Carlo Maffeis
| |
| Complete name: Carlo Maffeis |
| Birth date: 11.Jan.1883 |
| Birth Place: Milano, Italy |
| Death date: 12.Sep.1921 |
| Death Place: Brescia, Italy |
| Nationality: Italy |
| Gender: male |
| Age at death: 38 |
| |
| Event date: 10.Sep.1921 |
| Series: unknown |
| Race: Gran Premio del Moto Club d'Italia |
| Event type: race |
| Country: Italy |
| Venue: Brescia |
| Variant: Montichiari - Circuito della Fascia D'Oro (1921) |
| |
| Role: rider |
| Vehicle type: motorcycle |
| Vehicle sub-type: sports bike - from 351 cm3 up to 500 cm3 |
| Vehicle brand/model: Bianchi 500 |
| Vehicle number: ?? |
| |
Notes:
Carlo Maffeis was a top-level rider and a talented pioneer acrobatic aviator in the early years of the 20th Century. He piloted a Blériot monoplane aircraft in the 1911 Rimini Air Meeting.
As a motorcycle rider Carlo Maffeis took his maiden victory in 1903, then aged twenty, winning the Susa–Moncenisio hillclimb on a Saroléa. He won the Italian Motorcycle Championship 500 cm3 class in 1913, riding a Moto Rêve. That same year, winner of the 350 cm3 class was his younger brother Miro Maffeis on a Douglas. Also a successful motorcycle racer, Miro enjoyed a long career, winning the gruelling Raid Nord-Sud Milano - Napoli road race in 1920 on an Indian 500.
In May 1914 Carlo Maffeis moved to the British track of Brooklands, to compete against the local ace G. E. Stanley who rode a Singer.
Carlo Maffeis riding his Bianchi, before the start of the Grand Prix de la Sarthe, Le Mans, 22 July 1921.
Author: Agence Rol. Agence Photographique (France). Bibliothèque Nationale de France collection, public domain.
Carlo Maffeis and his brothers Miro and Bernardo "Nando", who ran a motorcycle workshop in Porta Volta, Milan, led the Bianchi factory team and tuned the works motorcycle engines for the races. The make which was created by Edoardo Bianchi in 1885, was involved in racing only in the years after the end of World War I. In 1920 Carlo Maffeis established a new flying kilometer World Speed Record at a speed of 125 km/h (77.7 mi/h) riding a V-twin 500 cm3 Bianchi on a rectilinear stretch of the road near Gallarate, province of Varese, Italy.
Carlo Maffeis took part in the 1921 Gran Premio del Moto Club d'Italia, held on Saturday, 10 September 1921 at the Circuito della Fascia D'Oro in Montichiari, province of Brescia, northern italy. While battling with Fortunato Minetti's Borgo for the lead of the 500 cm3 class race, Maffeis lost control of his record-breaking Bianchi motorcycle and crashed hard at Ghedi crossroads. He was found unconscious by rescuers and later a doctor in the village of Ghedi treated him for severe back injuries and a fractured arm.
Carlo Maffeis was taken to Brescia hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries two days after the accident, on Monday 12 September 1921. He was 38 years old.
The Maffeis brothers had created their own brand, "Moto Maffeis" which models were powered by different engines, including Saroléa, JAP, Minerva and Blackburne. After Carlo's fatal accident and with the death of the elder brother Nando Maffeis in 1928, the company ceased production.
Carlo Maffeis' grave in the Cimitero Maggiore of Milan, Italy.
Photo taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved
|
| |
Sources:
- Book "Mick Walker's Italian Racing Motorcycles" by Mick Walker, Redline Books, 1999, ISBN-10 0953131114.
-
Magazine LA DOMENICA DEL CORRIERE, issue of 25 September 1921.
-
Magazine Due Ruote, issue of February 2010, pages 86/87.
-
Newspaper Evening Post (Wellington, New Zealand), issue of 19 May 1914, article "The Motor", page 11, retrieved by website http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast .
-
Newspaper La Stampa (Turin, Italy), issue of Sunday, 11 September 1921, page 5, article "La fine della Corsa. La caduta di Carlo Maffeis", retrieved by website http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,5/articleid,1174_01_1921_0217_0005_24861313/ .
-
Website Racing Memory by Vincent Glon, article "L'Histoire de la course moto, 3ème partie: la renaissance de la compétition (1919-1921)", page http://racingmemo.free.fr/M%20HISTOIRE/M-HIST%201919-1921.htm .
-
Website Motoclub Ting'Avert, page http://www.motoclub-tingavert.it/t140345s.html .
-
Website Moto di Lombardia, page https://www.motodilombardia.it/2020/04/26/maffeis/ .
-
E-mail by Andy Marlow, dated 24 January 2005.
-
E-mail by Vincent Glon, dated 18 May 2006.
-
E-mail by Paolo Maffeis, dated 13 August 2009.
-
E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 17 June 2022.
|
|
|
