CARLOS DE PAULA LAUNCHES NEW BOOK CELEBRATING THE 100 YEARS OF 24 HOURS OF LE MANS

 Author Carlos de Paula, known for his historical auto racing books, has launched a new book, the "24 Hours of Le Mans Curiosities", which is available in most Amazon shops worldwide. 

The 279-page book contains year-by-year milestones of the great race, including details on drivers, constructors, regulations, track changes, basic statistics, nationalities represented, debuting marques, plus curious details that may be overlooked even by the most knowledgeable racing enthusiast. It is meant to be a fun book, offered at a lower cost than most 24 Hours of Le Mans books. 

                         Carlos de Paula has authored several auto racing books since 2018.

The book is selling well in several markets besides the United States, such as UK, Germany, France, Canada, Spain, Australia. Because the book is sold in non-English speaking countries, it is written in simple English. 

The Le Mans book follows the successful Formula 1 Curiosities series that took Amazon by storm in 2022. Volume 2 of Formula 1 Curiosities is being prepared and should be released by August, 2023. 

The link to acquire the book in amazon is 24 Hours of Le Mans Curiosities: From 1923 to the present: De Paula, Carlos: 9798389789531: Amazon.com: Books

Note that the book is not available in regular bookstores. 

CASERTA'S HELL

 

Racing history enthusiasts will readily remember some of the darkest days of the sport, when multiple drivers and spectators died on a same race. Le Mans 1955, Monza 1933, Rouen 1970, Indy 1973, Imola 1994, are just some of those sad days that remind us how thousands of people lost their lives  at race tracks or places where races were held since the late 19^th century, in spite of today’s false sense of security.

 

The earliest races took place on open roads, generally from one city to another. With increasing number of vehicles and the inconvenience of closing roads for racing events, soon closed circuits emerged, while the “stradale” Targa Florio insisted in remaining open for business until the 70s. Now such racing is restricted to rallies and hill climbs.

 

It is not surprising that it was in Italy, in spite of the veteran Monza circuit, that there was some resistance to building of purpose made tracks with a semblances of safety. Very dangerous races were held in several Italian cities: Messina, Naples, Garda, Pescara, Modena, Bari, Syracuse, among others, and Caserta. In fact such races continued in the 60s, and Caserta was one of the venues used in the 1967 Italian F-3 Championship.

 

This championship was reasonably competitive, even though it did not generate world racing stars such as the British and French championships. However, on that year several future F-1 drivers contested Italian F-3: Andrea de Adamich, Clay Regazzoni, Ernesto Brambilla, Silvio Moser, Carlo Facetti. In fact, even an Italian driver who had already raced in F-1 was back in F-3, Giacomo “Geki” Russo. The latter was not only experienced (he had been racing since 1959), but he also had a special weapon for that season: he bought a Matra to compete against a number of British cars, such as Lotus and Brabham, and the Italian De Sanctis and BWA.

 

The circuit had a triangular shape and it was very narrow. The qualifying race was very animated, and it was won by Moser, followed by Geki, Corti and Reggazoni, who crossed the finish line practically together. The drama occurred on the seventh lap of the final heat. The Swiss driver Beat Fehr and Andrea Saltari touched each other on a quick part of the track and the cars ended up in a walled area, allowing little visibility.   In fact Fehr’s Brabham was thrown back to the middle of the track. A back marker, Franco Foresti, realized very late that Fehr’s car was there, hit it, and his own car was destroyed in the mayhem.

 

To avoid more accidents Beat Fehr decided to warn the front runners who were approaching very quickly.  One thing is clear, out of several versions: Geki Russo lost control of his Matra, collided with one of the cars that had already crashed, and was thrown out of his F3, which caught fire immediately. Geki died on the spot. The well intentioned Fehr ended up run over by a car, maybe Geki’s car, maybe another driver’s car, and ended up in the hospital, as did Corrado Manfredini, Jurg Dubler and Clay Regazzoni. Fehr died from his injuries some days later.  Crashes continued throughout the entire track, and the Italian driver Romano Perdoni, known as“Tiger”, ended up the third fatality of the weekend,  trapped inside his car with several internal and external injuries.  

  

When the race was finally stopped, there were only four cars running – the other drivers were either dead, at hospital or out of the race, their cars utterly destroyed. Caserta’s streets were a war zone.

 

At the time, there were only two permanent closed circuits in Italy: Monza and Vallelunga. After Caserta 67, which never again hosted a car race, little by little street races disappeared, and race tracks such as Misano, Mugello, Varano and Imola were built.  Targa Florio survived as a round of the World Championship of Makes until 1973, taking one final victim, as forgotten as Russo, Fehr and Tiger: Charles Blyth.  

Who invented one make championships?

I know some people who would certainly kick the butt of the inventor of one make championships, truly believing they destroyed car racing.  I dare not say what was the first international one make race or tournament ever held. For sure, there were races in the 20s or 30s, in which only Bugattis competed, albeit unintentionally.   However, the race discussed in this post was probably one of the first intentional attempts to hold a one make championship and race in the world.  

The location and timing could not be more exquisite. Nowadays we are used to racing events in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, even Saudi Arabia. However, in the aftermath of World War II,  international races in places other that Western Europe or the USA could rate as madness. How about Africa?

There was racing in the continent in the Pre-War period, I know. One of the most famous GP of the 30s was the Tripoli event, in Lybia, and even South Africa was visited by the Auto Union team in the same decade. How about Egypt?

A visionary has two fates: he either becomes hugely successful and widely praised for his genius or falls flat on his face and becomes the subject of jokes for his craziness. Let us say the creator of this single make race held in 1947 ended up in the second team.

Piero Dusio was the guy's name and his creation was the Cisitalia. I imagine, with some poetic liberty, that Piero believed that his baby, the D46, and his concept would save the sport. So he embarked on this adventure with the financial support of some Swiss nationals, which certainly made matters easier. Wasting other people's money is always a sweet deal...

Sixteen D46 were shipped to the circuit of El Ghezira, located in a residential island off Cairo. The drivers, almost all Italian, included Alberto Ascari, Franco Cortese, Piero Taruffi, Nello Pagani, Dorino Serafini, among the best known. Dusio himself was set to drive one of his cars. Monegasque Louis Chiron, who had won many Pre-War GPs, was there to add international flavor.

The drivers had a blast. Local authorities, including King Farouk, embraced the initiative with enthusiasm. However, come race day a mere 6000 frightened people witnessed the race, comprising two heats and a final race.

Cortese won one of the heats, Ascari the other. At the end of 50-lap final, Cortese won again, followed by Ascari, Taruffi, Dusio and Tadini. Cortese received the solid gold trophy from the hands of the king himself, but the Swiss backers were not a tad impressed with the financial meltdown from the creative event, and withdrew their support, leaving Dusio in a precarious state. In fact, almost bankrupt.

The D46s were sold to drivers from several countries, and driven by some famous people, including Nuvolari and Stuck, in fact won races in some places. The car was equipped with a 1.5 Fiat engine, so it was used in the voiturette category, and was raced as late as the 50s.

