DRIVERS (P)
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Even with lots of work still do be done this list have reached a state
where it must be considered one of the most complete and accurate ever assembled on
the subject. This has only been possible due to the tremendous help from people
all over the world, each of them experts of their local drivers and events.
Short biographies of drivers with BLUE background, will come up in due time.
If you have any information about any driver with GREEN background, please
contact me!
Vico Pagliano (I)
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Pagliano won the first edition of the Cuneo-Colle della Maddalena
mountain climb in 1925, probably the longest (67 km) event of this kind in motor
sport history. He was active until the outbreak of WWII in
sporadic national events.
(Info supplied by Alessandro Silva)
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José Joaquín Palacio Pantaleón de Palacio y Power (E)
27 Jul 1901 - 27 May 1989-
Born in Bilbao, Joaquín Palacio Power was an amateur motorcycle and car driver, who had started his career in the
1920s. As for other Spanish drivers of the period, Palacio's list of appearances is very thin,
due to the difficulties in practising motor-sports in that country. In the
1950s Palacio drove the Spanish sports car Pegaso.
(Info supplied by Alessandro Silva)
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Giacomo? Palmieri (I)
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Guiseppe Panzacchi (I)
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From Bologna.
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Peter de Paolo (USA)
15 Apr 1898 - 26 Nov 1980
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Nephew to Ralph de Palma, Peter de Paolo was born 1898 in Roseland, NJ. He begun racing in 1922. In 1924 he became Dusenberg works driver.
He won the Indianapolis 500 in 1925 and was Indycar Champion in 1925 and again in 1927.
In 1930 he retired from racing but 1934 he was lured back by Harry Miller to race the four wheel
drive Miller in the Tripoli GP and Avus GP.
He then signed to drive Maseratis for Ecurie Braillard but in the first race at Penya Rhin
his racing career ended in a bad crash and a fractured skull.
He returned to USA to work for different automobile related companies.
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Reginald "Reg" Parnell (GB)
2 Jul 1911 - 7 Jan 1964-
This Derby pig farmer probably lost the prime of his career due to the war.
He started racing with a MG Magnette in 1935. His driving style was wild, and he ended up losing
his racing licence after being found guilty of an accident a Brooklands 1937 where
Mrs Petre was seriously wounded. In 1938 he instead lent cars to other drivers.
He went on buying and selling racing cars in quite a speculative way and
many famous and less famous racing cars went through his hands, making him a name in the business.
After the war, Parnell had some good runs in national events with a Maserati 4CLT/48 and an
ex-Whitehead ERA. These successes led to guest drive for Alfa Romeo at the first World Championshp
Grand Prix at Silverstone 1950. In 1951 he took Tony Vanderwell's "Thin Wall Special" to victory at
the International Trophy and scored points in two World Championship events. He was also involved with BRM,
Scuderia Ambrosiana and Rob Walker. He then worked as team amnager for Aston Marin and for the Yeoman Credit/Bowmaker
team (BRP) before setting up his own Reg Parnell Racing team with Lola. He died unexpectedly after
complications following a routine appendix operation in Derby 1964. His son Tim took over the team.
6 Formula 1 championship starts, 9 points.
(With thanks to Felix Muelas)
Click here for full biography.
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Cyril M. John? Paul (GB)
31 May 1903 - 16 Sep 1984-
Born in Barnet, Hertfordshire 1903.
Died at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk 1984.
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Joseph "Jean"? Paul (F)
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Delahaye driver for Ecurie Francia.
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Jean "Carlo" Pedrazzini (CH)
? - 22 Apr 1934
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Italian speaking Swiss from Locarno. Maserati driver for Scuderia Siena.
Died after crashing into a wall in the Bordino GP.
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Giorgio Pelassa (I)
1913 - 1948-
A very interesting and unfortunate driver, the Turinese industrialist
and motorcycle racer Giorgio Pelassa had had some tries at Voiturette
racing during 1938 and 1939, after having been initiated - like many
other Italian racing drivers - at the Mille Miglia in 1937. He was about
to have a splendid autumn 1946, racing three times showing excellent
speed and becoming a Grand Prix winner at Barcelona, just to disappear
afterwards, probably already suffering from the unspecified illness that
was going to kill him in less than two years. During 1947 he raced only
at the Mille Miglia where he was once more very fast, before retiring.
