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.
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