away and the Team moved onto Switzerland competing as Mario Deliotti Racing (Switzerland). The Team is in America and the brand lives on and was in the hands of privateers Bob Moshinski and Dave Ferrari competing in the US Masters Series with the same cars and the same name somewhere in New England and they have workshops maintaining Ensigns and other racing cars of the same period.
Who are the privateers? Moshinski and Ferrari? Were they connected with Mario back in the day in anyway?
 
Who are the privateers? Moshinski and Ferrari? Were they connected with Mario back in the day in anyway?
Bob Moshinski is a legend and is the manufacturer of Drag Bikes the ones that do a quarter of mile in under 6 seconds And use a parachute to slow them down!! He makes every part of the bike himself and the engines are only good for 1 run!! and they cost $38,000.00 a time!! Dave & Mario Ferrari have a workshop in New England preparing classic cars like 1960/1970's Ferraris Maseratis and Lamborghinis. Not sure if they had any connections with the Big Man ?
 
Bob Moshinski is a legend and is the manufacturer of Drag Bikes the ones that do a quarter of mile in under 6 seconds And use a parachute to slow them down!! He makes every part of the bike himself and the engines are only good for 1 run!! and they cost $38,000.00 a time!! Dave & Mario Ferrari have a workshop in New England preparing classic cars like 1960/1970's Ferraris Maseratis and Lamborghinis. Not sure if they had any connections with the Big Man ?
 
Since 1966 109 Teams in F1 have come and gone and the only two teams that have been going are McLaren and Ferrari.

AAW
AGS
Aguri
Alfa Romeo
Andrea Moda
Anglo American Racers
Antique Automobiles
Arrows
ATS
BAR
Benetton
BMW
Brabham
Brawn??
BRM
BS Fabrications
Chequered Flag
Chesterfield Racing
Chris Amon
Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie
Connew
Cooper Car Co
Dallara
Dempster
Eifelland
Embassy Racing
Euro Brun
F&S Properties
Felday Engineering
Fittipaldi
Fondmetal
Footwork
Forti
Goldie Hexagon Racing
HB Bewaking
Hesketh Racing
Honda
Interscope Racing
Jaguar
Jordan
Kausen
Kojima Engineering
Larrousse
LEC
Leyton House
Life
Ligier
Lola
Lotus
Lucky Strike Racing
Lyncar
Maki Engineering
March
Mario Deliotti Racing
Matra
Melchester Racing
Merzario
Midland
Minardi
Modena Team SpA
MRD
Onyx
Osella
Pacific
Penske
Penthouse Rizla
Prost
RAM
Rial
Rob Walker
Sauber??
Scuderia Jolly Club
Shadow
Simtek
Spirit Racing
Spyker
StewartTeam Ensign
Team Gunston
Team P R Reilly
Team Rebaque
Team Surtees
Tecno Racing
Theodore Racing
Token
Toleman
Tom Wheatcroft Racing
Trojan
Tyrrell
Walter Wolf Racing
World Wide Racing
Zakspeed
 
Its a lot of Teams and they were all "Tryers" as well! Some with sound sponsors and huge budgets??
Someone messaged me to say that Mario Deliotti was a friend of the ace Island of Man TT Wiinner Giacomo Agostini and they had both raced motorcycles for the same team!!
Below is a Table with some of the Drivers for Mario Deliotti Racing (Aurora AFX F1 British Championship 1978)
Note the South African Desire Wilson who was the only Woman in the sport?

 
Since 1966 109 Teams in F1 have come and gone and the only two teams that have been going are McLaren and Ferrari.

