Alex Zanardi defends his gold medal onboard a Dallara

In an age when athletes and personalities are so often controversial, Alex Zanardi stand above as one that is truly inspirational.

The 49 year old Italian successfully defended his 2012 London time trial gold medal today at the Rio Paralympics.  Zanardi came from behind with an exciting last lap push, the power of his "engine" transmitted to the ground via a super sleek and futuristic hand bike designed by Italian race car shop Dallara.

"Dallara produced the chassis of a handbike in its Varano headquarters. The design process was similar to that of a racecar. Bologna athlete Alessandro Zanardi raced with this bike, winning three medals for time and road trials (two gold and one silver) in the London 2012 Paralympics.

Once Zanardi’s body surface and that of his bike had been scanned, an in-depth study of the CFD aerodynamics (Computational Fluid Dynamics) took place in order to fine-tune the shape of the handbike. Once the shape was defined, Dallara completed the FEM structural analysis (Finite Element Methods) and then carried out laboratory tests.

During the design process, Dallara built a mannequin to assess the comfort and the driving position. Finally, the first prototype was designed and created. All of this was completed within the limits of technical regulations that imposed dimensional and functional constraints, similar to racecar regulations.

These efforts cumulated in an ad hoc prototype for Alex. Different configurations are available to disabled athletes who request them."

Zanardi,  1997 and 1998 Indycar champion before his 2001 career ending accident at the Lausitzring,  thanked Gianpaolo Dallara.

"Dallara does not get enough credit in Italy,  it took more work to develop my bike than Indy cars."

But beyond technology and sport, Zanardi remains an inspiration.

"It's not about strength, anyone can find strength.  Ambition will make you  push but sooner or later you will tire.  Passion, not ambition, is the key to success, being a good person is the goal.

I would like to thank my sponsors for allowing an old man like me to compete and I would like to point out that we too are tempted by doping but the vast majority stay clean.  
If you dope you are the first to lose"

Life lessons.

(H/t Marco Belloro)

Another reminder Alex Zanardi is tougher than you.

(photo: BMW)

Alessandro Zanardi was competing in his first Berlin Marathon this past week end when the chain on his hand bike broke, 9 km from the finish.

Lesser men would have given up, not Alex who was determined to finish and rolled the bike with his hands the remaining five and half miles to the finish.

"I started the race on a handbike and I finished on an improvised pram"  tweeted Zanna " But I will be back for my revenge in 2016!"

Legend.

Hero: Alex Zanardi to race the 24 Hours of Spa with BMW

Not sure there are any superlatives left to describe what Alessandro Zanardi has accomplished in his "second" life, without a doubt he is one of the world's most inspiring sportsmen.

Adding to his list of accomplishments Zanardi, a BMW Brand ambassador, will race in the 2015 Total 24 Hours of Spa later this year.
Zanardi, 48,  will be the only disabled driver in the works Z4 GT3  and BMW Motorsport  has the challenge to adapt the car's controls while, at the same time,  allow for driver changes to be possible in a competitive amount of time.

"If you first look at it, it seems impossible that a guy with no legs like me lines up together with ‘normal’ drivers in such a highly competitive, tough and prestigious event."  Said Zanardi  "But I know that my friends at BMW Motorsport have all the technical expertise and innovative ideas to master this challenge."

BMW Motorsport boss Jens Marquardt added: "For sure, it is not an easy task to develop the modifications which are required when Alex shares the cockpit with other drivers. But is a great challenge for our engineers at BMW Motorsport which we face with a lot of enthusiasm. We can’t wait to see Alex lining up on the grid of this prestigious race in our BMW Z4 GT3."

The 24 Hours of Spa takes place the 25-26 of July and, just in case you think you have a busy sporting schedule consider that, after the Belgian classic, Zanardi will compete in the Para Cycling World Championship in August before heading to Hawaii in October for his second Ironman World Championship triathlon.

Legend.