Cisitalia never took off, certainly because of the failure - temporary - of the one make concept.  The cars made by the company are still highly sought and appreciated.

Unusual facts of yesteryear

There are certain peculiar scenes in old time racing that were never properly recorded or documented. Some were funny, others tragic and sad.  Others happened so long ago that you wonder whether they were the product of a hyperactive creative mind

It is said that Jules Goux, winner of the 1913 Indy 500 stopped in the pits to gobble up some champagne in the middle of that very race. In Brazil there was a very slow driver who used to refuel his Simca in long distance races at a gas station outside Interlagos. There are many other funny stories in Brazil, one of the Opalas that raced in the first Stockcar event in Cascavel was so standard it actually had A/C, while a DKW driver from Brasilia used to smoke a cigarette while racing. 

Everything is so professional and organized today...however, not so long ago Taki Inoue was run over more than once during his short Formula 1 career. And rabbits, dogs and other animals visit tracks even during GPs. Even the Singaporegate of a few years back appears somewhat comic and unbelievable.

Nowadays everything is very fast. When the difference between P1 and P2 in quali is 0.5 sec we believe it is a huge gap, but back in the old days several seconds could separate drivers on a first row. And I am not even talking about long tracks such as Nurburgring, Spa and Pescara, but rather, shorter tracks.

When only twenty cars were left to race in F1, it seemed the world would end for some fans.  

In the early years of the sport even the top racing had a great air of improvisation, and things were taken much slower, even in racing.

Campari in 1925

The first world racing championship took place in 1925. It had a few races, and the champion was Alfa Romeo. There was no driver championship, the winner scored 1 point, second place, 2. In other words, the reverse of what we have today. 

In the first edition of the Belgian GP, besides Alfa, cars from Delage, Sunbeam and Bugatti were entered. However, come race day, only seven cars started, four Delage and three Alfas.

The race was long. GPs at the time were not "Made for TV", which did not even exist at the time. In this specific case, the race was a whopping 800 km long and it took more than six hours!

Eventually, all four Delage retired, and so did  Brilli Peri's Alfa. So only two cars remained in the track, the  Alfas of Antonio Ascari and Giuseppe Campari.

The public did not like this development, and the two surviving heroes were nastily booed.   Alfa 's crew reaction was funny. They prepared a sumptuous lunch, and the two drivers stopped in the pits at the same time, stuffed their face (apparently very slowly), until the public began missing the two cars on track.  They eventually came back, and Ascari finished first Campari, second.

Talk about romantic.

INTERNATIONAL RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE 70S

Many international championships were added to the International calendar during the 70s, which spike interest on the sport globally.

These, plus the existing championships were:

Formula 1 – World Championship, South Africa (also included F5000 and F2), Aurora Championship + British Group 8 (which also included Formula 5000, Formula 2, even Atlantic early on)

Formula 2 – European and Japanese Championships

Formula 3 – British, European, German, French, Italian, Swedish championships

Formula 5000 – American, European, Australian, New Zealand

Sports cars: World Championship of Makes, World Sports Car Championship, DRM (also ran Touring Cars), European GT Championship, European 2 Liter Championship, IMSA, Trans-Am, Can Am, Interserie, PROCAR, Le Mans

Touring cars: NASCAR, European Touring Car championship, Avenir Cup, USAC Stockcars

Formula Atlantic: Canada, South Africa, Britain

Formula Indy: USAC Championship Trail  + CART

Formula Super Vee: European, plus local championships in several countries

Hill climbing: European Hill-climb championship

Tasman Cup

SCCA and British club racing 

If you are interested on details concerning these individual 1970s championships, plus dozens of other championship and categories, much more information about racing in the 70's can be found in my book MOTOR RACING IN THE 70'S - PIVOTING FROM ROMANTIC TO ORGANIZED. It is a 472-page book about racing in the period,  with 242 photos, covering Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000, other lower formulae, Formula Indy, NASCAR, Touring Cars, Sports Cars, Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, DRM, local racing scenes, main driver profiles, plus long lists of makes that raced in the period, main drivers and racing venues from 85 countries, year highlights, performance and financial analysis of the sport. It can be bought at Amazon shops in the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

Carlos de Paula is one of the top Brazilian Portuguese translators in the USA since 1982. And now a top Portuguese AI Translation editor as well. 

Quickly fading away

It was almost like a pilgrimage. One of the first things I would do in my trips to Paris was go to Champs Elysees and visit the Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Mercedes and Toyota showrooms. There I would buy miniatures, books, t-shirts, key holders, trinkets of all types (I love trinkets), articles of clothing and take pictures of concept cars as well as racing cars.

I saw very up close a number of Red Bull, Renault and Mercedes Formula 1 cars, Peugeot and Toyota prototypes, Citroen rally and touring cars. Took a number of pictures. Happy days.

First to go was the Mercedes showroom. Granted that everything was so bloody expensive there that it seemed they really did not want to sell anything. There was never a thought of displaying the DTM cars, but at least I saw the Mercedes F1 up close. A show car, I know, fake as fake news.

Then, Toyota pulled the plug, curiously, just before finally winning Le Mans after so many decades trying. In its place, a toy store.

2017 claimed the Citroen multi floor show room, exceptionally designed outside and inside. 2018 was the year of demise of the Peugeot store. Alone carrying the torch now is Renault, the only one that was properly commercially explored from the get go, equipped with a properly run cafe. How long it will last, I don’t know.

Car makers are run by boards, who make purely financial decisions. They are interested on profits, and marketing expenses have to be justified. Trinket buyers can go to hell. While it is true that four of these manufacturers run Formula E programs, a category still in dire need of public relations. which has a Paris round with promotional issues no less, just one of the bunch sees the benefit of continuing with a Champs Elysees presence. None have ever displayed the electric racer. No Formula E participant will admit this, but most racing buffs are not all that keen on the category. It does need promotion, big time, and Champs Elysees was the ideal place.

Mind you, there was not a single race car on display this November at the sole lasting prestige showroom: a somewhat uncharacteristic 30s Renault limousine graced the front of the store, a pretty 50s oldie van was placed on the inside, plus a cutaway and concept car. No race cars, fake or true, were on sight. Racing themes were still abundant in the shop, though.

Racing as a promotional tool or merchandising outlet is losing power with every passing second, I hate to admit. Racing magazines are disappearing, and only Auto Hebdo is doing a proper print job at this time. Websites fail to excite. Stores selling racing miniatures and books are few and far between, resisting against severe odds, and a lot have closed in the last 5 or 6 years.

Peugeot claims that a new prestige showroom will be built somewhere else. Given the FIAT and PSA merger under discussion, I find that implausible, for mergers always mean severe cost cutting. I would not be surprised if the announced Peugeot WEC challenger were cancelled, just like Citroen just cancelled its WRC presence. 

I do hope in my next trip to Paris the Renault store will still be there. Where else would I buy trinkets?

The now empty former Citroen showroom at Champs Elysees

The beginning of the end

As my book Motor Racing in the 70`s indicates, 1979 was a very important year for the Williams team. In Silverstone, Clay Regazzoni managed to win a race for the British team for the first time. This was followed by 4 other wins by Alan Jones in the second half of the year. After trying to make the big leagues since 1969, Williams had finally arrived, with a bang.