(Info supplied by Alessandro Silva)
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Lelio Pellegrini Quarantotti (I)
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Also raced under the pseudnym "Rover". (Any driver named Carlo Pellegrini doesn't exist)
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Mario Penati (I)
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From Torino. Scuderia Subalpina driver.
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Clifton Penn-Hughes (GB)
11 Feb 1905 - 7 Jul 1939-
Born in Penarth, Glamorgan 1905.
Alfa Romeo Monza owner. The car was an ex. Mille Miglia runner up with a sports car chassis.
Penn-Hughes Held a racing team together with George Eyston.
Died in an aircraft accident Folkestone, Kent 1939.
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Albert Perrot (F)
1894 - 1950-
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Ms. Kathleen Coad "Kay" Petre (née Kathleen Defries) (GB)
10 May 1903 - 10 Aug 1994-
Born in Toronto, Canada. Daughter to a barrister with clients in both England and South Africa.
Her husband, solicitor Henry Aluysuis Petre, bought her a Wolseley Hornet in which she started racing. She also
raced Austins, Invicta, a Bugatti and the ex-Cobb 10.5 litre Delage.
Became good friend to Bernd Rosemeyer during his 1937 South Africa trip.
Had a serious crash at the Brooklands Byfleet banking during practice for the 1937 BRDC 500
when her Austin was hit by the tail of Parnell's MG Magnette. She was taken to hospital with severe head
injuries and even though she rallied completely she decided to
retire from racing. Later she worked as a journalist.
Died in Camden, London 1994.
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Piccolo - SEE: Cucinotta
Paul Pietsch (D)
20 Jun 1911 - 30 May 2012
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Working at his mother's brewery did not interest the young German, he prefered cars and in 1932 at an age of 20 he
bought von Morgen's Bugatti T35 and started racing. The next year he changed
to a Alfa Romeo Monza. The car was later rebuilt to a 2.6
litre monoposto. In 1934 he went ice racing in Sweden and Norway and also took part in the Finnish GP.
He then had a bad crash at a mountainclimb race and broke his leg. He was approached by both Mercedes and Auto Union
for the 1935 season. He participated in the Auto Union test drives at Nürburgring and
proved to be the fastest of the participants and got a contract for the 1935 season.
But the Auto Union proved hard to drive and the season wasn't too successful for Pietsch.
He did not get on well with team manager Willy Walb and then in September Pietsch had to divorce his
wife Ilse who had fallen in love with Achille Varzi, a situation that further poisoned the season.
Pietsch left GP racing in 1936 and concentrated on business instead.
In 1937 he was back in Lazro Hartmann's troublesome old Maserati 6C-34. He was not even allowed to start in
the Monaco GP as the car as usual was leaking oil. Pietsch finally destroyed the car at the Masaryk GP at Brno.
In 1938-39 he raced Maserati voiturettes both as works driver and as privateer.
At the 1939 German GP he raced the works raced the Maserati 8CTF leading the
race and finishing third.
Pietsch was asked to join Mercedes for 1940 but it would take until 1950 before he raced again. Racing
Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Veritas Meteor, Pietsch started in three GP championship races without receiving any points
before retiring from driving and concentrating on publishing instead. In 1946 Paul Pietsch and a friend started a
magazine "Das Auto" and later he became a major publisher of motor and racing books and magazines
("Auto Motor und Sport", "Motorbuch Verlag" etc.).
Pietsch died at his home in Karlsruhe on 30 May 2012, three weeks before his 101st birthday.
