STORY OF THE DAY: Caniato Brings the Small Alfa Home Ninth

Alfredo Caniato finished ninth in the Circuito di Alessandria, also known as the Circuito Pietro Bordino, driving the number 58 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Super Sport. Contemporary records place the race itself on Sunday, 26 April 1931, rather than the 25 April date given in the title. Achille Varzi won the 35-lap, 280-kilometre contest in a Bugatti T51, while Caniato completed the event in the smaller Alfa despite the presence of much faster Grand Prix machinery.

The defining feature of the race was Varzi’s control from the opening stages as leading challengers encountered trouble. Tazio Nuvolari and Luigi Fagioli both retired, but Caniato maintained his progress around the fast eight-kilometre public-road circuit and reached the finish in ninth place. For a driver in a 1.5-litre sports-derived Alfa, survival and consistency offered the practical route to a strong result amid a field divided into capacity classes but competing over the same demanding distance.

Vittorio Jano’s 6C 1500 Super Sport was powered by a 1,487 cc straight-six with twin overhead camshafts and, in supercharged form, a Roots-type compressor. The front-engined, rear-wheel-drive car used a four-speed gearbox, a pressed-steel ladder chassis, rigid axles with semi-elliptic springs and mechanically operated drum brakes. Developed from Alfa Romeo’s versatile 6C family, its compact engine and light Spider Corsa configuration provided useful agility, although it surrendered considerable power to the specialized Grand Prix cars at Alessandria.

Alfredo Caniato was an Italian private entrant closely associated with Scuderia Ferrari during the organization’s early Alfa Romeo years. He appeared in Italian road and circuit competition with 6C machinery and also contested the Mille Miglia, finishing that race in 1931 with Carlo Sozzi in a 1500 Super Sport. At Alessandria, Caniato’s importance lay in representing the dependable private-driver foundation on which Ferrari’s first racing operation was built, bringing the modest-capacity Alfa to a classified finish against celebrated professional rivals.