The beginning was auspicious. Fielding a Brabham-Ford for Piers Courage in 1969, Williams actually got two second places in its debut season. Then came the De Tomaso chassis of 1970, Piers` death, and a number of years fielded Marches and proprietary chassis. Williams was often the laughing stock of the field, although a number of talented drivers drove for it during the period, including Pescarolo, Redman, Schenken, Merzario, Pace, Ickx, Laffite. The team was often underfunded, failing to collect from sponsors, then failing to pay drivers, and leased many a seat to Formula 1 hopefuls. The trough came in 1976, when a tie-up with Walter Wolf turned disastrous for Frank on and off the track. The more business-savvy Wolf ended up with the team, and actually made the new Wolf team a winner from the start in 1977. Williams regrouped late in the season, at first fielding a March for relative unknown Patrick Neve. The novelty was some Arab sponsors on the car and a young engineer called Patrick Head in the pits.  

The 1979 Williams team epitomized the successful F-1 team of the year and onwards. Well-funded, organized, motivated, with great staff and a talented engineer, plus winning drivers. The first title came in 1980, the last in 1997, a total of six, all won by a different driver. This is a Williams peculiarity among teams that won titles with more than one driver – no Williams driver ever repeated the feat.  The last race win was Pastor Maldonado’s inherited victory in the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.  For a while Williams seemed on the rebound later in the decade and Valteri Bottas looked a certain winner a few times in the team’s cars.

The 2019 Williams team, on the other hand, looks more like the Iso-Marlboro of 1973 than a large and traditional team. Only Ferrari and McLaren can boost longer continuous career in the current F-1 field. However, 3 other teams, Mercedes, Renault and Alfa Romeo were Grand Prix pioneers from the early days of the sport. Tradition aside, Williams lost its major sponsor, Martini, a sugar-daddy (Lance Stroll’s father) and seems anything but a Mercedes B-team. The fact it is powered by the most successful engine of the age has no apparent effect on its performance.

The Iso-Marlboro of 1973 - at this point no one could guess Williams would be a top F1 team. 

The question is, how long can this continue? As an engineering company Williams makes a lot of money conducting projects for a number of clients. F-1 has become an after-thought since the heady days of the 1980s and 1990s, which might explain the big slip in overall performance since then. A tie-up with a number of engine manufacturers has not helped. In my view, Williams had a good opportunity to remain relevant should the Toyota partnership evolved. Truth is, Williams has lost its winning mentality as a team years ago, going into survival mode. And F-1 has become an embarrassment for the engineering company.

So, although I titled this article “The beginning of the end”, it may actually be the epilogue of a long process that began after losing the BMW partnership. Williams has looked quite lost in the off-season testing, and poor Robert Kubica is back in F-1 in the worst possible circumstances.

It would be sad to see Williams go, but that seems to be just a matter of time.

If you are interested in my book Motor Racing in the 70`s, you may buy it at foreigndocumenttranslations.com/motorracingbooks.php. The book is a comprehensive review of racing in the entire world during the decade and it covers all major championships and disciplines.

The 70s, a Porsche decade

One can argue that the 70’s were the Porsche decade. The company’s cars won Le Mans for the first time (and then four additional times), won hundreds (if you consider class wins, thousands) of races in all corners of the world, by that meaning every continent, dozens of championships, including world championships. A number of types represented the company in such wins: several versions of the 917, 908, 911, Carrera, 934, 914, 935, 936 won major races, even the old 910 and 907 could be called upon to win an occasional minor race. Porsches dominated at times not only the World Makes Championship, but also Can Am, Interserie, European GT Championship, DRM, IMSA, Trans Am. Porsches won domestic championships in the USA, Germany, Netherlands, Benelux, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Sweden and other countries. A Porsche Carrera was also the first turbo car to win a World Championship race, which also happened to be the last Targa Florio valid for the world championship. Porsches also won in hillclimbs, rally, autocross. This level of success was sustained throughout the decade – as the 917 was the dominating force in the 1970 Makes Championship and Le Mans, the 935 was doing the winning in 1979. Porsche cars comprised most Le Mans starters during the decade, sometimes, well over half of the field. Porsche quite simply ruled endurance racing all over the world, from Japan to Senegal and the USA.   

Curiously, there was no Porsche representation in Formula 1 during the 70`s, in any shape or form. While Porsche Formula 2 cars ran sporadically in the 50’s, a bona fide Porsche Formula 1 ran and won in the 1.5 formula of the 60’s, the TAG Porsche engine ran and conquered Formula 1 in the 80’s and there was even an ill-fated Porsche-Footwork tie up in the 90’s, Porsche was absent from the Formula 1 scene, even though the 908 Porsche was equipped with a 3-liter power plant, excellent for endurance but insufficiently powerful for Formula 1.

To find out a bit more about Porsche’s achievements in the 70’s, you may consider acquiring my book Motor Racing in the 70’s – Pivoting from Romantic to Organized.Much more information about racing in the 70's can be found in my book MOTOR RACING IN THE 70'S - PIVOTING FROM ROMANTIC TO ORGANIZED. It is a 472-page book about racing in the period,  with 242 photos, covering Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000, other lower formulae, Formula Indy, NASCAR, Touring Cars, Sports Cars, Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, DRM, local racing scenes, main driver profiles, plus long lists of makes that raced in the period, main drivers and racing venues from 85 countries, year highlights, performance and financial analysis of the sport. It can be bought at Amazon shops in the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

On the matter of racing sponsors in Formula 1 and elsewhere

Cigarette manufacturers spent billions of dollars in automobile racing, starting in 1968. Back in the 1800’s, cigarettes were sold as healthy items – believe it or not, good for the lungs! By the way, that was the approach used to introduce cigarettes to the Chinese market in the latter part of the century. Soon the medical profession caught on with tobacco’s twisted rationale, but as the multi-billion dollar industry has always involved money and power all over the world, cigarettes are still sold freely all over, but advertising it has become impossible. It was not entirely so back in 1968, although there were some prohibitions in certain medias and certain countries. That was the very reason why cigarette manufacturers embraced racing with gusto, specially because direct tobacco advertising was prohibited in TV almost universally. As racing became more of a TV product, it became a very useful advertising medium for cigarette advertisers, almost the only way their brands could appear on an ever more relevant and influential platform. With time we got used to seeing Marlboro and Gitanes sponsored Formula 1 cars without signage in races such as the British and German Grand Prix. Eventually, cigarette sponsorship has become universally outlawed.

Now, we see logos of the likes of Martini and Chandon omitted from Formula 1 cars in the Abu Dhabi and Bahrain Grand Prix. I have not quite understood why the Singha logo is allowed to appear on Ferrari, for Singha is Thailand’s main beer brand. Maybe beer is allowed, champagne and vermouth not allowed?

Be that as it may, I was just meditating about the condition of the Brazilian Stock Car championship. Although a local championship, a number of well known drivers of Formula 1 pedigree race in this championship, including Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa, Ricardo Zonta, Antonio Pizzonia, Lucas di Grassi and Nelson Piquet Jr. A large percentage of the grid is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, mostly generic drug makers. This pattern began years ago, with the success of Medley.

