During this period, Nuvolari also dabbled in car racing, winning a reliability trial in 1921.

It was also in 1925 that Nuvolari was asked by Alfa Romeo to have a trial in their Grand Prix car.

An Italian pay-TV channel dedicated to motor sports is also named Nuvolari.

In the 1952 Le Mans race, when only 17 of the 58 starters finished, the entry driven by Leslie Johnson — a driver with the flair of Nuvolari, said Louis Chiron — and motoring journalist Tommy Wisdom took third overall behind two factory-entered Mercedes-Benz 300SLs ; also first in class, ahead of Chinetti's Ferrari, and second in the Rudge-Whitworth Cup for the best performance over two consecutive years.

In 1930, Nuvolari won his first RAC Tourist Trophy ( he won one more time in 1933 ).

Nuvolari and his co-driver Battista Guidotti in Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS spider Zagato won the Mille Miglia, becoming the first to complete the race at an average speed of over.

The following year, he won the 24 hours of Le Mans, despite having to drive over 20 hours solo after his teammate Luigi Chinetti retired ill. During the 1930s, Sommer was to dominate the French endurance classic, winning again in 1933 driving an Alfa Romeo alongside Tazio Nuvolari.

Tazio Nuvolari won the 1930 Mille Miglia in an Alfa Romeo.

In the thirties, Italian Hall of Fame driver, Tazio Nuvolari won this race five times, more than any other driver.

After a sensational debut season, Nuvolari and Campari combined to win their first Italian Grand Prix, a victory that made them national heroes for taking the championship from the French who had won it for the past three years.

Although he won the Circuito di Avellino, Baconin Borzacchini's season was dogged by both bad luck and the brilliance of Nuvolari.

In June 1928 he won the Grand Prix of Mugello driving a Talbot and finished second in the Coppa Acerbo in August then that same month he won his fourth Coppa Montenero, beating both Tazio Nuvolari and Giuseppe Campari.

While the racing version of the 8C 2300 Spider, driven by Tazio Nuvolari won the 1931 and 1932 Targa Florio race in Sicily, the 1931 Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza gave the " Monza " name to the twin seater GP car, a shortened version of the Spider.

Tazio Nuvolari won the 1935 German GP at the Nürburgring at the wheel of a 3. 2 L Tipo B against the more powerful Silver Arrows from Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union.

His most famous loss was the 1935 German Grand Prix, when a tire blew while he was leading the last lap, handing victory to Tazio Nuvolari in an Alfa Romeo in one of the latter's most famous victories-the only time during the reign of the Silver Arrows when a Grand Prix was won by a car other than a Mercedes or Auto Union.

Between 1935 and 1937 Auto Union cars won 25 races, driven by Ernst von Delius, Tazio Nuvolari, Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck and Achille Varzi.

After Alfa Romeo officially left Grand Prix racing, Nuvolari stayed on with Scuderia Ferrari who ran the Alfa Romeo cars semi-officially.

At the end of 1934, Maserati pulled out of Grand Prix racing and Nuvolari returned to Ferrari, who were reluctant to take him back, but were persuaded by Mussolini, the Italian prime minister.

The relationship with Ferrari turned sour during 1937, and Nuvolari raced an Auto Union as a one-off in the Swiss Grand Prix that year before agreeing to race for them for the 1938 season.

Nuvolari remained at Auto Union until Grand Prix racing was put on hiatus by World War II.

In 1925, Nuvolari became the 350 cc European Motorcycling champion by winning the European Grand Prix.

After drawing ninth place on the grid at the Italian Grand Prix, Nuvolari started the race in an Alfa Romeo shared with Baconin Borzacchini.

Nuvolari is often reported as having been involved in a race-fixing scandal at the Tripoli Grand Prix.

Nuvolari countered that he was a leading Grand Prix driver and Le Mans was a simple layout that would not trouble him, to which Sommer backed down and they agreed to divide the driving equally.

At the start of 1934, Nuvolari entered the Monaco Grand Prix in a privately owned Bugatti.

In the Italian Grand Prix, Nuvolari debuted Maserati's new 6C-34 model.

Nuvolari driving Alfa Romeo P3 at the 1935 Grand Prix de Pau.

In this year, Nuvolari scored his most impressive victory, thought by many to be the greatest victory in car racing of all times, when at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, driving an old Alfa Romeo P3 ( 3167 cc, compressor, 265 hp ) versus the dominant, all conquering home team's cars of five Mercedes-Benz W25 ( 3990 cm³, 8C, compressor,, driven by Caracciola, Fagioli, Hermann Lang, Manfred von Brauchitsch and Geyer ) and four Auto Union Tipo B ( 4950 cc, 16C, compressor,, driven by Bernd Rosemeyer, Varzi, Hans Stuck and Paul Pietsch ).

Nuvolari had a big accident in May during practice for the Tripoli Grand Prix and it is alleged that he broke some vertebrae.

Following the Tripoli Grand Prix they contacted Nuvolari who, having been refreshed from his break, agreed to drive for them.

In 1946, Nuvolari raced in the Milan Grand Prix using only one hand to steer ; the other was holding a bloodstained handkerchief over his mouth.

In the 1937 Donington Grand Prix and 1938 Donington Grand Prix, the race winners were respectively Bernd Rosemeyer and Tazio Nuvolari, both in Auto Union ' Silver Arrows.

Over the years, the greats of Grand Prix racing and Formula One such as Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio, Belgium's Olivier Gendebien and Britain's Stirling Moss came to challenge Italian champions Tazio Nuvolari, Alfieri Maserati, Achille Varzi and others, like local hero Nino Vaccarella.

Now designing aircraft engines, Jano watched as Tazio Nuvolari drove a P3 to victory in the German Grand Prix at Nürburgring in 1935.

Over the next several years, as the only female on the Grand Prix circuit, Nice continued to race Bugattis and Alfa Romeos against the greatest drivers of the day including Tazio Nuvolari, Robert Benoist, Rudolf Caracciola, Louis Chiron, Bernd Rosemeyer, Luigi Fagioli, and Jean-Pierre Wimille, among others.

Aside from the main European Championship Grands Prix, Nuvolari took victories in the Targa Florio and the Coppa Ciano.

Nuvolari has had four cars named after him-the Cisitalia 202 spider " Nuvolari ", the Alfa Romeo Nuvola, the EAM Nuvolari S1, and the Audi Nuvolari Quattro.

The race saw Achille Varzi and Tazio Nuvolari exchange the lead many times before being settled in Varzi's favour on the final lap when Nuvolari's car caught fire.

Nuvolari drove from then until the end of the race, breaking the lap record nine times and winning the race by approximately 400 yards ( 366 m ).

As a young man, he was a successful motorcycle racer of Garelli, DOT, Moto Guzzi and Sunbeam, and rode seven times in the Isle of Man TT from 1924 before switching to auto racing in 1928 where, for the next ten years he would rival the great Tazio Nuvolari.

Despite having competition with engines three times larger, Nuvolari held back the competition until troubles ensued in the rain.