My Profile

I was born in Kensington and brought up in a typically extended Italian family. Every year we would drive to Italy to escape the UK winter. We had a 1936 Straight-8 Buick and then a 1954 Humber Super Snipe. From 1953-65, I went to a tough ‘Dickensian’ private school in West London – a useful grounding should I ever be imprisoned or tortured. With long stays in Italy, my UK school reports stated that I could have done well had I attended. In 1961 I watched the Italian Grand Prix at Monza live on TV and saw the horrific accident that killed Ferrari driver Wolfgang Von Tripps and 15 spectators. This was the first time I had seen fatalities, and still wonder if this was the moment that I became fascinated by motor racing. I left school at 17 with some ‘O’ levels and wanted to be a weather-man or an airline pilot.

My father feared that these professions would take me away from the family, so I was despatched to a local engineering college and began a 5-year engineering apprenticeship. Aged 16, I had a Lambretta that I would regularly dismantle it in an attempt to increase its performance. During my engineering training, motorsport was uppermost in my mind. No one in the family wanted me to race, so if I wanted to watch a motor race, I had to drive to a circuit in my own car. In 1966 when I was 18, I had my first competitive race in a self-modified car. I came second by 0.010seconds in the ‘production car finals’ at an oval racing stadium. I immediately switched to circuit racing and have been racing successfully in a variety of cars ever since.

At 22 years of age, with my engineering qualifications, I worked for British Airways. I left BA a year later and worked in the small garage of the family business. In 1978 the business closed due to redevelopment so I set up my own garage business – Rossi Engineering - specialising in classic cars and race car preparation. I saw this as the way to stay in motor racing. I was also accepted by the Law Society on the register of Expert Witnesses for associated matters. This partially satisfied the historic connection that my paternal family has with the legal profession. In 1983 I wrote a story for Classic and Sports Car magazine and some ‘club’ magazines. In the early 1990s, I became a professional freelance motoring journalist, joined the Guild of Motoring Writers and became chief test driver for AutoItalia magazine.

Cars apart, one of my many jobs included designing and setting up a track at Brooklands Circuit during the 1990s. Running unsilenced Formula One cars on a circuit inside London’s M25 motorway is a rare occurrence; but it happened for a few short years during the late 1990s. With the new millennium, I closed my garage business, qualified as a race instructor, gaining a Class A instructor licence. I instruct part-time at Thruxton Circuit and also have many private clients. With motor racing, test driving, race instructing, classic car experience and engineering ‘in the bank’ I started to write more. I have written on a wide range of motoring subjects. My work involves countless trips to Italy to write about cars, and this evolved into travel stories and writing a column on any subject. I write regularly for three magazines. I have dual nationality and live in the UK and in Italy. As for the future, I shall continue with motor racing, automotive journalism, race instruction and as a race car handling consultant. I am also writing a book about Italy.

My partner Jane Watson is a wily Scot who spent many years fell-running and sailing around Scotland’s Western Isles. She works in London as an HR consultant; and at weekends as pit-crew for our racing ‘ex-works’ Lotus 26R. My work as a handling consultant also gives me the privilege of racing a variety of cars. I have two very successful sons: Dino Giordanelli – an environmental scientist, and Niki Giordanelli – an IT business architect. Additional goals include spending more time in Italy, passing my ‘yacht masters’ and sailing the Mediterranean. In the words of the US Baseball player Mickey Mantle (1931 - 1995), “If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.”

History

In 1940 my father Paolo Giordanelli – an Italian law student – volunteered for the army and was despatched to the North African campaign of World War Two. He fought at the Battle of Tobruk and El Alemein. He was captured in 1943 and brought to the UK “in chains” (his words), as a prisoner of war. In war-torn London he met my mother – also Italian. Rather than return to a shattered Italy, he remained in London, got married and raised a family. He was very well educated and in the 1970/80s he became the Investments Control Manager for Fiat UK. He remained very Italian and kept his Italian citizenship.

 My mother who was also Italian travelled back and forth to Italy during the build up to WW2. In 1939, wearing her black military uniform, she was presented to Mussolini and his generals. When war was declared she was in London where her family owned a café, ice-cream factory and garage business in West London. In the 1920s her father walked the 2000 miles from Italy to Scotland. He worked hard and eventually his six children joined him. In the late 1930s he moved his business to London. During the war, some family members were interned in Canadian POW camps. The West London premises became a refuge for displaced Italians and POWs. My mother hid her military photo from everyone, fearing consequences from the UK authorities. She waited until the 1990s before revealing this picture.