Brazilian Racing in the 70's

By Carlos de Paula

By far, the most important development in Brazilian racing in the 70’s took place out of Brazil: namely, Emerson Fittipaldi’s achievements in Formula 1. Due to this very fact, the face of Brazilian racing changed fast, and racing was transformed from a niche sport, to a mass sport. All of sudden, great media attention was devoted to racing, not only international racing, but local racing as well. Such attention translated into commercial sponsorship, factory involvement, more organized championships, completion/construction of new race tracks, which basically set the scenario for racing in years to come.

The opening of new permanent tracks was a major feature of the new decade. Not only was Interlagos reopened in early 1970, with the finale for the International Formula Ford tournament, another important race tracks was inaugurated that year Tarumã, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Cascavel’s paved track was open for business in 1973, Brasilia and Goiania were inaugurated in 1974, Guaporé’s paved track opened in 1976, and the new, international level Rio de Janeiro track began operations in 1978. As a result, the last of Brazil’s “street” races, took place around the Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte (where Brazil eventually lost to Germany, 7 x 1, in the 2014 World Cup), and Salvador’s streets, in 1972. After that, the only racing events on open roads were rallies, until safer, modern street racing resurfaced in the 90’s, in the streets of Florianopolis and Vitoria.

Commercial sponsorship had been present in Brazilian racing since the 30’s, but given the niche status of the sport, it was never taken seriously by sponsors. It was more a case of driver friends who happened to be business owners giving a few bucks to race drivers, who in exchange painted a company’s name on a car. In some cases, the driver owned a business, and used the race cars as a moving billboard for the few people around the race track to see (sometimes quite a few thousand). In other words, sponsorship lacked the branding aspect, sports marketing of modern sponsorship, which really began in Formula 1 in 1968. By 1969, some Brazilian race cars featured well painted logos, and by 1971, two major companies, Hollywood cigarettes and Brahma beverages, had initiated a new phase in commercial sponsorship. Hollywood would sponsor a team in local racing until 1976, and it won many championships, in several categories. In spite of the long lasting economic crisis that began in 1974, by the closing of the decade, hundreds of companies, had at one point or another sponsored race teams, at various levels of commitment. More important, companies began investing in the international careers of racing drivers as well.

The decade began with Brazil’s opening up to international racing, for the first time since the 50’s. The driving factor for this was Emerson Fittipaldi’s success in Formula Ford and Formula 3, in 1969, and the resolution of the ACB and CBA dispute. As a result, a number of international tournaments were held, for different categories, with the ultimate goal of achieving a steady Formula 1 Grand Prix date for the country. In 1970, a Formula Ford tournament was held in the early part of the year, a Sports Car tournament called Copa Brasil held in the latter. A couple of Italian teams also took part in the 1000 Mile Race, with current sports cars, an Alfa T33 and a Ferrari 512. In 1971, a Formula 3 tournament was held in the early part of the year, and a Formula 2 series at the end. In 1972, the goal was almost reached: the first Formula 1 Grand Prix proper was held in Brazil, although without championship status. During the rest of the year, another, last F-2 tournament was held, a second Copa Brasil for sports cars, and, for the first time, an international Interlagos 500 KM race was held in September, won by Reinhold Joest. By 1973, Brazil got its first official F-1 GP, which has been on the calendar ever since. The Brasilia race track was inaugurated by a one-off non-championship F-1 event, in 1974, won by Emerson Fittipaldi.

Group 1 racing very successful with drivers and the public...for a while.

As for local racing, 1970 was a buffer year. Long distance races still seemed to prevail in that year, but there was a change of mentality in race promoters. The lesson learned in Europe, mainly England, was that a number of short events for different categories, held in heats, provided more bang for the buck for spectators. A successful experience in Interlagos, in early 1970, paved the way for the future. By 1971, three national championships had been organized: one for Sports Cars, mostly comprising long distance events contested by a number of Porsches (908, 910), Lola T210, Ford GT40, Royales, Alfa GTAs, mixed with locally built prototypes, and assorted Pumas (a Brazilian VW engined GT), touring cars, and an odd 50’s vintage Maserati for good measure, etc; a Touring car championship, which in its first edition also comprised of long distance events, but would shift to a sprint format in coming years, and a Formula Ford championship, with locally built cars, called Bino. These were in fact, a continuation of Willys’ Luis Greco’s idea from the 60’s, and the power plant was the Corcel engine, which began life as a Renault. So this was more of a Formula Renault, then Ford, I suppose. At any rate, Ford decided to invest in the category, something that VW did not do in Formula Vee’s case. The 1971 Touring car championship had many scheduled rounds, in Curitiba, Fortaleza, Salvador and Belo Horizonte, that were cancelled, so it was a troubled first year.

