Campari Coda

Sir,

On page 55 of the article devoted to Giuseppe Campari, Bill Boddy asks “if anyone knows if Campari may have been using his operatic gift at amateur performances”.

Enzo Ferrari’s My Terrible Joys contains numerous references to Campari, who was a fellow driver with whom Ferrari competed very often, as well as a close friend.

He recalls an evening at Campari’s new house ending with a duet sung by the two ‘masters of the house’ of the first act of La Traviata. Later he states: “Campari’s singing passion resulted in a first appearance on the stage of a real theatre at Bergamo. The opera could only have been Traviata, Campari’s battle horse. He excelled with many formidable high notes, each one being held for a long time, but the bass notes got lost in imperceptible meandering. Summed up, it was not a success, and a particularly cruel spectator shouted at him ‘Better go racing’. Upon which, Campari immediately stopped, and, of course still in Alfredo’s attire, exclaimed at the top of his voice ‘Whenever I race, people tell me to go singing, and when I do that, I am told to go racing. What am I to do?’ Of course, this was a joke, because when he raced, nobody could have overlooked the brilliance of the ace driver.”

I AM,YOURS, ETC,

H Bendel, Weinmanngasse, Switzerland