Watch Max Papis and Alex Zanardi Drive a Toyota NASCAR at Monza

Part of the festivities at the annual Monza Rally show. The course is set up for rally cars, Max takes the gravel line at Parabolica...much to the amusement of Zanardi.

He also got to run the banks, that was cool.



.

Alex Zanardi wins the NYC Marathon!

What did you do this past week end? Alex Zanardi, won the hand cycle division of the 2011 New York City Marathon in 1 hour, 13 minutes, 58 seconds. It was his fifth time in the NYC classic. Zanardi won by just 2 seconds over Poland's Rafael Will, powering back after after having his bike's chain come loose when he hit a curb entering the final 1/4 mile in Central Park!

He was P4 his first time around in 2007 despite never having competed in a long distance bike race.

Zanardi, at 45, has set his eyes on representing Italy in the 2012 Paralympic in London. Italy can use a hero.

Grande Alex!
Results
.

Alex Zanardi on Two BMW Wheels!

Alex Zanardi swapped a 4 wheel BMW WTCC 3 series for a 2 wheel BMW HP2 boxer for a day of riding at Monza this past week. The Bike was modified with an automatic transmission, a brake force distribution system and special supports for his artificial legs. He reached speeds around the 160 mph mark. Amazing.

Here, in his own words...


Bloody hell, what fun!

I admit to have very few merits in devising what could look like my hundredth "idea".
In reality, Roberto Ungaro from the very nice magazine "Riders" proposed me this test.
His motivations, beyond the editorial interest, involved the theme of challenge, of the capability of some men (very "riders" according to him) to be always attracted by the steep and unknown road more than from the one run through by everyone and full of certainties.

"The nth challenge for a man that life broke but never bended!" he told me. Just to cut a long story short, he did not struggle verbally to make me feel perfectly "apt" in the role of Rider of the situation and I think this is not surprising you too much.
Anyway, last Thursday, at Monza, I drove a BMW HP 2 of 1200cc, whose boxer engine has 130hp, thanks to BMW Italy, Partner of mine for a while now.

I'd like to thank all the guys of my team and the personnel from RTM of Budrio (orthopedic center where they build my legs) for contributing to make this possible with small but necessary adjustments that allowed me to find a comfortable position on the saddle.
Such comfortable that at the end of the first lap, while all people present were getting closer thinking I would have stopped, I shouted them "if you let me pass I will run a few laps to get acquainted to it."
Well, at the following lap, the almost fifty persons present moved to the grass on the side of the main straight. I passed by flat out with the speedometer at 255Km/h at that point.
At the following lap no-one was there, they were all took refuge behind the wall!

Jokes apart, it has been great! Corner after corner I started feeling the bike getting more and more sincere behind me, tyres got in the right temperature and the amazing electronic compensated inexperience.
Nevertheless I pushed hard: on the main straight I reached in 263Km/h and under braking, since my car-based reference points made me under-evaluate a bit the less breaking power of a bike, I often reached the limit of lifting of the rear wheel and, paraphrasing the great Max Biaggi, I had a bit of "chattering".
Jokes apart, it has been a great experience and, together with friends at BMW Italy, we are already thinking about a more serious second episode.

Finally, I admit one thing: my sadistic pleasure reached the top when I saw Roberto Ungaro begging me to stop due to his fear of me overdoing it.

From the Rider arrived the stop that has been the best compliment. he did not expect that I would have pushed that hard!

Talk to you soon, do not miss the February number of Riders... ciaooooo.
(Alex-Zanardi.com)

more Alex Zanardi on Axis

Let's be thankful for Alex Zanardi

Our friend Kevin York pointed out the news about Alex Zanardi retiring from WTCC racing. I think this would be a good time to post this video I had been saving for a while. Humbling to say the least. Grazie Alex, sei grande!


(WTCC-Eurosport)

UPDATE: Well as it turns out Zanardi is not retiring, he's left without a ride because BMW is cutting off the various national teams and running a single german one... so Alex, who was running for the Ravaglia BMW Italia-Espana is left out and will move to the Italian Superstar series, I'm guessing still with Roberto Ravaglia team.



end of post