By 1972, another championship was added, for locally built sports cars, called Division 4. These took over sports car racing in 1973, by which time the Sports Car with foreign cars had been canned. In 1973, Division 1 (Group 1) events were run for the first time, in long distance events that caught the fancy of the public, basically due to the fight between Ford x Chevrolet. By 1974, a Group 1 championship was organized, and Formula Super Vee was implemented in Brazil. The local scene seemed healthy enough, until the Government stepped in 1976, initially deciding to prohibit racing as of 1977, and then declaring the prohibition effective immediately . The reason was that racing was supposedly a waste of precious fuel, that cost Brazil so many billions of dollars a year. The racing authorities proved to the dictators, however, that the entire fuel spent in the Brazilian racing calendar corresponded to only 15 minutes of fuel use in the City of São Paulo, hardly putting a dent on the country’s recalcitrant balance of trade! The government reversed its decision, however, long distance races were banned from 1977 on.

In Rio Grande do Sul, with the opening of the Tarumã race track, street/road racing was no more to be. The carreteras were by the beginning of the decade gone, in fact the last driver to race a carretera in Brazil was Camilo Christofaro, with his famous number 18, in 1971. However, regional racing in Rio Grande do Sul remained healthy. Among other things, most of the 25 Bino Formula Fords were bought by gauchos, enough cars to justify holding a regional Formula Ford championship that was run for many years. There was also a healthy regional championship for Touring cars, run during the course of the decade. São Paulo had some regional racing as well, most notably Super Vee and Formula Vee regional championships in 1975, which were contested by dozens of cars. Also noteworthy was the Division 3 championship of 1974, which was won by a retiring Ciro Cayres, one of the mainstays of Brazilian racing since the 50’s. The decade would also witness the retirements of Camilo Christofaro, in 1979, and Chico Landi, in 1973. Division 1 (Group 1) was also hotly contested in São Paulo in the mid 70’s.

As we saw in previous articles, race cars had been built in Brazil since the 30’s, but basically they made use of existing racing/street car chassis/components, and were mainly equipped with American V8s. Chico Landi attempted to launch Formula Junior in the early 60’s, building about 10 purpose made chassis without great effect, and Formula Vee was equally unsuccessful, in spite of several chassis being built by Fitti and Aranae, and other constructors to be announcing programs. Starting around 1967, several one-off prototypes sprung here and there, including the Fitti-Porsche and the Bino, among others, and most were VW powered. Anisio Campos first attempted to actually manufacture race cars a a business with the AC in 1969. By 1970, the fever caught on. First with the Furia, which built only 3 cars, then with Avallone, Heve, Manta, Polar, Kaimann (under license from the Austrian manufacturer) in addition to 25 Bino Formula Fords. Many of these racing car manufacturers built cars for several categories, until about 1975. That was the last year of the prototype series, and race car building in the 70’s simply did not prove to be good business. Chassis would be used for many years, so there was no market for new cars, or money for development of updated models. So most race car building during the 70’s stopped after 1975, and the cars used were simply revamped chassis.

The Super-Vee series was the major series for the rest of the decade, and two of drivers that took part in it actually reached F-1: Ingo Hoffmann and Nelson Piquet. The new Group 1 championship with short sprints began in 1977, by which time Chevrolet’s Opala had surpassed the Ford Mavericks in performance. In that same year, Fiat began its racing activities in Brazil. There was a strong migration towards single make championships, and in fact, Division 3 (highly prepared touring cars) pretty much collapsed before the end of the decade - first the top category, in which Mavericks and Opalas raced, then the up to 2 liters category. By 1979, the top Group 1 class had been transformed into the Brazilian Stock Car championship, which has been well organized from the beginning, and still exists today, in a highly prepared form. Formula Ford and Super Vee still continued, the latter suffering from dwindling grids. There was a series for VW Passat Group 1, and one for Fiat Group 1 cars, in addition to the dying Group 3.

