Caberto Conelli, a sportsman in love with the Targa Florio
by Adolfo Orsi

After this serious accident in which miraculously no one suffers serious injury, Caberto runs for the Grand Prix of the A.C.F. at Montlhery with his Sunbeam but retires on the 22nd lap, the same lap where the great Antonio Ascari will lose his life. This tragedy reminds everyone that motor car racing is a dangerous sport, and even great drivers are not exempt from this harsh reality. In this same race Enzo Ferrari, after the practice session, decides to return to Italy and leaves driving for good.
In 1927, Conelli gets behind the wheel of the cars of Ettore Bugatti with whom he will be associated for the rest of his career. In April he makes his debut at the Targa Florio with the then new T 37A. In his path is Aymo Maggi’s Maserati with an engine of the same capacity. Caberto is eighth on the first lap, third on the second lap and on the third lap he takes second place which he maintains until the end of the race. Materassi, driving a T 35C, will beat him by less than four minutes after more than seven and half hours of racing. ‘Auto Italiana’ describes Caberto’s race as ‘magnificent’ and thanks to his ‘marvelous consistency’, Caberto wins the ‘voiturette’ category as well as the Coppa D’Amico, given to the competitor with the least variation in lap times, in recognition of the most consistent driver. Again in 1927, Caberto comes second in the Spanish Grand Prix with a T 39A on the San Sebastian circuit. The Spanish press calls Caberto ‘un escudero de luyo’ (a magnificent knight). This may be because of his immaculate bow tie, white overall and head gear, which he always wears when racing. To their great surprise he is the only Bugatti driver at the finishing line between two very fast Delages.
The British press also took note of Conelli. At Brooklands, for the RAC British Grand Prix he is running fourth and first among the Bugattis when he runs out of petrol at about a mile from the pits. However, he does not despair; he pushes the car to his pits for refueling and, exhausted, leaves the wheel to “Williams”, who will drive the car to sixth place.


The 1928 Targa Florio has entered the history books as the race of Elizabeth Junek. This is only right because no other lady has ever given such an impressive demonstration of speed and endurance. On the second lap of the race, her yellow Bugatti drives through Cerda; she waves to the spectators in the stand with her small gloved hand while leading the race on the world’s most difficult circuit. She is ahead of the best drivers of the period, from Fagioli to Dreyfus, from Campari to Marinoni, from Minoia to Borzacchini, from Materassi to Chiron, from Brilli-Peri to Nuvolari and Divo. As far as Conelli is concerned, driving his T 37A he is sixth on the first lap, fourth on the second lap, and third on the third lap, still ahead of Divo, who is on a T35B with almost double horsepower to Conelli’s four cylinders. Divo later gains on him and overtakes both he and the irrepressible Campari in his brand new Alfa 6c 1500, who is having tyre problems. At the end of the 540 km of the 5 laps of the short Circuito delle Madonie, Divo leads Campari by 97 seconds and ‘El Negher’ leads Corneli by only 17 seconds. Chiron is fourth, Junek is a weary fifth, Minoia is sixth, Fagioli is seventh and Dreyfus is eighth. This gives an idea of the superlative drivers Conelli has behind him. His best lap is the last, as ‘Gazetta dello Sport’ writes ‘almost as if to show his mastery and confidence’. ‘Auto Italiana’ mentions a problem ‘which Bugattis have been plagued with; having increased brakes’ power many drivers have found that due to the poor condition of the roads braking caused the wheels became completely blocked’. This is a problem which Conelli did not seem to have suffered.
The Targa of 1929 sees Conelli at the start with T 35C, but for him is a troubled race. Already on the first lap he is forced to stop in Polizzi to repair some fuel pipes. On the fourth lap he retires due to engine failure.

In the Grand Prix of A.C.F. at Le Mans he comes third in a T 51. It is the first race with a new international formula for fuel consumption: ‘Auto Italiana’ writes, “the 2.300cc Bugattis were fitted with a small compressor, Zenith carburetor, weighing from 909 to 914 Kg, taking 11 Kg of oil and grease and 74 Kg of petrol (equivalent to 102 liters) to run the 605 kilometres of the race. At the end the Bugattis claimed an eight litre fuel surplus.” Hence they have consumed fifteen and one half litres of petrol per 100 kilometres of the race.
Finally we get to the 1930 Targa Florio. In the wonderful yearbook ‘Rapiditas’ which Vincenzo Florio used to give away to friends, the British journalist Bradley tells of the eager anticipation for the victory of an Italian car. Indeed the last five editions of the race had seen the success of French cars, designed and built by an Italian, but always French. In Sicily the mighty Alfa Romeo team with Varzi, Nuvolari and Campari, the Maserati team with Borzacchini, Arcangeli and Ernesto Maserati himself, the O.M. team with Minoia and Morandi, all came to race against the Bugatti team, which consists of four T 35 B driven by Divo, Chiron, “Williams” and Conelli.
‘Auto Italiana’ reports that “Bugatti’s preparation has been, as always, meticulous, precise and prompt, as the drivers and their cars started the practice a month before the race, under the excellent supervision of Meo Costantini.”
The day of the race the aggressive Varzi, on a Gran Prix P2 runs the first lap in one hour, 21 minutes and 21 seconds, a ‘monstrous’ time. He beats Nuvolari, Campari, Chiron, Divo and Conelli. Bradley again writes, “there is something aristocratic in the manner in which Count Conelli handles a racing car. If, at first, he was left behind, that is because he believed that one hour and 25 minutes would have been sufficient to win”. Conversely Chiron lets loose and overtakes Nuvolari and Campari, breathing down Varzi’s neck, who is busy with a number of problems due to his car having been designed for less demanding courses. In the meantime Conelli gains a position in the third lap, another in the fourth, and is third on the finishing line, ahead of both Campari and Nuvolari, “after his usual steady race”, ‘Auto Italiana’ again reports, “driven with precision and a sense of measure, without ever giving the impression of rushing”. This may be another ‘steady’ performance, but it is one of very great speed. This is his last exploit in Sicily.
In 1931 Conelli is at Le Mans driving one of the black three T 50, with which Bugatti attempts to win the prestigious ‘24 hours’: these cars are powerful (270 HP) but too heavy (nearly 2 tons).
The right back tire of his car lost its tread on the Hunadieres straight. At the wheel is his co-driver Rost who is thrown from the car which, out of control, runs over and kills a spectator. Jean consults Ettore by phone and decides to withdraw the other two official cars. He will later take part in his third French Grand Prix where in a T 51 shared with “Williams” he holds third position until he is forced to retire due to a broken gear shaft.
His swan song is on Belgium soil on the 12th July 1931. The Belgian Grand Prix in Spa is the third and last race of the European Championship, lasting ten hours. After the initial burst of Varzi and Chiron’s T 51 which is poised to challenge Nuvolari and Borzacchini’s Alfa 8C 2300cc, Conelli and William’s T 51 thanks to the clever strategy of the race with only three stops, and to the joint change of tyres and brake drums (which is made possible by the Bugatti wheels) undertaken in a mere two minutes, manages to gain on the Alfa and come first, crowning a remarkable career with a victory in his last race.
A brilliant and extrovert man, Conelli retires at 42 and marries Madeleine Madoux de Gomree, in 1935. He has no children and dies at Belgirate on 25 August 1974.

* Ettore Bugatti himself takes part in the race out of competition and as an amateur, reaching an average speed of 126 kph with a T 13.
** In his “Bugatti Magnum” on page 95 Hugh Conway writes that ‘ the Diatto gets at least two chassis, and other cars were assembled with parts from Molsheim.