Valerio Colotti (19 April 1925 – 19 January 2008)[1] was an Italian automotive engineer, known for his early work withFerrari andMaserati chassis and transmission systems.
Born inModena, Colotti joinedFerrari in 1948,[2] working underAurelio Lampredi, followed by employment withMaserati (1953–1957), until the company dropped factory works racing. In 1958 he started his own company, known asTec-Mec (Studio Tecnica Meccanica). Tec-Mec, assisted byGiorgio Scarlatti, built the tipo F/415Formula One car, mostly based on theMaserati 250F, in which Colotti had been deeply involved. The car raced only at the 1959 USA Grand Prix, where driverFritz d'Orey was forced to retire after qualifying 17th. Colotti collaborated also withBehra-Porsche (1959),Stirling Moss'sCooper T51 andScirocco-Powell. Colotti's cooperation withAlf Francis lead to the widely used in competitionColotti-Francis gearbox systems. WithWolfgang von Trips he designed theTrips-Colotti-Auto Union (TCA).
Colotti's company is now calledColotti Trasmissioni and is run by his son Marco after his brother Paolo (1956-2016) died.[3]
