40 ANNI DELLA SCUDERIA GRIFONE 1958-1998

Genoa-based Scuderia, in years of activity has always been able to stay on the crest of the wave, leading to success practically all the rally cars with which it has raced: from Giulietta to Lancia Fulvia HF, from Stratos to Lancia 037, from Delta Integrale to Toyota Celica, from Corolla WRC to Peugeot WRC, unbeatable cars on all terrains.

The Scuderia del Grifone represents the history of rallying in Italy, a history that began a long time ago, in 1958. Road races at that time were essentially regularity races and the racing teams that shared the successes along the peninsula were basically two: Campidoglio and Mediolanum.

There was also a third, less important than the other two, but composed of people with a great passion for racing. Its name was Scuderia Quinto and its emblem was a friendly parrot.

Just at that time, some members of this team decided to form a new association, founding their own team. Their emblem was the Griffon, a winged mythological animal that, according to ancient texts, was the guardian of gold.

In 1963, the Grifone achieved its first prestigious success, coming first in the newly formed Teams' Championship ahead of the highly favoured Campidoglio, the result of hard work by all team members.

Two years later, in 1965, under the leadership of Luigi Tabaton and his colleague Enrico Gibelli, the Grifone HF was founded and, thanks to the support of Lancia, became the most significant Italian team with the Jolly Club of Milan.

New sections are opened throughout Italy, in cities like Milan, Turin, Rome and Savona and more than 187 drivers, thanks also to contributions from the Turin-based company, compete under the wings of the Grifone.

New young talents had the opportunity to show off and, for some of them, the doors to professionalism also opened in the following years. Among the most famous drivers were Mauro Pregliasco, Dario Cerrato, Carlo Capone, Tony Fassina, Adartico Vudafieri and the great Attilio Bettega. 

Among all of them, one has to be remembered for having achieved great heights, becoming not only a point of reference for his adversaries, but also a symbol of the team he belonged to. We are of course talking about Fabrizio Tabaton, son of Luigi Tabaton, a driver of great talent and excellent sprinting qualities.

Fabrizio had a career lightning fast, and in a short time passed from the small A112 Abarth, with which he won the Trophy in 1978, to the Lancia Stratos, with which he finished second in the Italian Championship, to continue with the Fiat 131 Abarth.

The Grifone team in these years invested a lot of resources and energy in the young driver and the results arrived soon: Italian Group B title in 1984 and overall Italian title in 1985. Tabaton-Grifone-Esso-Lancia proved to be a truly winning combination and even in 1986, the last year of the Group B cars, the Grifone team brought home yet another title.

This time it was the European one, obtained with an always perfect Lancia Delta S4, the maximum evolution of a rally car. More success came in 1987, with the Italian title obtained with the Delta 4WD group A and again the European title in 1988 with the Delta Integrale. 

In the fourth decade of its life, the Grifone, thanks to a considerable leap in quality, again achieved prestigious results. A new structure is built in Busalla, near Genoa, called HF Engineering, specially built for the management and preparation of Abarth cars.

The retirement of the Abarth and the Lancia Delta Integrale impose new alternatives on the Genoese team, which punctually arrive from the land of the rising sun. New agreements were made with TTE, Toyota Team Europe, for the management of Celica and later Corolla cars, with a formula that was almost identical to the one that had been in place years before for Abarth.

An even heavier commitment, which imposed radical changes both logistically and structurally. With the Japanese, the Grifone began a new cycle of victories, from minor to international rallies, becoming the most important team in Europe.

In 1995 and 1997, Pucci Grossi, a driver from Rimini with great experience on gravel roads, triumphed in the Trofeo Tradizione Terra at the wheel of a Celica ST205, closing the era of group A cars in a grand way. In 1998, after a dark 1997, there was an atmosphere of revenge. In fact, the new Corolla WRCs arrived at the Genoa factory, immediately tested by strong drivers like Marco Tempestini, Andrea Aghini and Piero Longhi. New successes are in the forecast for them and the Grifone!