Volpi
| Automobili Volpi | |
| 150px | |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Location |  Italy
|
| Models | SR560 VC02-VC11 |
| Associated brands | Kivett |
| Factory teams | Volpi Racing Team |
| Manufacturer | |
Automobili Volpi (commonly, Volpi) is an Italian auto manufacturer that fields a team in the TM Master Cup series, the famed Volpi Racing Team. The company is headed by Antonio Volpi, a former three time Le Mans winner, who felt that most road cars were not exciting enough and did not reflect the passion of motoring. His eldest son, Cyril, founded VRT and expanded the marque into North America in the 2000s.
About[edit | edit source]
It has the distinction of being the first "privateer" team to win the Master Cup championship, as it did in 2010 with Alexis Rainsford. The marque's "factory" team, Volpi Racing Team, is considered a separate entity from Automobili Volpi, despite both having the same ownership. Many question Volpi's status as a privateer team, as it does make road cars, but did not sell them outside of Europe. VRT did not receive official support from Automobili Volpi until midway through 2010 when VRT used the Automobili Volpi headquarters as a temporary team base, but provided no technical support.
Volpi currently only makes one road car -- the SR560, which is a common sight in GT racing. It was not released in North America until April 2011. Volpi made further inroads into the American market after it purchased Kivett Motors, Inc. in 2011. This also gave Volpi an expanded footprint in racing through its ARLA Elite Series program, but they elected to withdraw from the series after 2013.
In 2012, Volpi announced that they would be bringing a sedan to the United States and Europe, called the RA325, and would be producing a successor to the SR560, the SR570. There are no plans to race the SR570 or RA325 in the TM Master Cup series, however both models have some resemblance (notably the front grill pattern) to the TM Master Cup series cars. There are plans to rebadge some Kivetts as Volpis in Australia and Europe, however, no announcement has been made yet.
Volpi's TM Master Cup series cars are, with the exception of their first season, given numbers to indicate the number of seasons the marque has been in the series. The 2019 model is designated as the VC11, which stands for Volpi Chassis 11.
Unlike most manufacturers, most of the major stock car teams running Volpi or Kivett cars are affiliated (some of them very loosely) with Volpi Racing Team. Volpi does not condone team orders, and places a high value in the passion of the drivers and engineers. Some detractors say this means that Volpi encourages its teams to push the limit of the rules as much as possible. Volpi has not denied this claim.
2019 Teams and drivers[edit | edit source]
TM Master Cup[edit | edit source]
- Volpi Racing Team — Alessandro Rossini, Tom Moore, Rachel Rainsford (Volpi VC11)
- Team EFR - Scott Bates, Ian Cooper (Volpi VC11)
- Lawrence Gravity Racing - Packer Carroll, Lucas Grabert, John Quackenbush (Volpi VC10)
- Scuderia Tutino — Gareth Hunt, Trueman Ellison, TBA (Volpi VC10)
- Full Throttle Motorsports - Michaela Perry-Jones (TBD)
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Volpi's logo is a silhouette of a fox's head, as the name Volpi means fox.