Carlo Borrani

Carbonero · Apr 20, 2010

Certainly was instrumental in helping Ferrari get "rolling."

http://www.hemmings.com/hmn/stories/2006/07/01/hmn_feature29.html

If we asked you to picture any Ferrari road car from the 1950s or early 1960s, it would probably be red and riding on wire wheels. Those wire wheels would have been supplied to the factory in Maranello by Ruote Borrani Milano, or Borrani Wheel of Milan.
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The history of Ruote Borrani is linked to that of Coventry, England's, Rudge Whitworth, a firm that pioneered an easily installed spline-drive wire wheel that featured epicyclic automatic tightening and a central locking cap. An entrepreneur named Carlo Borrani saw that this design held great potential for sporting vehicles, as the commonly used wood artillery wheels tended to collapse under the stresses incurred by racing. Carlo licensed production of the Rudge Whitworth patent on April 22, 1922, and his company, Rudge Whitworth Milano, was set up in a factory at Via Ugo Bassi 9 in Milan, Italy, to build wheels for cars, motorcycles and bicycles.
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The increasing popularity of Borrani wire wheels, which were hand-assembled, meant that demand soon outstripped the production facilities; Carlo Borrani S.p.A. was building 1,500 wheels a year by 1955. They moved to another location in Milan, and the company name was again changed to "CMR"--Costruzioni Meccaniche Rho S.p.A.

Borrani's best customer during that period was Enzo Ferrari, who specified that all his racing and road cars be fitted with Borrani wire wheels. Borranis were also used on Alfa Romeos, Aston Martins, Fiats, Maseratis, Lamborghinis and OSCAs.
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Carlo Borrani

Carbonero Formula Junior

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