Luigi festival

Alain Peltier takes the sharp turn of the La Source hairpin at the wheel of his Luigi Racing-entered BMW 3.0 CSi that he shares with Marc Demol at the 1975 24 Hours of Spa. Unfortunately, this pairing who is amongst the favourites of this event, is forced to retire after an accident and it’s the second Luigi Racing car (picture-below) of Hugues de Fierlant and Jean Xhenceval that wins with a 9-lap margin on the BMW 3.0 CSi of “Pedro” and Yvette Fontaine.

Italian born Luigi Cimarosti was the founder of the legendary Belgian team Luigi Racing, one of the greatest names in the history of the European Touring Car Championship. A talented mechanic, engineer and car tuner, during his long career he built racing cars of different makes, mainly BMW machinery but also Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV6, Ford Sierra Cosworth, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Viper.

Originally from the village of San Giorgio della Richinvelda, province of Pordenone in Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, northeastern Italy, Luigi Cimarosti emigrated to Belgium in the early years after the end of World War II. He started working as a miner in Belgian coal mines. His interest in mechanics since he was a young boy, likely led to his involvement with racing. He opened his own workshop in Comblain-au-Pont in the Belgian province of Liège, where he prepared a Fiat 600 in which he started competing in local hillclimbs.

With his brother Francesco Cimarosti and his lifelong friend and brother-in-law Jean Xhenceval, who later became a top racer in the European Touring Car Championship, Luigi Cimarosti established an official BMW dealership and founded a racing team, named Luigi Racing.