The Italian Tecno team only briefly graced the F1 scene during 1972 and 1973; however two of their chassis, the PA123 and E371, beautifully prepared and resplendent in original Martini colours, roared together again at GP Live over the weekend.

The story of the Tecno team stretches back to 1960 when two engineer brothers Luciano and Gianfranco Perderzani set up a company in Bologna to manufacture hydraulic and gearbox parts. Drawn to the new trend for go-karting they expanded into building single seater race cars, quickly progressing up into F3 (they won the famous Monaco round in 1969) and then into F2 where they claimed the European title a year later after Clay Regazzoni won 7 of the 11 races in their car. Proving that they were a force to be reckoned with, they also built their own engines.

Just like all other Italian racing car manufacturers who wanted to emulate the success of Ferrari the Pederzani brothers, buoyed by their successes in F3 and F2, were no exception. For the 1972 Grand Prix season they produced not only a chassis - the PA123 - but a dramatic Flat 12 engine, and with Martini title sponsorship and Nanni Galli and Derek Bell as drivers they set off to conquer the world.

However the project got off to a bad start, initial plans to compete at the end of the 1971 season were shelved and it wasn't until the fifth race of the 1972 season that a single PA123 appeared. In the meantime the car had been re-engineered and the along with the expense of developing their own engine, much of the Martini budget was swallowed up. Despite their brave technical effort there was not to be any success. Galli and Bell rotated races in a single car until the Italian Grand Prix.
 

However to take the route of building their own engine rather than simply bolt on a Ford DFV unit used by most of the grid was a noble, if doomed, effort and worthy of these Italian racers.

Tecno started the 1973 season with a modified version of the PA123, the PA123 B, and again missing the opening four races of the F1 season. However they commissioned a new chassis designed by Gordon Fowell and built in the UK by Thompson (who also manufactured 1973 Ferrari 312 B chassis). The PA123 B was driven by Chris Amon at Silverstone, Zeltweg and Zandvoort that year but even the rapid New Zealander could not qualify this nicely made car. The new E371 chassis though was never actually raced, and was just used as a spare car at several Grands Prix.

The E371 (PA123/6) is currently owned and regularly driven by Giuseppe Bianchini whose newly published book Tecno La Storia is the definitive work on the marque. Lorenzo Prandina meanwhile owns the 1972 PA123/1 chassis, and in their eye-catching original red Martini & Rosso colours both chassis made an attractive sight at Donington Park.