18 / 30
18
Raffaele Giammaria, how did your
relationship with Tatuus start? What kind
of cars do u use?
«The deal started in 2010 when the Formula
Abarth first came out. In the deal between
Tatuus and ACI CSAI there was a type of
extended loan that committed the
manufacturer to provide two Formula Abarth
racers, the ones I used to develop the car.
From that point on, a wider collaboration has
started, involving the use of their cars for our
federal courses, the super course and for all
the activities of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Considering the great results delivered by
that partnership, we extended the deal to the
management of all the non‐Tatuus cars.
Although they are not built by Tatuus, the
school's Formula 3 cars are managed by them
because we felt that their technicians were
extremely high‐level and we preferred to
have only one company to manage the whole
fleet. Today we don't use Formula Abarth
Cars anymore, as they were replaced by
Formula 4. We developed it and we give our
drivers a chance to drive it».
What are the advantages of using the
Formula 4 in a learning environment?
«Let's start from the premise that the level of
difficulty of every car that go out of the pits
went down. You brake with the left foot,
there isn't the need to use the clutch
anymore, you have paddle shifters, and the
aero efficiency of the cars increased. This
isn't actually the case of Formula 4 because
the FIA wanted a very simple rulebook and
the cornering speeds went up. Regarding the
target users, which in this case are our
school's freshmen, the care are easier to drive
today. The advantage of partnering with
Tatuus is to always have "fresh" and modern
cars. For example, we have all the evolution
steps of the car, and this is something that
you only get by establishing a direct
relationship with the manufacturer.
Compared to a normal school that buys a car
and then uses it for two or three years
without upgrades, the advantage is
significant".
Were you also convinced by the
management ability of Tatuus?
«Of course. We can count on Corrado
Casiraghi, the engineer who designed
all the cars, who is always there at our
federal courses together with Luca Nispoli.
The new addition for the federal super
course we held in November was the use of
the Tatuus prototype, a car that I developed
in 2012. We have a family‐like relationship
with Tatuus, but at the same time
I'm involved in a close and personal fashion
as I christened all these cars: Formula
Abarth, Prototype and Formula 4».
There will be more courses with
the prototype?
«At this moment we began with the federal
super course which is a prize for the best
Italian drivers who showcased their skills
during 2014. We have a double category: the
"Auto" class for the first and second Italian
Andrea Piccini
and Andrea Russo
Raffaele Giammaria
and Giancarlo Minardi
together with
Cristiano Del Balzo
By Stefano Semeraro