Brazil also joined the exclusive club of Formula 1 manufacturers in 1975, when Wilson Fittipaldi Jr. started the Argentine Grand Prix in his own Fittipaldi FD-01. However ambitious the venture, there was an element of naiveté about it, namely insisting on building the whole car in Brazil in the first years, and using a designer with no top level experience, Brazilian Richard Divila. Such naiveté reached the pinnacle with the signing of brother Emerson as number 1 driver for 1976. In spite of a fair 1978 season, with the Caliri revised Fittipaldi F-5, the Fittipaldi Formula 1 experience was by and large a disappointment, and pretty much ended Emerson Fittipaldi’s F-1 career on a sad note. Starting in 1977, the number of Brazilian drivers trying their luck in Europe grew considerably, starting the trend that continues to this day. By the closing of the decade, Nelson Piquet looked like a future world champion, and so did Chico Serra, to a lesser extent.

A major technological development took place in 1979, when the government again prohibited racing, due to fuel considerations. In little less than 1 month, racing car teams converted their cars to run on alcohol, a fact that was actually quite welcomed by the government, which faced some opposition to its alcohol fuel program.

The 70’s In Names

MAIN DRIVERS

Local Scene – Paulo Gomes, Antonio Castro Prado, Francisco Lameirão, Luiz Pereira Bueno, Lian Duarte, Camilo Christofaro, Ciro Cayres, Abilio Diniz, Alcides Diniz, Mauricio Chulam, Marcos Troncon, Clovis de Moraes, Francisco Feoli, Amedeo Ferri, Pedro Carneiro Pereira, Marivaldo Fernandes, Jan Balder, Antonio Carlos Avallone, Pedro Muffato, Francisco Artigas, Amedeo Campos, Ingo Hoffmann, Alex Ribeiro, Leonel Friedrich, Arthur Bragantini, Milton Amaral, Edson Yoshikuma, Alfredo Guarana Menezes, Luis Moura Brito, Toninho da Matta, Ronaldo Ely, Alencar Junior, Raul Boesel, Affonso Giaffone, Jose Giaffone, Bird Clemente, Nilson Clemente, Celso Frare, Edson Graczyk, Mario Pati Jr., José Pedro Chateaubriand, Pedro Victor de Lamare, Lino Reginatto, Claudio Mueller, Enio Sandler, Fernando Jorge, Eduardo Celidonio, Alfredo Guaraná Menezes, Bob Sharp, Edgard Mello Filho, Reinaldo Campello, Vital Macahdo, Adu Celso, Julio Caio, Clovis Ferreira, Ricardo Oliveira, Julio Tedesco, Jose Carlos Palhares,Atilla Sippos, Jose Travaglini, Antonio Freire, Luis Schaffer, Fernando Dias Ribeiro, Walter Soldan, Luis Paternostro, Alexandre Negrão, Mario Olivetti, Angi Munhoz, Luiggi Giobbi, Emilio Zambello, Piero Gancia, Luis Landi, Roberto Fiuza, Camilo Christofaro Filho, Aloisio Andrade Filho, Jose Rubens Romano, Arialdo Pinho, Jose Moraes

International Scene – Emerson Fittipaldi, José Carlos Pace, Nelson Piquet, Wilson Fittipaldi Jr., Ingo Hoffmann, Alex Ribeiro, José Maria Ferreira, Norman Casari, Francisco Lameirão, Luis Pereira Bueno, Tite Catapani, Ronald Rossi, Fritz Jordan, Leonel Friedrich, Jan Balder, Marivaldo Fernandes, Marcos Moraes, José Pedro Chateaubriand, Pedro Victor de Lamare, Mario Pati Jr., Lian Duarte, Rafaele Rosito, Chico Serra, Mario Ferraris Neto, Aryon Cornelsen, Paulo Gomes, Mario Amaral, Placido Iglesias, Luis Siqueira Veiga, Fernando Jorge, Julio Caio, Luis Carlos Moraes

