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Dallara Automobili S.r.l.
Gian Paolo Dallara founded Dallara Automobili in 1972 in Varano Melegari, near Parma, Italy. The company has an enviable record of success around the world, designing and manufacturing cars for a range of different major motor racing formulae.
Dallara graduated from the Polytechnic of Milan with a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1959, and he embarked on a career of race car design, starting with a position at Ferrari. He then moved to Maserati and then, in 1963, to Lamborghini where he designed the "Espada" and in 1966, the "Miura." At the end of the 1960s, he moved to De Tomaso, where he designed F2 cars. In 1970, he worked with De Tomaso F1 and with now legendary F1 team owner Frank Williams. During 1970 Dallara also worked on the design of the De Tomaso "Pantera." Dallara worked again with Williams in 1972 on the design of the ISO Marlboro Williams F1.
After forming the Dallara Automobili company, Dallara\'s first modern product was a 1,000-cc sports prototype, followed by further prototypes of 1,300-cc and 1,600-cc cars. In 1980, Dallara designed his first Formula 3 car, which won the Italian championship the same year. Dallara Formula 3 cars have since won championships worldwide, including in Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, South America, Russia and Austria.
Since 1997, Dallara has designed and built chassis\' for teams competing in the Indy Racing League championship. Dallara cars have won the series championship in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 and the Indianapolis 500 in 1998 (Eddie Cheever Jr.), 1999 (Kenny Brack) and 2001 (Helio Castroneves).
Dallara also has built up a close working relationship with some of the most prestigious motor car manufacturers, including Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Audi, Toyota and Honda, consulting on design, research and production of racing projects.
Gian Paolo Dallara was designated as the Italian representative on the technical committee of the FIA in September 1998. In May 1999, he received the prestigious Louis Schwitzer Award for improvements to the Dallara chassis used in Indy Racing League in 1999.
In 2001 Dallara was awarded two prestigious "one make" contracts, one for the Spanish Formula Super Nissan program and one for the Indy Racing Infiniti Pro Series, a support series to the Indy Racing League, both new championships that will start in 2002.
The company has state-of-the-art facilities that include a 1:2.5 wind tunnel, a seven-post dynamic test rig, Pro Engineer CAD system with F.E.A. and C.F.D. and a well equipped modern machine shop with CNC machines and two five-axis routing machines and an in-house composites department. The latest acquisition is a rapid prototyping machine that allows the rapid production of test parts straight from CAD data without the need to produce molds.
The company employs more than 100 people and is a truly international organization with key personnel from Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the United States and Argentina
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