My father reached out his hand full of hope and the gentleman introduced himself: “Nice to meet you, Otello. Otello Chiesa”.

Here is a passage from the letter that Alex Zanardi wrote after the launch of the chassis line named after him.

Here we find out how the former driver met Chiesa Corse owners Otello and Dino Chiesa, who years after this fateful encounter brought his name back to karting.

.“... We’d found out that there was going to be a national race event that weekend in Jesolo and we felt the times were ripe to attempt an “away match”.

Actually, it was my father - our improvised team’s manager, one and only mechanic, test driver, timing counselor, you name it - who decided we could make it [...]

We started to do laps, the track was fantastic. At first, the “locals” were spanking us, but by the end of the day the times my mates and I were setting had become quite competitive.

The next day, when we showed up at the technical inspections, I remember our puzzled looks when the commissioner inquired about our spare engine: “What? It’s allowed?”- I asked, mustering laughs among the drivers waiting in line behind us for their turn.

A nice older man turned to us, offering his respectful and compassionate remarks: “Well, you know, you might need it”. From the looks of it, he was the tuner of the group of kids standing behind us…