MAIN CARS

Singleseaters: Bino, Fitti-V, Polar, Avallone, Heve, Kaimann, Mueller, Newcar, Rio-V, BRV, Pati, Govesa, Cianciaruso, Aranae, Pateco, Squalus, Manta, Feca

Touring cars: Chevrolet Opala 2500, 3800 and 4100, Maverick 4 and 8 cylinders, Dodge Charger, Dodge Dart, Chrysler GTX, Alfa Romeo 2300, FNM 2150, Simca V8, Dodge 1800, VW 1300, VW 1600, VW 1600 4 doors, Chevette, Ford Corcel, Fiat 147, VW Passat, Alfa Romeo GTA, Alfa Romeo GTAM, BMW 1600, DKW 1000

Sports/Prototypes/GTs: Porsche 908/2, Porsche 910, Porsche 907, Lola T70, Ford GT 40, Lola T210, Alfa Romeo T33, Avallone (Chrysler, Chevrolet and Ford), Berta-Hollywood Ford, Polar (VW and Ford Turbo), Heve (VW), Manta (VW, FNM, Chrysler and Chervolet), Fúria (FNM, Chevrolet, BMW, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Chrysler), AC-VW, Fitti-VW, Casari-Ford, REPE-Ford, Snob’s Corvair, Prot. Pato Feio, Prot. Camber VW, Prot. Bi-Motor VW/DKW, Newcar-VW, Sabre-VW, Puma-VW, Lorena-VW, Meta-20(Chevrolet Turbo), Royale (Alfa Romeo, Chevrolet, Ford), Carretera Chevrolet, Interlagos

CATEGORIES: Touring Car (Division 3 (highly prepared), HotCars (replaced Division 3) Division 1(basically showroom stock), Stockcar, single make championships for VW Passat, Fiat 147 and Ford Corcel, Formula Super Vee, Formula Vee, Formula Ford, Division 4(Prototypes), Division 6 

(Foreign prototypes)

INTERNATIONAL RACES/TOURNAMENTS: F-1, F-2, F-3, F-Ford, Prototypes/Sports

GRAND PRIX CURIOSITIES

By Carlos de Paula

 

Japanese Masahiro Hasemi goes down in history as the single GP driver with a 100% fastest lap performance. It is true that he raced a single time, in the Japanese Grand Prix of 1976, driving the Kojima, and some have disputed the accuracy of this fastest lap. Notwithstanding, Kojima has a 50% fastest lap performance, as the manufacturer only raced twice, in the Japanese Grand Prix of 1976 and 1977.

 

Few GP drivers end their careers with fourth place, most closing the book with retirements. However, three very prominent drivers did so. Juan Manuel Fangio drove to fourth place after a very strong drive at the French Grand Prix of 1958. Forty-eight years later, the man who shattered Fagio’s 5-championship record that at once seemed impossible to surpass, Michael Schumacher, also ended his F-1 career driving to a superb fourth place in the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix. Curiously, the man Schumacher replaced as Benetton’s number 1 driver for 1992, Brazil’s Nelson Piquet, also ended his F-1 career with a fourth place in the 1991 Australian Grand Prix.

 

Eery coincidence  I- Americans Phil Hill and Mario Andretti won their single championships under similar circumstances, wrapping up the title in Monza. As an additional coincidence, both lost their teammates in their title winning race, Wolfgang Von Trips in Hill’s case, Ronnie Peterson in Andretti’s. Adding to the coincidence, neither Hill nor Andretti would ever win further Grand Prix after winning the title, and both Von Trips and Peterson ended up runners up to their champion teammates!

 

Hill and Andretti were not alone. Quite a few other drivers never won a race after their single championship years. Mike Hawthorn retired after 1958 and Jochen Rindt died before actually being crowned champion in 1970. Two other drivers did not have the benefit of such excuse: Jody Scheckter and Jacques Villeneuve would never win again after their successful campaigns in 1979 and 1997, respectively.

 

A few champions were born in different countries than their stated nationality: American Andretti was born in Italy, Austrian Rindt was born in Germany and Finn Keke Rosberg was born in Sweden.

