Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Autodrome of Modena’s RCM sweeper still a winner 10 years on
Our picture shows the RCM 1250 City sweeper, purchased in 2012 and still used daily for cleaning the Modena racetrack.
First, some history… In Modena, Italy, in 1909 there was a boy named Enzo who would dedicate his life to cars and racing, first as a mechanic and then as test driver, driver and sports director of Alfa Romeo - and, finally, as manufacturer of one of the most famous cars in the world: the Ferrari.
The races in Modena, first 12km by road in 1927 and 1928 (both won by Enzo Ferrari) then along the avenues in the park from 1934 until 1947, when a serious accident created a need for the Aerautodrome of Modena, which was inaugurated in May 1950.
Said to be second only to the track at Monza, it consisted of a take-off/landing runway in the centre and a track for racing cars and motorcycles that revolved around it: a "small Indianapolis" as it would be defined, to indicate that the public, from the grandstand, could follow the race along its entire track.
Ferrari, Maserati, Stanguellini, De Tomaso and many private teams were doing intense testing there - not to mention the motorcycling activity (Modena opened the calendar of the Italian Motorcycling Championship with Agostini, Provini, Saarinen, Villa) and aeronautics, which had one of the most important flight schools in Italy.
All these activities generated an important economic impulse represented by the numerous artisanal enterprises that have contributed to the economic welfare of the city, helping it become the ‘Land of Motors’.
The newer Autodrome of Modena that replaced the old structure is currently spread over an area of approximately 278,00sq.m (which in the coming months will become more than 400,000sq.m. It is managed by the Aerautodrome Modena S.P.A.
As on all modern tracks, the cleaning of the track, pit-line and pits is considered an important factor for the safety of the riders.The Autodrome of Modena immediately purchased a sweeper for the job. And taking into account the already large investment required, initially the cleaning was entrusted to a used sweeper.
"At that time, management decided to buy a RCM mod sweeper – the R1250 City - which despite being used every day, works well and solves the problems of cleaning of the track and the paddocks.
“It was a good purchase and I think that, until we have the new installation with the elongated track, it can fulfill its function," say the track’s owners.
Raimondo Raimondi, president of RCM S.p.A. adds: "The R1250 City that RCM designed in 1989 is still 99.9% recyclable and was manufactured with the same principles with which we manufacture sweepers/scrubbers today: exactly as current C.A.M. requires (Minimum Environmental Criteria):
* Maximum recyclability of materials used
* Maximum length of time
* Maximum ease of maintenance.
Evidently they are characteristics of the DNA that my father Roberto and the uncles Renzo and Romolo, transmitted to the children and grandchildren that now lead RCM."
12th January 2023