This works in Brazil, it would not work in the US, for instance. Brazilians are prone to self-medication and buying medicines in pharmacy without prescription is a national pass time. In the US, you never even see the medicine’s packages for most prescriptions, generic or not: medicines are removed from boxes and placed in pharmacy containers. So generic drug makers have no reason to even thing about advertise. Of course, this does not apply to brand names such as Viagra, which most famously sponsored NASCAR cars. In fact, a lot of TV and magazine advertising these days is done by pharma companies, specially as TV audiences become older and older. The young set is leaving TV aside, after all.

Returning to the Brazilian Stock car championship, if the government does decide to curb or prohibit generic pharmaceutical companies advertising, the championship would be in a dire situation. Both this year’s champion and runner up (Daniel Serra and Felipe Fraga) are sponsored by pharma, in fact, Fraga’s team, Cimed, had no less than five cars in the Interlagos season closing event.

I have discussed the matter of sponsorship and money at length in my book Motor Racing in the 70`s – Pivoting from Romantic to Organized which can be bought here or in several amazon.com stores worldwide. I discuss the astounding wide variety of industries that sponsored racing endeavors back in that pioneering decade, and funny enough, pharmaceutical companies were not common at all. Things change. For the sake of Brazilian Stock Car, let us hope there is no advertising ban on generic drug makers. And let us hope not many thousand Brazilians die from improper self-medicating…   

Much more information about racing in the 70's can be found in my book MOTOR RACING IN THE 70'S - PIVOTING FROM ROMANTIC TO ORGANIZED. It is a 472-page book about racing in the period,  with 242 photos, covering Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000, other lower formulae, Formula Indy, NASCAR, Touring Cars, Sports Cars, Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, DRM, local racing scenes, main driver profiles, plus long lists of makes that raced in the period, main drivers and racing venues from 85 countries, year highlights, performance and financial analysis of the sport. It can be bought at Amazon shops in the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426    

What if Senna had never made it to Europe?

They say timing is everything. Sometimes timing is totally out of our control, so opportunities are lost, sublime talents wasted forever. When timing is perfect, “stars align”, things work out, talents reach fruition. The meritocracy idea that talented people always reach the top is bogus. 

History is a sum of intercalated past events, in different times and places that conspire to change the present and the future. So what we see and experience today had multiple roots in the past.

Thus, the fact that Ayrton Senna, a Brazilian driver, eventually made it to Europe and conquered Formula 1, inspiring future generations of drivers all over the world, took root in the timing of certain events in Brazil (and the world), back in the 70’s. The timing of such events was perfect, preceding the 1973 oil crisis and matching the height of the Brazilian “economic miracle”. The fact is, had the Brazilian racing scene remained sleepy, disorganized and stagnant until 1974, and attempts were made to go international in the midst of a crisis that greatly affected racing between 1974 and 1976, it is quite possible that Senna’s talents would have been wasted in the process.

These events, that happened between 1969 and 1972, opened the door for the likes of Senna to pursue racing abroad seriously, enabling drivers to secure sponsorship even in the midst of a very serious and long local economic crisis whose onset was 1974 and lasted through the 90’s. It should be remembered that by late 1974 Brazil already had a 2-time Formula 1 world champion, and ten years later, when Senna debuted in Formula 1, another driver had reached that same status. This series of events Brazilian opened to doors to other South Americans as well, for South American drivers (including Argentines) were a very rare sight in European race tracks during the 60’s, but as events unfolded, Uruguayans, Peruvians, Colombians, Ecuadorians, Chileans and Venezuelans also took a crack. In short, Emerson Fittipaldi’s success and quick rise to fame is the root of all this.

That prompted me to write a case study, Brazil from Footnote to Relevance in the course of three seasons, which discusses in detail what happened during these years, and sets the tone for internationalization. It required the right elements at the right time. The 80-page text is provided as a bonus to my book Motor Racing in the 70’s – Pivoting from Romantic to Organized, which can be bought at Amazon stores in USA, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Spain, Italy and Australia, or in the site motorracingbooks.com. The rest of the 382-page book deals with racing all over the world, with rare lists, statistics and information about all types of racing in the Americas, the Caribbean, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. Required reading for anybody who is really interested in racing history and Ayrton Senna.

  

Much more than meets the eyes

Most car of the world's motor racing literature is written in English. I would not dare pegging a percentage, but an educated guess is much more than 80%. Back in the 70's the percentage was  even higher, as publishing technology and markets were very restricted.

As a result, much of what you read about racing in the period covers the USA (plus Canada), Western Europe, South Africa and Australia/New  Zealand. That was pretty much what the British and American specialized media was covering these days in magazines, newspapers, books and annuals.

This gives a very wrong impression that racing was not taking place elsewhere in the world, especially in places where English was not spoken.

When I got the idea for my book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized, I would be doing what 99% of motoring writers had done when covering the period: focusing entirely on the major racing taking place in the SA (plus Canada), Western Europe, South Africa and Australia/New  Zealand.

Then I had an epiphany of sorts. Why write another book that concentrated on major racing, leaving out the all other wonderfully "romantic" racing taking place in South and Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe? It seemed unfair, given that the book was supposed to be a celebration of  the romantic racing being practiced in the area and comprehensive. I simply could not leave out the wonderful racing taking place in Argentina, the dozens upon dozens of venues around the world, races held in unlikely locations...Just writing about Formula 1, like hundreds of other books seemed to be a waste of time and money. Repeating the same old anecdotes you can read about in hundreds of Internet forums seemed unnecessary

Talking about world racing and leaving out the wonderful competitions and cars from Argentina - and dozens of other countries - seemed an unfair corruption of  history.
.
I did not leave Formula 1 out. Instead, I picked out interesting bits and pieces, plus some specific statistics from the period. And did cover all the major championships.

The difference is in the details, the thousands of rare pieces of information concerning constructors, racing venues across the world (including hill climbs), the most significant drivers from seventy-two countries, some of which you had not idea held races way back then. Even from widely covered countries such as Britain, France, Italy, you will learn about categories long gone, certain makes you never imagined were involved in racing and find out about the local racing scenes of dozen of countries.   

There are also sections on money in the period's racing, sponsors, female drivers and short bios of the most striking personalities from the period, as well as an essay that discusses the pivoting that is the core idea of the book.

There is also a bonus section that covers in detail the development of Brazil as a force to be reckoned with, which left the status of footnote in 1969 to relevance in three seasons.

This is the ultimate reference on 70s racing, a must-have for any true enthusiast.

The book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized can be bought here

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426


 

 

Money in 70s Car Racing, Formula 1, NASCAR, Indy, Sports Cars, etc

Nowadays information about driver’s retainers, race earnings, the huge amounts some Formula 1 teams are paid, sponsorship deals seems public domain; $$$ are often featured in racing news stories. There are multiple reasons for that: public disclosure is required of public companies, a great part of the allure of motor racing these days seems pegged to the possibility of making large mounds of dollars, euros and pounds. Additionally, let us face it, we live in a very narcissistic world. Celebrities love to flaunt dough, and the sport has always been aligned with the idea of vast amounts of cash flying about. Buying a Ferrari to go racing in the 50s definitely cost more than buying soccer balls or swimming in lakes or buying cricket gear, after all.