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"Pimpiricchio" (Nunzio Nasi) (I)
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Carlo Maria Pintacuda (I)
18 Sep 1900 - 8 Mar 1971
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Carlo Pintacudais another graduate of the "Florentine
school" of talented racing drivers from the 20s, which also comprised
Masetti, Materassi, Brilli Peri and Biondetti. An inheritance had
enabled him to race from 1925 to 1928 when he was reasonably successful
in minor Italian events. After he had run out of money, Alfa Romeo gave
him a ride for the Mille Miglia in 1929. An indifferent drive in what
was going to be his future specialty race led him to disappear from
the racing scene until he succeeded in obtaining an aluminium bodied
Lancia Astura from the important Lancia dealer from Rome, Bornigia. With
the Astura he surprisingly won the gruelling Giro d’Italia
in 1934. He was then invited to test an Alfa Romeo P3 by Scuderia
Ferrari. A victory in the Mille Miglia, in 1935, in a similar car
borrowed from Ferrari, induced Ferrair to sign him. Pintacuda stayed on
with Scuderia Ferrari and then with the Alfa Corse team until 1940, racing
GP cars, Alfettas and sports cars. He won a second Mille Miglia in 1937
and almost a third one in 1938. Ferrari sent him several times to South America
where he won at Interlagos in 1936 and Gavea in 1937 and 1938.
With those 3 victories Pintacuda became a national hero in Brazil. For over 30 years
his name was synonymous for speed. Crazy drivers were called "Pintacudas".
Alfa Corse did not renew Pintacuda’s contract after the war. He left for South America as Enrico Platé
had offered him a drive in an old Maserati. While in Argentina, Carlo decided to quit racing, and to
remain in Buenos Aires where he opened an antique shop - "La Spiga" - and lived there peacefully until his death in 1971.
(Info supplied by Alessandro Silva)
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Enrico Platé (I/CH)
28 Jan 1909 - 2 Feb 1954-
Enrico Platé was of Italian birth - he was born in Milan and actually releted to Luigi Platé - but he was for a
long time the holder of a Swiss entrant’s licence. He had started as a
mechanic before became a - not that fast - voiturette driver.
In the post-war period he continued racing but also put his car
at the disposal of drivers faster than himself, a characteristic that
led him eventually to quit driving and to become a team owner and
manager in 1948, with racers like "B Bira" and de Graffenried driving
for him. His team entered rebuilt Maseratis at the Grand Prix rces during the 1952-53 seasons.
He was killed in a nasty accident during the 1954 Buenos
Aires FL race.
(Info supplied by Alessandro Silva)
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Luigi "Gigi" Platé (I)
3 Sep 1894 - 16 Dec 1975-
Luigi Platé was a colourful character from Milan. He was an irrepressibly funny man
who was always talking about wonderful projects and remarkable
inventions. His mechanical experience and his inordinate passion for the
sport led him finally to the realization of some interesting application
of his theories, but he ended up disheartened, in bad health and
penniless in the early 50s. He got some good results
with a Chiribiri in the early 20s that he kept modifying well past its prime, not being able to
afford the purchase of a new one. Two more cars are
known to have been deeply modified by Gigi. The first was a 8cyl Talbot 700, which sustained at
least 15 years of his mechanical meddling. It had come to Italy in 1928, after having been purchased by Emilio
Materassi. Gigi got hold of it sometimes in the early 1930s, modifying it
continuously and racing it sporadically in voiturette events during the whole
1930s. It is interesting to notice how at the beginning of each
season in the 1940s, the respected Auto Italiana would publish an
article on "a new 8cyl supercharged GP car" describing Platé’s old Talbot
each time.
The other project was a 2300 6C Alfa Romeo
engine that was mounted on a rather handsome barchetta with tubular
chassis around 1951 but that was as atrociously slow as all of Gigi’s
creations.
(Info supplied by Alessandro Silva)
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Jirí Pohl (CS)
1905 - ?-
Czech racing driver as was his brother Zdenek.
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Zdeněk "Bašul" Pohl (CS)
19 May 1907 - 14 Oct 1986.-
From Libně. Czech racing driver as was his brother Jirí.
Started in the Czech GP 1934 & 1935 in an 4.9L Bugatti.
Retired from racing after a big crash at the Sporilov Circuit, Czechoslovakia.
(Info supplied by Ondrej Spacek)
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Allen Conn "Con" Pollock (IRL?)
27 Jun 1902 - 28 Jan 1969.-
Born 1902 at Farsley, Yorkshire. Died 1969 at Marylebone, London
ERA privateer.
