RIGANTI, Raúl.

An Argentinian amateur who advised his employer De Algaza Unsue when ordering his cars for the 1923 Inianapolis 500 to specify the fitment of roller bearings for the crankshaft. Ettore agreed to this request but failed to deliver. The delivered cars were slow, badly prepared and unreliable. Riganti was one of the team which drove at Indianapolis and he qualified faster than his Bugatti team-mates with a speed of 95.30 mph (153.24 kmh) compared with the fastest qualifier Tommy Milton with a speed of 108.17 mph (173.93 kmh). He modified his car by the fitment of a sheet of asbestos sandwiched between two aluminium sheets beneath the seat to protect him from the oil tank which had overheated in practice. However, he was side-lined by a split fuel tank on lap nineteen. (Photo ; see “Bugatti Argentina” pp. 59 & 61). He won the Argentine 500 in 1926 and competed in the Grand Prix of Rio de Janeiro driving a Bugatti-Hudson. He returned to Indianapolis in 1941 with an 8CL Maserati but again failed to finish.