I have conducted extensive research on car racing in the 70s, and to be honest, locating trustworthy and plentiful data has been challenging at best. People simply did not talk much about it, for reasons you may found out later. And some that do talk about it 40 years down the line perhaps embellish their stories a bit, and forget or add zeroes…

In my recently launched book Motor Racing in the 70s – Pivoting from Romantic to Organized, I discuss this very issue (and many others as well, such as sponsors), whenever possible contextualizing other economic data that will help readers assess what was really going on. You must also consider that a lot of published information does look awfully inconsistent, and some of the recollections from those active in the area often seem to have too many or lack some zeroes.

It does make for interesting reading and reflection.

If the subject interests you, make sure you get a copy of the book on Amazon.com today. Much more information about racing in the 70's can be found in my book MOTOR RACING IN THE 70'S - PIVOTING FROM ROMANTIC TO ORGANIZED. It is a 472-page book about racing in the period,  with 242 photos, covering Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000, other lower formulae, Formula Indy, NASCAR, Touring Cars, Sports Cars, Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, DRM, local racing scenes, main driver profiles, plus long lists of makes that raced in the period, main drivers and racing venues from 85 countries, year highlights, performance and financial analysis of the sport. It can be bought at Amazon shops in the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

Motor Racing in the 70s finally out

My book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized is finally out. At present time, it can be bought through Amazon.com, but I am looking into ways to get wider distribution. Not that there are that many physical bookstores around, at least not in the USA.

I am pleased with the result. It ended up with 384 pages, and a much different product than what I first envisaged.

I wanted to write a much simpler year-by-year account, a shorter book. It developed into something larger, more analytical, although there are tons of statistics and interesting facts pertaining only to the 70s. In other words, you are not going to find the final results of Formula 1 races or even points tables. These can be found in lots of other places, including wikipedia The only Formula 1 statistics I have placed in the book relate specifically to the 70s, such as laps in the lead (cars and drivers), total starts during the decade, and things of the sort. There is plentiful other Formula 1 information in the highlights section.

I was very happy with how the list of champions turned out. Here you will find much more than lists of champions in better known series, such as Formula 1, Formula, 2, Can Am. I have compiled information on champions in several areas of the world, including Greece, Portugal, Central America, etc. The lists are not complete, but they are the most complete I have seen anywhere.

The list of venues is also rather extensive, including dozens of hill climb venues in Europe. I do not expect it to be complete at this stage, but it does list some rather obscure places in Africa, Central America, Asia and Eastern Europe.

The list of constructors is also extremely long including research done in over 10 languages. Again, I do not expect it to be complete, so future editions will definitely have improvements.

The list of significant drivers is obviously rather subjective. I would need more than a 384 page book to list drivers in U.S. races alone, if I were to include everybody that raced in the country during the decade - a rather Herculean, impossible and fruitless endeavor. Thus I decided to pick and choose the drivers I felt are more relevant from several dozen countries. Not everybody will agree with my picks, I reckon.

There are sections on money, sponsors, and a long essay on what I call the "Pivoting". I also saw it fit to publish a case study I wrote years ago, that shows how Brazil went from being a footnote in global racing circles to being respected and relevant, in the short span of 3 seasons. I know many people might not enjoy this section, for it is too specific and mentions names and situations that are totally foreign to most readers. To others, it will be interesting, a unique work on the subject in the English language. Cannot please everybody.

Given the amount of information, and the fact I wanted to provide this book at less than US$ 30.00, this is not a pictorial book. Future editions or offshots may have tons of pictures, not this time.

This will be the first of a series of books on the subject, almost an outline. I hope you enjoy it.

It can be bought at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

Auto racing history and my problem with wikipedia

Wikipedia and I have a very tense relationship.

Let me explain.

As a racing history researcher, I find wikipedia to be wanting. For those that do not know the English expression, it means lacking, insufficient.

I began writing about racing history back in 2003, when even blogs were not yet the rage. I used to include texts on a site I had, called brazilyellowpages.com, which no longer exists as a standalone site (long story). There was no such a thing as wikipedia. And google was still a young company, looking for "partners" in the way of content builders.

So, when I began building my blogs in earnest, I had the ambition of building the largest depository of race results in the internet, or at least winners. I soon found several sites that had very good information, but I found copying all laboriously compiled information a bit sneaky simply. So I understood that I could present winners and let others do what they do well.

Unfortunately, Wikipedia has other thoughts. And search engines have other thoughts about anyone who is not wikipedia.

From a "content partner" who made US$ 350 a month from google ads, back in 2005, now, with an exponentially larger number of posts, google pays a pittance of US$ 100 every year and a half. I feel more like a slave than partner, to tell you the truth. That is when I decided to "migrate" away from the internet.

Enough about money. I was not doing this for the money, this is just to show how the presentation of information  has changed in the last 10, 12 years.

Search engines rank sites by popularity. Never mind the fact they might be wrong (and wikipedia has tons of mistakes), or that information is being stolen from bona fide authors without authorization. Yes, several of my early posts ended up in wikipedia as posts! At first, I would attempt to remove, then I gave up. I simply changed the way I write posts, so that they would be rendered useless as a wikipedia entry.

The fact is that search engines no longer "love" my site, the one I indicate below, or consider it relevant. Back on the day, google would include any new post within half an hour. Now, it may take a few days, and normally it appears in position 1267th.

So, here is the "Winner" section of my old blog. It helps you contextualize careers of former and current Formula 1 drivers, and find out a bit of detail about their early exploits It is free!.

Unfortunately, a lot of sites that had good, detailed information back in the early 2000s, have disappeared from the internet a long time ago. So much for relevance.

The link is as follows. Enjoy.

http://brazilexporters.com/blog//index.php?blog=8

If you are seriously interested on Motor Racing, specially the racing that took place in the 70's, my book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized is for you. Its 384 pages are full of rare pieces of information, much of it surprising for even very knowledgeable racing buffs, collected over 40 years. It lists very obscure racing venues in surprising countries, interesting highlights, a very thorough list of champions, articles and statistics from the main championships of the era, the main drivers from over 78 countries, in addition to the most comprehensive and diversified list of 70's marques ever published. The difference is that the research for this book was conducted in over 10 languages, which gave the author access to information rarely consulted and included. For US$ 29.99 (even less, with discounts granted by Amazon, currently US$ 26.76) , you will be getting a lot of reference, and hours and hours of interesting reading. THIS INFORMATION IS AND WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED ON
TO BUY MY BOOK Click here https://www.amazon.com/Motor-Racing-70s-Pivoting-Organized/dp/1732674426 

Incidentally, Wikipedia contributed very little in terms of information.

Formula 1 Drivers at Le Mans, a New Trend?

