Lancia engineer Francesco De Virgilio, far left, stands next to the Lancia B20 Corsa competition works car that was piloted by factory driver Gino Valenzano. With De Virgilio in this Lancia garage in Palermo, Sicily, are officials from the company and the Lancia dealership and a mechanic. The photo from March 1952 is included in "Lancia and De Virgilio, At the Center" by Geoff Goldberg.
Author Goldberg to Tell
Fascinating Story of Lancia, Engineer De Virgilio May 9
Italian automotive manufacturer Lancia has a long history of innovation leading to cars recognized as among the most technically advanced in the industry, and its story will be told on Saturday, May 9 at the International Motor Racing Research Center.
Geoff Goldberg, author of "Lancia and De Virgilio, At the Center," will speak about the Lancia company in post-World War II Italy and how Lancia engineers defined a company during its greatest years.
The free Center Conversations talk will start at 1 p.m. The Racing Research Center is located at 610 S. Decatur St., Watkins Glen.
Goldberg uses the documents of Francesco De Virgilio, a leading engineer at Lancia, and his breakthrough with a successful design of the V6 engine, previously believed unworkable. De Virgilio's solution was central to Lancia's Aurelia, introduced in 1950, and to its sports racers which dominated both the Carrera Panamericana and the Mille Miglia.
The book was published in 2014 by David Bull Publishing, with support from the Revs Institute for Automotive Research in Naples, Fla.
"The story of Engineer De Virgilio and Lancia during his most productive years cuts across and interweaves the disparate genres of history to produce a work that, at bottom, examines the life and work of a 20th-century technical man in the fullest context of his personal and professional roles," Revs Institute President Miles C. Collier writes in the preface to Goldberg's book.
For more about Goldberg's May 9 talk, go to the Racing Research Center's website at www.racingarchives.org.
:: 