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Porthault - SEE: "Daniell"
Cicero Marques Porto (BR)
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Antony Powys-Lybbe (GB)
29 Jun 1909 - 10 May 2004-
Powys-Lybbe was born at Rectory Farm, Streatley-on-Thames, Berkshire in 1909.
At age of 18 he went to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, London for
officer training within the Royal Corps of Signals. He left the army by
1933 and, by and large took up motor-racing. First he raced mostly with Alvises in
various events, both hill-climb and track. In 1935 he acquired a 2.3 Alfa Romeo Monza
and raced that until 1937 when he bought a Talbot, a decision that proved disastrous (The Alfa
is now in Holland, or thereabouts, the Talbot in Australia.)
He got married in 1937 and his son Tim was born the next year. During WW2 Powys-Lybbe stayed in the Signals Corps,
rasing in rank from Lietenant to temporary Lt-Colonel.
After the war he bought the ex-"Raph" Alfa Romeo Tipo B from Thomson & Taylor Ltd. and raced it in short races
as at Goodwood and he had particulary success in Ireland where he could drive at roads with long straights as he did not like
circuit racing. There he won the Wakefield Trophy at Curragh in September 1949 and the Leinster Trophy and Ulster Trophy in 1950.
He retired from racing around 1953 after a race where another driver drove into the crowd, killing himself and
four others. Powys-Lybbe's abiding interest throughout his life was music, particularly Bach.
Died in Amersham, Buckinghamshire 2004.
(Info supplied by Tim Powys-Lybbe)
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Carlo de Praez (I)
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From Bolzano
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Albino Pratesi (I)
?--21 Jun 1933-
A driver from S. Donato nr Florence, who died from the wounds suffered in an accident during the Circuito di
Firenze held on June 11th. Pratesi was driving a 1927 Talbot 700
ex-Scuderia Materassi revised by Luigi Platé. Pratesi had been a rather
active competitor in the 1100cc class driving an ex-Biondetti Salmson,
during the early 1930s.
(Info supplied by Alessandro Silva)
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Count Luigi "Gigi" Premoli (I)
1908-1998-
Italian Count Premoli started racing in 1929 with a 1100 cc Salmson cycle racerar.
Premoli was a well known technician and improved his Salmson with the
result that he was able to finish second at the 1931 Monza Grand Prix in the 1100 cc class behind José Scaron in the latest Amilcar but left the
6-cylinder Amilcar of Count Arco behind him.
He had other good results like victories at the 1930 and 1931 Coppa Acerbo Junior and Gran Premio delle Voiturette.
For 1932 Luigi Premoli constructed his hybrid racecar PBM (Premoli Bugatti Maserati), engineered by Egidio Galimberti, who combined a 2.3-liter
Bugatti grand prix car chassis, gearbox and wheels with a 2.5-liter, 8-cyl. Maserati engine and front grill.
Premoli won the 1932 Colli Torinesi and then had a serious crash at the Montenero Circuit Race but was fully recuperated for the 1933 season.
The car was thoroughly reworked and improved for 1933 with a
3-liter 8-cylinder Maserati engine. This machine was also called BMP, BPM, MBP or Maserati Special.
He won at Shelsley Walsh spring Meeting and Coppa Ascoli and the next year at Coppa Valsassina.
(Info supplied by Hans Etzrodt)
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Agostino Prosperi (I)
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From Rome, active both before and after the war.
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Ugo Puma (I)
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Puma was from the Turin racing milieu, more active after WWII in small capacity sports car racing as an N-D and
Testadoro works driver and in a Fiat-Ermini. He was seen also at the wheel of the rare SVA with Ermini engine in
1950. Puma was then going to become one of the very few Italian drivers in the half-litre F3. His made to order
car was designed by Savonuzzi and built by Conrero and Leone around a powerful Guzzi GP engine mounted at the front.
Puma's Falcone-Guzzi was an excellent car, but no match for the swift rear-engined British cars that dominated
the Formula.
(Info supplied by Alessandro Silva)
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Puy - SEE: du Puy
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© 2013 Leif Snellman - Last updated: 28.03.2013
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