It is an indisputable fact that winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall is one of the most highly sought after prizes in all of racing. Notwithstanding, it is very easy to concentrate on Fernando Alonso’s and Toyota’s maiden victories at the Sarthe, and Alonso’s trek to the Triple Crown of racing, and fail to see some interesting patterns.

Every since the driver trio became the norm at Le Mans, in 1985, a few winning crews were formed exclusively of drivers that had at one point raced (or were active in F1) such as Alonso, Nakajima and Buemi. In fact, this happened only four other times. In 2009, David Brabham, Marc Gene and Alexander Wurz had some F1 experience behind them, none of them wildly successful. Wurz had a couple of podiums and a fastest lap to his credit, and Gene scored points. Ten years before, victors Pierluigi Martini, Yannick Dalmas and Joachim Winkelhock also had F1 experience. Martini had led a GP, started one race from the first row, but Joachim Winkelhock never even qualified for a GP, while Dalmas was simply not successful. The 1992 winners, Derek Warwick, Dalmas and Mark Blundell had all raced in F1 – Warwick had a long career, got a couple of fastest laps, a few podiums and in fact, led 16 laps. Most of his F1 racing had taken place by then, but he still raced one more season, 1993. Lastly, the 1991 winners, Volker Weidler, Johnny Herbert and Bertrand Gachot had been in F1 by then, but Herbert’s wins were in the future.

The fact that Alonso is a current F1 driver, a multiple Champion and winner of over 30 GPs, and widely reckoned as one of the  top 5 by those in the know make this year’s line up rather special. Sebastien Buemi has also led a single GP lap, and is one of the most successful international drivers of the last few seasons, winning in both endurance and short Formula E events. But there is more to the story.

The fact is that no less than 22 drivers out of the 180 in this year’s Le Mans had driven in F1, including another former world champion (Jenson Button) and three other race winners (Fisichella, Montoya and Maldonado). This is a pattern of sorts, if we consider the line up in 1973.

That was a peculiar 24 Hours, the last time Ferrari raced works prototypes in the race it had dominated in the early 60’s. On that race there were also 22 drivers who had F1 experience, but not a single World Champion, and one three GP winners (Ickx, Cevert and Beltoise). All six Ferrari drivers had F1 experience (Ickx, Redman, Pace, Merzario, Reutemann and Schenken), and four Matra-Simca drivers had some GP history (Beltoise, Cevert, Depailler and Pescarolo). Additionally, other drivers with past GP experience were Van Lennep, Elford, Migault, Posey, Wisell, Bell, Ganley, Amon, Hailwood, Craft, Ligier and Quester. So, in a very clear sense, this year’s 22 former drivers with F1 experience at Le Mans had more of a pedigree, even though only Alonso is a current driver. The other 19 besides the winning crew were Kobayashi, Vergne, Button, Lotterer, Lammers, Magnussen, Fisichella, Montoya, Bourdais, Nasr, Senna, Stevens, Maldonado, Van der Garde, Petrox, Giovinazzai, Beretta, Di Resta and Lamy. One might argue that more weight should be given to the 22 that raced in 1973, for most cars were crewed by two drivers. While that is true, it should be noted that nowadays a very small number of drivers ever makes it to F1, considering the small number of available rides, stable driver lineups during the course of a season or sometimes several seasons. So this year’s 22 is very significant. 

Alonso is obviously not the only former world champion to seek glory in Le Mans. However, the last former F1 world champion to win at Le Mans was a certain Graham Hill, who also won at Indy. Since then a considerable number of former GP champions tried their luck in the famous French race, including Keke Rosberg, Alan Jones, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Jacques Villeneuve and Mario Andretti. The latter came closest to winning in 1995, when his mount, a Cougar-Porsche shared with Bob Wollek and former winner Eric Helary, was miles ahead of the competition, and Andretti had an off course excursion that caused some damage to the car. Andretti also attempted to win the race with son Michael, once sharing a works Porsche (finished 3^rd), and another time his Mirage booted out of the race by scrutineering. He was still trying in a Panoz as late as the year 2000, to no avail.

It remains to be seen whether Alonso would return to Le Mans next year in a car other than  a works Toyota. The fact that both Jenson Button and Juan Pablo Montoya took part in the race in cars with almost no realistic chance of winning, raises our hope that Fernando would return, even if Toyota calls it a day. Let us see.

Another interesting thing about the 1973 race was the start of Japanese participation at Le Mans, that culminated with this weekend’s Toyota win. It came in the form of a Sigma-Mazda driven by Hiroshi Fushida, Tetsu Ikusawa and Patrick Dal Bo.  The car retired, but since then, the Japanese have grown very fond of the 24 Hours. In fact, in several editions since then there were a seemingly endless number of Japanese drivers in the 24 Hours, sometimes driving Toyotas, Mazdas, Nissans, and Domes, but also driving a variety of cars such as McLaren, Panoz, Ferraris, Porsches. 27 long years have elapsed since the Mazda victory of 1991, and although Toyota finally got its pay day this year, Japanese enthusiasm for Le Mans seems to have vanished somewhat, for besides Nakajima and Kobayashi, who drove for Toyota, only two other drivers from the country, Motoaki Ishikawa and Keita Sawa, drove in the famous race this year. On the other hand, Russian and Brazilian interest on the race remain great.              

1970-1979 Formula 2 Point Scorers who did not make it to Formula 1

Formula 2 was conceived in the 40s as a steppingstone category to Grand Prix, replacing the 30’s voiturettes. In the 60’s, after some seasons in which only Formula 1 and Formula Junior existed as single seaters category in European racing, F2 came back in 1966 and an European Championship was created in 1967. This championship ran non-stop until 1984, when it was replaced by Formula 3000. Current Formula 2 only shares the name with the old 2.0 liter cars (the engine size from 1972 to 1984, before that, 1.6 liter), and have much larger engine capacities and power. Additionally, while a large number of Formula 2 participants, championship winners and point scorers, and even some non-point scorers, made it to Formula 1 in the above mentioned period, the same cannot be said of GP2 (which was recently renamed Formula 2) drivers. Making to Formula 2 at present is not really a guarantee you will ever drive a F-1 car in the world championship. In fact, generally two, tops three Formula 2 graduates find rides in Formula 1 every year, while many Formula 2 drivers got the chance to drive at least once in F1 (such as Jose Dolhem, Gerard Larrousse, Francois Mazet, etc).

READ MORE HERE https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

Jean-Pierre Jaussaud in 1971

T

GAY FORMULA 1 DRIVERS

They say that the two things that interest people the most is sex and money, in general, but as well as on the internet. I can attest to that. I have literally thousands of posts published in dozens of websites, in several languages, and the one racing post that got the most attention was one about the wealthiest formula 1 driver in the world!  

As for sex, I ran an experiment in a blog. I published a post saying “Nude pictures of [a certain young Hollywood actress girl-next-door looking who shall remain unnamed]”. There was no picture of the young actress on the blog, undressed or dressed, just a black box. The reader was instructed to Pass the mouse on top of the picture, and right hand click three times, because the pictures were so ”hot”. You cannot imagine how many people clicked on the thing! In fact, in less than a month, there were over 100,000 hits on the post, over 10,000 in one day! Eventually people caught on that it was a joke, and the number of visitors dropped considerably. I got no bombs in the mail.

