Alberto Colombo
Coppa C.S.A.I. 1968, Italian Formula 3 champion 1974
Colombo came from Varedo in Brianza. He started in a CRM backed by the family firm Cerchi SanRemo, then moved to LAB.
The LAB belonged to a Pizzetti of Rivolta d’Adda, who never raced it himself: his father, who ran the “Samoa”, was firmly against it.
1968, the big year
Four wins, the Coppa C.S.A.I. and second place in the Trofeo Cadetti. In LAB’s tally of wins he leads with those four victories, level with Luigi De Negri.
His engine was prepared by Franco Alloni of Como. In 1968 it gave 31 hp at 7200 rpm — the strongest in the field. The rest managed 28 hp, and 25 to 26 the year before.
Formula 3, Formula 2, Formula 1
In 1974 he became Italian Formula 3 champion. In 1977 he finished seventh in the European Formula 2 championship in a March-BMW; in 1978 he was Italian runner-up behind Riccardo Patrese.
In that same year, 1978, he was entered in Formula 1 with ATS and with Merzario, but failed to qualify for a Grand Prix.
What came next
He became a C.S.A.I. instructor and a respected manager in Formula 3000. He also tried his hand as a constructor; the planned Riviera Formula 1 car never raced. Alberto Colombo has died; the article these details come from appeared in January 2024, two years after his death.
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