A passion for racing found a home in Raul Marchisio when he was at a very young age, and if you’d asked him a few decades ago what his plans for the future were he would probably tell you that he’d prefer to drop out of school to start working so he could get involved with go-karting.
Many young boys will answer “race driver” to the kindergarten-age question of what they want to be when they grow up, but Raul stuck with it longer than most, and by the time he’d become a teenager (which meant a license not far off in the future), Raul was still adamant about pursuing go-karting. A few years later, luck aligned in his favor and the first hurdle was crossed.
His father’s friend happened to have a go-kart that he wanted to sell, and as you can probably guess, that piece of kit ended up finding a new home with the Marchisio family. And though his father bought it for him, he didn’t quite have the time or the means to consistently haul Raul and his kart and gear back and forth to the nearest karting track, so the 14-year-old kid who was not about to let his kart go un-driven devised a solution. He’d simply leave his machine at the track—where else was it going to be used anyways? As such, Raul would go back and forth to his kart to work on it and practice with it on the weekends, using a small scooter to ferry himself and a few tools to and fro. After enjoying this lifestyle for a little while and making progress on his technique, the owner of the venue approached Raul one day about the possibility of racing in one of the upcoming events at the track.
His father had always reminded Raul to rid himself of any illusions about his prospects as a professional driver that could do drive to support himself and a family, but that wasn’t about to stop Raul from participating and finding out for himself. So, without telling his family, Raul agreed to compete in the race at his local circuit. That initial competitive outing led to Raul competing in more karting events, and eventually someone from the Italian autosport commission noticed his talent and began to support him. This led to Raul racing karts and cars all around Italy and wider Europe, with his focus shifting to rallying over time.
Typically karts are used as a lead-in of sorts to some kind of circuit racing, but Raul made the lateral motorsport transition into the largely off-road discipline of motorsport, and even helped out with a film on the subject of rallying. He was 18 years old at the time, and things were looking bright for Raul, who was competing in events and becoming increasingly enmeshed in the racing environs of Europe.
Unfortunately an accident forced Raul to abandon his trajectory as a professional racer, so with bills to pay and a kid to take care of, he had to find a new line of work. Living in Monaco was not cheap back then either, and he plugged the gap initially by teaching at some driving schools. Later, a friend suggested that Raul start selling cars, and along with memorabilia and gear and other related rarities and accessories, he’s been in that business ever since.
Racing was the dream, but spending time around cars like the Countach featured in today’s film isn’t a bad alternative for a lifelong car enthusiast like Raul. Almost anything is for sale, as they say, but Raul thinks this car might be an exception.
Drive Tastefully®