As for sex and formula 1 drivers, well, there were a few that liked to brag about their success with the ladies, such as James Hunt and Nelson Piquet father. Personally I find that in poor taste. At least Formula 1 drivers did not go as far as American basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, who claimed to have had over 20,000 partners in his sporting career, and a Brazilian soccer player, now coach, the humbler Renato Gaucho, claimed to have bedded 5,000 women. That was in pre-Viagra days. Where exactly these folks found the time to have sex with these many women, during short career spans, I do not know…

As for the subject of homosexuality and Formula 1, I am reminded of a famous driver (who shall remain nameless as well) who was asked in an interview if there were any gay formula 1 drivers, responding that if there were, he would “do him”. I suppose that is a confession of sorts, or sheer ignorance that both the active and passive partner in a homosexual relation are considered homosexual! I suppose the joke turned against him…  

Sports car great Hurley Haywood recently “came out” declaring himself to be homosexual. Hurley provided that information in his autobiography and even his Wikipedia entry contains that information. To my knowledge, no other major race driver has found it necessary to expose that area of his(her) life, and certainly no formula 1 driver.

In forums and private conversations, one hears all types of stories, claiming that “x” or “y” is or was gay. One such driver apparently was not at all uncomfortable with his sexuality, but was a fearsome fighter and would still beat the crap of anybody who insinuated anything…As evidence people refer to weird and early deaths, including from AIDS, living in San Francisco, and the fact that so and so driver was rarely seen with women in public. This, to me, is an invasion of privacy. As far as race drivers go, what really interests me is how they do on the track, their results, their careers; and their sex lives do not really interest me.

So, I am sorry if I disappoint you. This post will not elucidate any curiosity you might have about gay Formula 1 drivers. Are (were) there any? Sure. Do I care? No. Just remember that one of the first men to undergo a sex change operation was a British race car driver and former RAF pilot, Robert Cowell, back in the 40s. So anything is possible. Do not worry, I will not post any black box and instruct you to pass over and right-hand click three times to reveal any names…Don't click on the white helmeted guy either...

AN UNUSUAL FORMULA 1 BROADCASTER

As far as Formula 1 broadcasters go, Brazil’s RGT is among the longest-running in the game - probably number 1 - for it has been showing Formula 1 races year year since 1972. It played a key role bringing international motor racing back to Brazil in 1970, providing promotional support to several tournaments held in the country until Brazil was firmly placed in the official GP calendar. It was a good bet for RGT, for Emerson Fittipaldi not only became a 2-time World Champion, something it could only dream back in early 1970, but the country has also produced two other world champions, including a driver widely reckoned the best ever, Ayrton Senna.

Notwithstanding this enviable track record, RGT's race announcer, Galvao Bueno, is widely criticized by many in Brazil, accused of a style that mixes annoying and overly enthusiastic cheerleading (for Brazilian drivers, often seeing marvelous performances where there are none), soccer game coverage techniques, poor focus on what is really going on in the track, recalcitrant knowledge of the sport’s history, racing dynamics and mechanics, and questionable analytical skills. Despite these shortcomings, Galvao, who incidentally also announces Brazilian national team soccer games and dabbles in other sports coverage, remains the mainstay of RGT Formula 1 cover for decades.

Brazil has been non-stop on the calendar since 1973, a status that few countries can match at present – I can only think of Britain, Italy and Monaco. Yet, not all is rosy for the Brazilian race. In the medium term, there is talk of privatizing the Interlagos circuit, which might result in its ultimate destruction. In the short term, for the first time since 1970 there is no Brazilian driver in Formula 1, and the pipeline looks grim. This of course does not sit well with Galvao’s unusual and spirited race coverage, for there is nothing to cheer about. So he rants on and on about Ayrton’s past achievements…

That is enough to make RGT a most unusual Formula 1 broadcaster, but there is more.

RGT is by far the top TV broadcaster in Brazil, and a true media empire, encompassing radio stations, newspapers, magazine and internet publishing. Among other things, it is one of the top producers of soap operas in the world, which are sold in several markets. In these, RGT unashamedly makes merchandising for a variety of products, including cosmetics, clothing, cell phones, cars and even Uber. It even managed to do merchandising in a soap opera staged in the Middle Ages… 

However, RGT is known to have a pet peeve – it does not like giving free promotion to anybody.

In that connection,  RGT is unique in that it refuses to call the formula 1 team Red Bull, what it is, Red Bull. It is consistently called RBR during race coverage, newscasts, and other company media (in fairness, in the traditional car magazine Auto Esporte, also published by the conglomerate, every once in a while the name Red Bull appears). There must be some bad blood, somewhere, or a more plausible explanation.

To Brazilian broadcaster RGT, there is no Red Bull Formula 1 team...

Yet, RGT sees no problems calling Ferraris, Renaults and Mercedes what they are. For the first two, there is a clear explanation. Recently Jeep (FIAT group, therefore, Ferrari) and Nissan (Renault group) were involved in merchandising actions in Brazilian soap operas. As for Mercedes, there are at best some tens of thousands of people able to even think of buying a Mercedes car in Brazil, and many probably do not even watch the channel. However, there are millions that can buy a can of Red Bull everyday, millions that do watch the channel. So Mercedes is properly identified, Red Bull becomes RBR.

I suppose that Red Bull has never advertised in any of RGT’s media, and understandably refuses do so in Formula 1, for owning two teams is expensive enough. As Dieter Mateschitz has a reputation for standing his ground, RGT remains the only broadcaster in the world to call Red Bull RBR.

If you are wondering what RGT stands for, well, as long as they refuse to properly identify Red Bull, I refuse to identity them properly.  

Much more information about racing in the 70's can be found in my book MOTOR RACING IN THE 70'S - PIVOTING FROM ROMANTIC TO ORGANIZED. It is a 472-page book about racing in the period,  with 242 photos, covering Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 5000, other lower formulae, Formula Indy, NASCAR, Touring Cars, Sports Cars, Can Am, Trans Am, IMSA, DRM, local racing scenes, main driver profiles, plus long lists of makes that raced in the period, main drivers and racing venues from 85 countries, year highlights, performance and financial analysis of the sport. It can be bought at Amazon shops in the USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732674426

A different take on Wilson Fittipaldi Junior

I suppose it is a bit hard to be a 2-time world champion’s brother, specially if you are a race car driver yourself. In addition to being a champion, Emerson was also a pioneer, but in that respect, Wilson pulls a lot of weight himself – he was the first Brazilian to race in quite a few categories.  It is easy to dismiss Wilson’s achievements in motor sport, specially not paying attention to a lot he did in Brazil. So this article will not stress so much Wilson’s short official formula 1 career, but rather, his achievements elsewhere. If even the excellent book Grand Prix Driver’s Who’s Who, by Steve Small, makes several blunders concerning Wilson’s career, what can be expected of other lesser sources?

