DUILIO TRUFFO

IN A KART, UP TO A STEP FROM THE DREAM

“Ever since I was a child I have been drawn to speed – he says. Even on a bicycle it was a continuous skidding that wore out the tires. It was my way to let off steam. Then I discovered karting, actually it used to be that instead of going to school, so my first step was I went to try rental karts. When my father took me to Albenga, where a city circuit was raced, I insisted on going for a ride. My father, of course, did not want me to, thinking that I was not capable of driving my dream…karting. When he finally gave in and let me give it a chance and drive, he was amazed. Even the winner of the race noticed me, he was impressed and wanted me to try driving his race kart. I did well with that too and my dad convinced himself to buy me a kart”. The confirmation of what they had witnessed came to them immediately. “First race won as well as the second one. I did not do very well at school, I did not like studying and that was a source of friction with my dad. In karting, however, I found something that I was good at, something in which I could claim as my own and it changed my life forever. At first, I raced with my brother, even though he was ten years older than me. We used the same kart. I installed the 25-kilo seat and then, after the race, he disassembled it, mounted his own seat and then raced the same kart. Only once, in a city circuit in Sondrio, we both registered in both categories. The result was he won mine and I won his! That was the first time that that I raced against other drivers like Oscar Sala and all the big names in karting”. Some of the most intense memories, however, are related to the experiences in endurance racing. “Exhausting! I remember a 24-hour race in Brignoles [France] which was run with 100cc engines. There were three of us and we were doing 40-minute shifts each. Basically, it was only my brother and I who raced, because the third driver was the mechanic, and at one point he got injured.