 

The only two drivers who managed to win their official championship GP debuts were Giuseppe Farina, winner of the inaugural championship event in 1950 (Britain) and another Italian, Giancarlo Baghetti, who won in France in 1961. However, these were not both drivers’ Formula 1 debuts: Farina had been driving at the highest level since the late 30’s, while Baghetti had already driven in two non-official Grand prix (winning both). This was pretty much the end of Baghetti’s success in the Grand Prix circuit, in fact he turned out to be one of the most unsuccessful GP winners ever.

 

Eerie coincidence II: October 6 was a dark day for two years running at Watkins Glen. In 1973, Francois Cevert was killed in practice for the US Grand Prix, while Helmut Koinnig was killed during the race in 1974.

 

The race with the lowest number of starters was the ridiculous US Grand Prix of 2005: six. It was only one of two races with 100% of starters finishing the race, the other being the Dutch GP of 1961, where a more impressive 15 cars started and finished the Grande Epreuve.

 

There were two cars named ATS, with no relation whatsoever to each other: the unsuccessful Italian operation of 1963/64, among others funded by a Bolivian tin impresario(!!), and Gunther Schmidt’s operation, that lasted from 1978 through 1984. Schmidt also has the honor of taking another (unsuccessful) crack at GP racing, with Rial in 1988-1989! Both ATS and Rial are wheel brands owned by Schmidt.

 

Between Von Trips’ GP wins of 1961 and Schumacher’s initial GP win in 1992, German drivers had poor performances at the front. For a time they seemed to be getting closer, as three German drivers managed to lead races between 1975 and 1977, in two cases under very unusual circumstances. In the disaster prone Spanish GP of 1975, Rolf Stommelen had found himself leading the race on merit, when the wing support of his Lola collapsed, causing Rolf to crash, and kill five spectators. Rolf would never again lead a GP. His countryman Jochen Mass, who led a single lap of that race, the last one, ended up declared the winner of the half-race, winning half points for his trouble. In the German Grand Prix of 1976, though, Mass was poised to walk away with the race: he was the only driver to start on slicks, on a drying track, and by the end of the first lap he was 30 seconds in front of the second placed car. Unfortunately, Niki Lauda had his terrifying crash, the race was interrupted and Mass’ advantage evaporated in the second start. He would never get to prove that he was able to win a GP on merit. Finally, Hans Stuck led the US Grand Prix from the front row in 1977, only to crash with transmission trouble. Poor Stefan Bellof, who many considered future world champion material, died after a few starts for down on power (and luck) Tyrrel in 1984 and 1985.

 

Chris Amon was not only the unluckiest GP driver ever, but he also was the driver who drove the largest variety of makes, having raced or attempted to qualify a total of 13 marques: Lola, Lotus, Brabham, Cooper, Ferrari, March, Matra, Tecno, Tyrrel, Amon, BRM, Ensign and Williams.  He experienced a large number of engines as well: Climax 1.5, BRM 1.5, BRM 2.0 (V8), BRM 3.0 (V12), Maserati 3.0, Ferrari 3.0, Cosworth 3.0, Matra 3.0, Tecno 3.0.

 

Another prolific driver in terms of variety was Stirling Moss. He drove HWM, ERA, Connaught, Cooper, Maserati, Mercedes Benz, Vanwall, BRM, Lotus. He also practiced a Porsche and a Scarab, and was disqualified  when he took over the Ferguson four wheel drive car from Jack Fairman in the British GP of 1961. Moss was by far the driver with most engine experience: Alta 4 (2.0), Bristol 6 (2.0), Lea Francis (2.0), Maserati 2.5, Mercedes Benz 2.5, Vanwall 2.5, Climax 4 (2.5), BRM 2.5, Climax 1.5.     

 

Moss was also the man who won races in the greatest number of makes: five. He won races driving for Maserati, Mercedes Benz, Vanwall, Cooper and Lotus. A few drivers won races in four different makes: Fangio (Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati), Prost (McLaren, Renault, Ferrari, Williams), Stewart (BRM, Matra, March, Tyrrel).