Emerson’s older brother began racing in 1962, and was quickly hired by the Willys works team. Willys produced Renault cars under license in Brazil, which included the Dauphine (called Gordini there) and the Interlagos, which was a version of the French Alpine sports car. Wilson won many races in both, and also drove a Fiat-Abarth on occasion. By 1965, Luis Greco, Willy’s boss, had dreamed of a Brazilian single seater series powered by Renault engines, and thus was born the Gavea. 

Modeled on the French Alpine Formula 3 car, the Gavea’s competition debut was on the fast Interlagos 500 km race, which was run on the shorter and faster external circuit. Against Corvette powered Maserati 250Fs and Simca-Abarths, Wilson did well to finish 2nd. However, there was no category for the car in Brazil, the Brazilian single seater series never took off, so the Gavea only raced again in the 1966 Formula 3 Temporada in Argentina. The enterprising Brazilian team raced against some of the best Formula 3 drivers of the day, and in one occasion, Wilson actually qualified better than Clay Regazzoni. His best finish was 9th in the 2nd round of the four-race series. But the dreams of taking the Gavea to Europe never took off. For one thing, the Brazilian economy was in dire straits, recessive policies were implemented to reduce the high inflations, and the weaker carmakers, including Willys-Overland, all hit trouble. Willys was sold to Ford, and although the team continued in the new guise, a lot of the drivers left.

Jean Redele, Alpine’s boss, had “invited” talented and ambitious Wilson to drive in Europe, and off he went in 1966, as the local racing scene looked doomed. Unfortunately, the invitation was either overstated at a spur of the moment,  or Mr Redele had second thoughts, so once he arrived in Europe Wilson did not find the support he expected. Eventually he attempted to qualify at Coupe de Vitesse in Reims, in one of Marius dal Bo’s Pygmee team and got a huge lesson. But there you go, Emerson was not the first Brazilian to drive in Formula 3 in Europe, Wilson was.

Upon returning to Brazil, Wilson and brother Emerson created three important race cars: the Fitti-Vê, a Formula Vee car (the category was being introduced in 1967) which took Emerson to the Brazilian title that year. Several units of the car were built and sold, some sources claiming an exaggerated 50 units (!!). Hyperbole aside, he Fitti was a commercial success. Then they also built a prototype called Fitti-Porsche, a Porsche engine car that was very fast, but also tended to be fragile. There was also a 2-engined VW Beetle designed by Richard Divila, which was fast, a novelty, but not a race winner. 

The more humble Fittipaldi prepared VW Beetle 1600 won the 12 Hours of Porto Alegre, with the brothers driving. This is a milestone, for it was the VW Beetle’s first major overall win in Brazil.

Wilson also drove other cars before travelling to Europe, including Jolly’s Alfa GTA and the VW powered AC prototype, winning occasionally. He took part in the BUA Formula Ford tournament before flying to Europe, and then had a full season of Formula 3, driving a Lotus like his brother. Although he did not win a championship, he won as many races as Carlos Pace, the other Brazilian hot shoe, including a race in the continent, the Coupe du Salon in Monthlery, against the likes of Jarier, Salvati, Jaussaud, Birrel and Migault.

Brazil also held a Sports Car series called Copa Brazil at the end of 1970, and Wilson drove a Lola T70 to great effect, winning a race in Interlagos. Among the participants in this series were brother Emerson in a Lola T210, Jorge de Bragation, Alex Soler Roig and Gianpiero Moretti. Then, there was a Formula 3 tournament. Wilson  won the first two rounds, against strong international competition, including Pace, Salvati, Walker, Trimmer, Migault, Palm and even future World Champion Alan Jones.

It is easy to downplay Wilson’s achievements in Formula 2, for his brother Emerson won six races between 1971 and 72, but because Emerson was a graded driver, Wilson ended up the highest scoring Brazilian in the European Formula 2 championship in 1971  (16 points, 6th), 1972 (10 points, 12th) and 1973 (6 points, 12th). He also won a non-championship Formula 2 race at Misano in 1973, in the highly unused but pretty Brabham BT 40. In the Brazilian year-end tournaments of 1971 and 1972 Wilson got a couple of 3rds and a 4th in 1971, and a 3rd, a 4th and a 6th in 1972.

Wilson actually raced in Formula 1 before going to Formula 2, another detail about his career that is mostly overlooked. He raced a Lotus 49 in the Non-Championship Argentine Grand Prix of 1971, retiring. Another achievement was the fact that the first driver to lead a lap in a Brazilian Grand Prix was not Emerson, but rather Wilson, who jumped in front in the  1972 trial race from the second row. His car was an older BT33, not sufficiently strong to hold Emerson, Reutemann (the eventual winner in a newer Brabham) and Peterson, but a point had been made and he was the best placed Brazilian in 3rd.

I suppose that Wilson, more so than Emerson, was interested in projects, designing, making things, not so much driving for other people. The fact that he was fast in F1 car was proven in Monaco, 1973, of all places, where he was 3rd before retiring (some sources claim he was second, but I remember him being 3rd). It is interesting to note that he went that far up against the most competitive drivers of the season, not because people dropped out. After all, the top 6 finishers in the race were the top 6 in the championship, in the right order (Stewart-Emerson-Peterson-Cevert-Revson-Hulme). And in his final race for Brabham, the 1974 non-championship Brasilia race he did better in the second car than all other drivers used by the team in the early season (Robarts, Larrousse, Von Opel). But the will to make a Brazilian f1 car was stronger than trying to win races in other people’s cars, like his brother.

Wilson did a little sports car racing between 1971 and 1973. He raced in the 1971 European 2 Liter Championship round at Hockenheim, driving an Abarth (retired). Later in the year, he also raced a Ford GT40 in local Brazilian races. The Greco team’s Lola T210 shared with Tite Catapani retired in the early stages of the 1000 km of Buenos Aires of 1972. Later in the year, Wilson drove a Porsche 917 in the second Copa Brazil, against the likes of Andrea de Adamich, Willy Kauhsen and Georg Loos, and won a race and the title. Then in 1973, Wilson drove a Kauhsen 917-30 in the Interseries race at, scoring pole position but failing to finish in the Hockenheim closing round.

After the demise of the Fittipaldi Formula 1 team, Wilson drove in the Brazilian Stockcar championship, winning a few rounds. And he also managed to score a great victory with son Christian Fittipaldi driving a Porsche 993 in the traditional Brazilian 1000 mile race’s 1995 edition, well into his 50s.

So there is a quite a bit you might not know about Wilson’s racing activities, besides his two seasons at Brabham and one season driving his own car in F1. Although not quantitatively as successful as his brother Emerson, Wilson’s contribution to racing in and out of Brazil was quite impressive.

If you are really interested on 70s racing, you cannot miss my book Motor Racing in the 70s. It has 472 pages, 242 photos, and over 180,000 words. It covers racing in 85 countries during the decade, including year-by-year highlights, comprehensive lists of champions, venues, main drivers by country, race car manufacturers, and production cars that raced in the decade. A lot of the information is rare and published in English for the first time. You can have it for as little as US$ 9.99 (Kindle), while the paperback version costs only US$ 32,99. Buy at amazon.com/dp/1732674426

You can also buy it in local amazon shops in Germany, France, Italy, Britain, Spain, Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, India, Australia.