Sponsors
Beta Tools
In 1924 Alessandro Ciceri established a foundry company called Alessandro Ciceri & son and assisted by his son Damiano began to produce tools. It was not until 1939 that the company registered the Beta name, which was used for its heavy-duty wrenches. The business boomed during the was years and by the 1950s the company had established its own network of dealers across Italy. The company was quick to adopt new technologies such as computerisation and CAD-CAM design and expanded the company's range of tools to around 2000 items and looked to expand internationally. The first sponsorship was in 1972 when the company supported the Formula 3 activities of Vittorio and Tino Brambilla with its now famous orange colour scheme. Vittorio Brambilla won the Italian title that year and the brothers moved into Formula 2 with March. This led to Vittorio Brambilla becoming a March F1 driver in 1974. The Italian was wild but fast and in Sweden in 1975 he took a surprising pole position and later that year won the rain-drenched Austrian GP, distinguishing himself by crashing after he crossed the finishing line. From 1976 to 1982 Beta enjoyed a relationship with Ferrari while continuing to sponsor Brambilla with Surtees. The company expanded it sponsorships to include Eddie Cheever in F2, Piercarlo Ghinzani in F3 Champion of Italy and later Siegfried Stohr in F2. In 1981 the company returned to F1 with Riccardo Patrese and Stohr at Arrows but when that deal ended in 1983 the company decided to concentrate on being an official supplier of F1 teams, although there were a variety of other sponsorships in motorcycle racing, offshore powerboating, the America's Cup sailing competition and football. The company returned to F1 again in 1983 as a sponsor of Minardi before moving to Jordan in 1995. The company remains a technical sponsor in F1 to this day. The firms remains under the control of the Ciceri family and is now run by Massimo Ciceri.