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Oxfordshire, which plays host to
important firms like Williams,
McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes F1,
Caterham etc… These two
regions will have to compete
with each other for emerging
markets such as India, China
and Brazil, to say nothing of the
United States. The Via Emilia is
still vitally important to Motor
Valley because it connects the
whole network that orbits
around the motorsports
industry, and forms the nerve
structure of the know-how that
resides in these areas.
The motor racing firms of
Oxfordshire have a culture of
cooperation and the
government views motorsports
as an industry that benefits the
entire country. What can we
learn from the British?
R.F.
A sense of patriotism and
pride in one’s origins and a
common, although not necessarily shared,
history. A rediscovered sense of a “distant”
and unquestionable national superiority,
although in our case within the context of
an eternal, sun-drenched, even
bacchanalian Mediterranean civilization.
A.P.
What we need to learn is that
motorsports is not only an industry, but
also a research laboratory, and must be
recognised, incentivised and financed by
the State as such. Our company carries out
continual research not only in the
motorsports sector but also in other areas
that benefit from the development of these
new technologies.
Alessandro Santini
In 189 BC, the Romans subdued the Gauls of
the Po river Plain and, within two years, had
completed this strategic road. In a globalised
world, who will the Emilia Motor Valley have
“do battle” with in order to remain
competitive? And how important is
infrastructure for the economic development
of this area?
R.F.
The Motor Valley’s first battle should be
against its own ghosts, or rather against a
debilitating tendency to rest on its own
laurels and wallow in past glories, at the cost
of neglecting the future. It’s important to
remember that every finishing line simply
represents the next starting grid, a point
where nothing is taken for granted and
everything is up for discussion, so that
companies are always striving to be at the
forefront of every new development and at
the cutting edge in every field. In a nutshell:
to get there first.campo. La velocità sintetizza
tutto ciò.
L.L.
I don’t think that the Motor Valley has
much to fear from its “rivals” as far as Italian
motoring culture in its purest form is
concerned. Such phenomena are extremely
rare, anywhere in the world. As far as the
economic growth of the region is concerned,
it’s plain to see that, from a cultural and
touristic point of view, the interest in this
little corner of Italy continues to grow.
A.P.
Motor Valley’s main competition comes
not from an individual company but from
another geographical area, the county of
