Magneti Marelli has been involved in motorsport competitions since 1919, the year the company was founded, where mechanical components and electrical devices were subjected to extremely heavy-duty uses, amidst dust, rocks and mud, consequently sturdiness, reliability and effectiveness of the assistance service on the competition fields were often the basic key to a team’s success. Way back then, Magneti Marelli was already betting on the performances and reliability of its magnets, ignition coils and distributors, providing constant support on all racing fields to drivers and vehicles which thus receive the necessary technical assistance from highly qualified and specialised personnel. Quality chosen by the winning teams. In 1930, for example, three Alfa Romeos, all equipped with magnets made by Magneti Marelli, placed first, second and third in the legendary race “1000
1950 was the year of the first Formula 1 World Championship. The first Grand Prix was held on the English racetrack of Silverstone, and that year the Championship was won by Nino Farina behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo, of course equipped by Magneti Marelli. At the end of the 1960s, Magneti Marelli was a leader in the design of the newly-born electronics and in its applications to competitions.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Magneti Marelli developed the control electronics for the first Weber-Marelli injection systems used in the Formula 1 and fitted on Ferrari engines. The Ferrari-Magneti Marelli association, which started way back in the 1930s with the Alfa Romeos of the Ferrari Stable and which continued without interruptions with the start of the activities of the Prancing Horse Carmaker, has been particularly significant.
Grand Prix after Grand Prix, Magneti Marelli’s fame in Formula1 continued to swell, and was enriched by the cooperation with numerous teams and by many supplies: in addition to Ferrari, there were Renault, Ford-Cosworth-Hart, Matra, BRM, Lotus, Ligier, Osella, Toleman, Spirit, and others.
Between the 1980s and the year 2000, all of the major Formula1 teams relied on Magneti Marelli for electronic and electro-mechanical systems installed on the car and for the technology of electronic infrastructures and communication, for which Magneti Marelli is a leader in terms of testing and know-how. This is the case, for example, of the introduction of telemetry in race management or the development of the complex steering wheel of the single-seaters.
Since the 1980s, Magneti Marelli has become richer with the experience and competitive know-how of Carello and Weber, legendary brands in the field of lighting and engines supply, both successfully involved in competitions.
Magneti Marelli’s commitment in the world of competitions has also made history in the Rallies, for example with legendary cars such as the Fiat 131 Abarth, Lancia Stratos, Lancia 037 and the fabulous Lancia Delta Integrale.
In the last twenty years, Magneti Marelli’s name has been associated with many Formula 1 world championship titles: from 1992 until 1997 with the Williams-Renault team, from 1999 until 2004 with Ferrari and, after two years full of victories with Renault, again with Ferrari in 2007 and in 2008. The list of titles in the motorcycling world is just as prestigious, with five world championship titles in MotoGP with Yamaha and one with Ducati and, since 1988 in the Superbike World Championship 15 titles with Ducati and one with Yamaha.
