The Stanguellini Junior was the Modena workshop’s Formula Junior single-seater, built from 1958 to 1960 in more than a hundred examples. It was a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive car assembled largely from Fiat 1100 and 1200 components, developed with the collaboration of Juan Manuel Fangio, and it won races in Europe and the United States.
Stanguellini Junior at a glance
| Maker | Stanguellini, Modena |
|---|---|
| Built | 1958–1960 |
| Class | Formula Junior |
| Examples | more than 100 |
| Layout | front engine, rear-wheel drive |
| Mechanical basis | Fiat 1100 and 1200 production car components |
| Body | single-seat open racing car |
| Developed with | Juan Manuel Fangio |
| First titles | European Championship 1958/59, Italian Championship 1958/59/60 |
| Notable drivers | Lorenzo Bandini, Wolfgang von Trips, Jo Siffert |
| American win | Vanderbilt Cup 1960, with Harry Carter |
| Historic racing | third places at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix in 2004 and 2008 |
Stanguellini has no English Wikipedia page for the Junior: this article uses the Italian article on the car and the English and Italian articles on the marque.
History of the Stanguellini Junior
A single-seater for the new formula
Stanguellini built the Junior from 1958 to 1960, also thanks to the collaboration of Juan Manuel Fangio, in more than a hundred examples. Formula Junior was the category below Formula One that ran from 1958 to 1963, and the Stanguellini single-seaters were scaled-down lookalikes of the Maserati 250F. As the regulations required, the engine sat at the front and drove the rear wheels, and much of the car came from production Fiats: the mechanical components were closely derived from the Fiat 1100 and 1200.
Success on both sides of the Atlantic
The car collected victories in its very first season. Stanguellini won the first Italian Formula Junior championship, and among its drivers were Lorenzo Bandini, Jo Siffert and Wolfgang von Trips, all of them at the beginning of their careers. The Junior took the European Championship in 1958/59 and the Italian Championship in 1958, 1959 and 1960, the Junior Grand Prix of Monaco in 1958 with Michael May, and races at the Nürburgring. In the United States Walt Hansgen won the Formula Junior race at the inaugural United States Grand Prix meeting at Sebring on 12 December 1959, and Harry Carter won the Vanderbilt Cup at Roosevelt Raceway in 1960.
The end of the front-engined formula
The Junior remained successful until 1960, when the British mid-engined cars from Cooper and Lotus made the front-engined, Fiat-based racers obsolete. Stanguellini answered with the mid-engined Delfino for the 1962 season, powered by a Fiat 1100 engine tuned to 95 CV at 7500 rpm; it started from pole at Daytona in 1962 in the hands of Walt Hansgen but retired with technical problems and was never fully competitive. Today the Junior is a regular in historic racing: Simone Stanguellini, nephew of the constructor, finished third at the Grand Prix Historique de Monaco in 2004 and 2008, and another car driven by the American Jason Wright won the 2009 European Historic Championship.
Design and features
- Fiat-based engineering: most mechanical parts came from the Fiat 1100 and 1200, as the formula intended.
- Front engine, rear drive: the classic layout that the regulations demanded before the mid-engined revolution.
- Maserati looks: the body was a scaled-down interpretation of the Maserati 250F.
- Built in numbers: more than a hundred cars left Modena in three seasons.
- Racing pedigree: champions such as Bandini, von Trips and Siffert drove it early in their careers.
Stanguellini Junior versions
- 1958 cars: the first season, which brought the European and Italian titles.
- 1959 specification: the car that won again in Italy and at Sebring.
- Cars for the United States: examples raced by Briggs Cunningham’s team and by private entrants.
- Delfino (1962): the mid-engined successor, still with a tuned Fiat 1100 engine.
The Junior used the Fiat 1100 mechanicals also developed for the Stanguellini 1100 sports cars. More models from Modena are in the Stanguellini collection.
Video: Stanguellini Formula Junior – Sound on the Track!
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- Stanguellini Junior, Italian Wikipedia: production, drivers, race wins, historic racing
- Automobili Stanguellini, English Wikipedia: formula, layout, Sebring, Delfino
- Stanguellini, Italian Wikipedia: history of the Modena workshop
