Volpe Argentata (Silver Fox), this is how his fans called him, due to his prematurely grey hair and his temperament. Engineer Piero Taruffi studied his job deeply and he wrote technical books about race driving. He was a very controlled and reasoning man, who meticulously planned his life and career. He alternated his motorcycling activity with the car racing. Taruffi won in the highest competitions with A.J.S., Guzzi and Norton motorbikes. In 1931, Enzo Ferrari called on him to race for the Team and he won major victories. At the Italian GP, he moved on to the Trident and he raced strapping himself to the driving seat, a crazy risk! He collaborated in the construction of the motorbike “Rondine”.

In 1934, at the Tripoli GP, driving a Maserati, Taruffi suffered a terrible accident caused by his brakes locking up on a bend. His left arm suffered a major injury, and he was not able to move it anymore. He went back to racing only thanks to his strong sacrificial spirit and his obstinate will. Taruffi became a racing director for Gilera, and he superlative on the most prestigious motorcycling records for overall speed. He constructed the “bisiluro” Tarf with which he beat many category records with Gilera, Guzzi and Maserati. With Ferrari, in 1951 he won, the Panamerican Carrera in Mexico and, in 1952, he came third in the final world championship classification.

In 1954, he won the Targa Florio and the Giro di Sicilia with the Lancia. He was still missing the most desired victory, the Mille Miglia. “He followed it with moving determination” and he managed to conquer it only in 1957… “right on the last of the glorious Mille Miglia races, he achieved his dream of being a complete driver. And he kept the promise he made to Ms Isabella”. He would have stopped racing, and that he did.