What do the Flying Mantuan and the Flying Finn have in common?
Two of the greatest steering wheel artists of their time had a little-known thing in common besides the often-cited attribute "flying". Both sought shelter in a tank. It was not the cheetah, the fastest animal in the world, that adorned the yellow sweater, the cars and the private plane. Nor a swift weasel, no, a rather slow and sluggish tortoise became the great symbol of the flying Mantuan Tazio Nuvolari. Years later, the flying Finn Mika Häkkinen joined the club of turtle lovers.
How did the turtle of all things come to be their trademark or mascot? When the famous poet Gabriele d'Annunzio met on Lake Garda, he dedicated a golden tortoise to the steering wheel virtuoso Tazio Nuvolari. From then on, it became the Mantuan's trademark with the initials "TN". In Italy, "La Tartaruga" is generally regarded as a lucky charm, as the strong shell is said to ward off evil and have a protective effect. In 1970, the widow Nuvolari, the Rookie of the Year, also known as "the indestructible", honored Clay Regazzoni with Tazio's golden turtle.
For years, Michael Schumacher's biggest rival was the Finn Mika Häkkinen. His favorite animal is Caroline the tortoise. Mika says: "Everyone laughs at my Caroline. You'd expect an F1 driver to have a dog or a horse as a pet, but certainly not a creature as slow as a tortoise. But Caroline doesn't care, she's totally independent and likes to be home alone from time to time.