AAW
AGS
Aguri
Alfa Romeo
Andrea Moda
Anglo American Racers
Antique Automobiles
Arrows
ATS
BAR
Benetton
BMW
Brabham
Brawn??
BRM
BS Fabrications
Chequered Flag
Chesterfield Racing
Chris Amon
Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie
Connew
Cooper Car Co
Dallara
Dempster
Eifelland
Embassy Racing
Euro Brun
F&S Properties
Felday Engineering
Fittipaldi
Fondmetal
Footwork
Forti
Goldie Hexagon Racing
HB Bewaking
Hesketh Racing
Honda
Interscope Racing
Jaguar
Jordan
Kausen
Kojima Engineering
Larrousse
LEC
Leyton House
Life
Ligier
Lola
Lotus
Lucky Strike Racing
Lyncar
Maki Engineering
March
Mario Deliotti Racing
Matra
Melchester Racing
Merzario
Midland
Minardi
Modena Team SpA
MRD
Onyx
Osella
Pacific
Penske
Penthouse Rizla
Prost
RAM
Rial
Rob Walker
Sauber??
Scuderia Jolly Club
Shadow
Simtek
Spirit Racing
Spyker
StewartTeam Ensign
Team Gunston
Team P R Reilly
Team Rebaque
Team Surtees
Tecno Racing
Theodore Racing
Token
Toleman
Tom Wheatcroft Racing
Trojan
Tyrrell
Walter Wolf Racing
World Wide Racing
Zakspeed
However the McLaren team is in name only, Ferrari is still the original being funded by Fiat et al.

Honda is now focusing on Indy cars as is Toyota although Toyota is very strong in NASCAR both with factory teams and sub teams.
 
Mario Deliotti and Giancarlo Minardi and Gianpaolo Dallara all running their own Formula 1 Teams were closely connected like school friends and the rear suspension design of the Ensign later resembled the back end of the Minardi many years later??
 
Hi all. Going back a few years to some previous posts on this thread about staff members working at Smithfield. A couple of people mentioned a man called Gordon. I believe this could be my Grand Father, as I've got some information to say he worked there back in the 60's or 70's. Does anyone have any further information on him please? Any help would be great.
 
Hi all. Going back a few years to some previous posts on this thread about staff members working at Smithfield. A couple of people mentioned a man called Gordon. I believe this could be my Grand Father, as I've got some information to say he worked there back in the 60's or 70's. Does anyone have any further information on him please? Any help would be great.
I was there in 72/73 and I remember a Gordon who was the workshop foreman and a very good water polo player. Bob Johnson on this forum was also at Smithfield and he is the man to ask.
 
The Team was in the hands of Giuseppe Giacomoni and he was from Rimini and raced motorcycles like Mario once did!
 
Hi all. Going back a few years to some previous posts on this thread about staff members working at Smithfield. A couple of people mentioned a man called Gordon. I believe this could be my Grand Father, as I've got some information to say he worked there back in the 60's or 70's. Does anyone have any further information on him please? Any help would be great.
I remember Gordon. I used to bump into Gordon usually around Christmas time whilst shopping in Sutton Coldfield town centre.
 
I remember Gordon. I used to bump into Gordon usually around Christmas time whilst shopping in Sutton Coldfield town centre.
I've forgotten his surname. I still remember that sort of hut at the end of the workshop where Gordon in the blue overalls and the manager (I've forgotten his name!) in a gray dustcoat were based. Two smashing blokes.
 
I've forgotten his surname. I still remember that sort of hut at the end of the workshop where Gordon in the blue overalls and the manager (I've forgotten his name!) in a gray dustcoat were based. Two smashing blokes.
Gordon Hodges and Brian ?. Funny how names come back. I agree, two nice blokes.
 
Hi, I believe my dad, Roger Cartwright, worked here from mid 70s to mid 80s. He passed away last year moderator edit .... and am trying to research on his work history and what his job roles were. Just wondering if anyone on here can remember him? And if you know what job he did? Any help would be much appreciated.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi, I believe my dad, Roger Cartwright, worked here from mid 70s to mid 80s. He passed away last year with asbestos related disease, and am trying to research on his work history and what his job roles were. Just wondering if anyone on here can remember him? And if you know what job he did? Any help would be much appreciated.
I think there was a Roger Cartwright who worked in the body shop.
 
Back
Top