Franco Di Matteo

One of the nicest things about writing a series on Motorsport Legends is spending time with the subjects, listening to them reminisce about races past, Championships won and share their personal stories.

- Clare Vale

It’s especially nice when the subject happens to be a family friend and co-competitor! This month’s Motorsport Legend is Franco Di Matteo, aka “The Italian Stallion”, a fellow Benoni resident whom I’ve known since my WesBank V8 racing days.

Franco is a true Italian, with a passion for pasta and Italian cars, Alfa Romeos in particular. Although his late Dad was not involved in cars or motorsport, Franco was born with a fascination for fixing things and making them work better. Born and bred in Benoni, he attended Willowmoore High and soon became the “go to” guy for friends who wanted their 50cc bikes to go faster. Franco had aspirations of becoming a computer technician, and worked at Foto Cats on weekends, repairing anything that needed fixing.

Franco’s Dad taught him to drive at the age of 8, and by the time Franco got to high school, he was “borrowing” his Dad’s Rambler Hornet at night and cruising the streets of Benoni and Boksburg. In Standard 9, he bought his first car, a Fiat 128, which was obviously improved and modified and then promptly bought by one of his teachers.

The Fiat was followed by the first of many Alfas, a Giulietta, and by the time Franco was in Matric, he had built his first race car: an Alfa GT Junior. With help from his school friends, Franco started racing in the Clubmans series, where he enjoyed great success during his last year of high school. The Junior was soon sold, and by Franco’s first year of army training, he had built another Alfa to race in the WesBank Modified class: a Guilietta. This car was equally successful and popular.