 

Eerie coincidence III: Lotus lost drivers in three of the six years in which it won the championship (Clark in 1968, Rindt in 1970 and Peterson in 1978). The last man to win in a Lotus, Ayrton Senna (Detroit GP, 1987), died in 1994, the same year in which the make itself disappeared from Grand Prix racing.

 

A large number of French drivers won their first (or only) race at Monaco: Maurice Trintignant, Jean Pierre Beltoise, Patrick Depailler, Olivier Panis. Curiously, the Frenchmen who won more often (Prost, Laffitte, Arnoux), won their first races elsewhere.

 

A few drivers scored pole position in their very first race: Farina (British GP 1950), Mario Andretti (US GP, 1968), Carlos Reutemann (Argentina , 1972), Jacques Villeneuve (Australia, 1997). But for one race, Andretti came close to scoring pole in his last race as well: he was on pole at Italy, 1982, but he also raced one final time at Las Vegas that same year.      

 

Eerie coincidence IV: Shadow lost two top drivers at Kyalamy, South Africa: Peter Revson in practice for the 1974 race, Tom Pryce in the actual race, in 1977.

 

John Watson won five races, but he made a statement when he did. He was the only man to win from lower than a 20th starting place, when he won at Long Beach in 1983, having started a lowly 22nd. He also won another U.S. street race, the Detroit GP, starting 17th.

 

The longest run of single championship winners was 1978 through 1980. Mario Andretti, Jody Scheckter and Alan Jones won single championships. It is curious to note that the 1976 and 1982 title winners were also single timers (James Hunt and Keke Rosberg) so this era was definitely the opposite of what we have today!    

 

Jim Clark was the only driver to win a GP in a 16 cylinder car in the modern era, driving the unloved BRM H16 engined Lotus to victory in the 1966 US Grand Prix.

 

A few GP drivers were born in rather exotic locations, although holding more common nationalities. Brit Mike Beuttler was born in Egypt, while Frenchman Jo Schlesser was born in Madagascar.

 

Many reputable Grand Prix resources report Brazilian Fritz D’Orey died in 1961. In fact, D’Orey had a severe crash at Le Mans the previous year, was reported dead by much of the specialized press, but he is alive and kicking to this day!

 

On the subject of Brazilian drivers, until the arrival of Emerson Fittipaldi in 1970, their appearances were far and few, but things seemed to be changing in the early 1956 season: Brazilian drivers scored points in two races back to back: Landi scored 1.5 points from fourth in Argentina, while Da Silva Ramos scored 2 points from 5th in Monaco. Then, there was a long drought until 1970! 

 

Long spans: Jan Lammers took a whopping ten years to go back to GP racing. He dropped out of the GP circuit for the first time in 1982, and after enjoying a successful career in sports cars, he tried GP racing again in 1992, without success. It also took Mario Andretti ten years to win his single 1978 Formula 1 title, having debuted in 1968.

 

Eerie coincidence V: Roger Penske lost his great friend and long time collaborator Mark Donohue in the Austrian Grand Prix of 1975, through a very freaky accident. In 1976, the Penske team was not only back at the Osterreichring, but it also won the race with John Watson, only to quit GP racing at the end of the year!

 

Bernie Ecclestone actually tried to qualify a 2.5 Connaught in two Grand Prix in 1958. He failed both times, becoming much more successful as team owner and Formula 1 supremo. Lotus’ Colin Chapman almost started a single GP in 1956, but surprisingly, it was not in a Lotus: he was slated to drive a Vanwall. He did not start the race and was supposed to start 5th!

 

The last GP driver to wear an open faced helmet in a GP event was Finn Leo Kinnunen, in 1974.

 

Arrows, known as the make which run more GP races without scoring a single win, almost won its second Grand Prix! Riccardo Patrese qualified 7th and had worked his way up to the front in the debuting team’s FA1 design.

 

Jean Pierre Jabouille apparently knew how to win GPs better than just plainly scoring points. He won two Grand Prix, including the first ever by a turbo-engined GP car, and scored only one additional time, a 4th place, out of 49 starts!

 

The Rob Walker team was by far the most successful privateer team, having won seven races with Stirling Moss, one race with Maurice Trintignant and one race with Jo Siffert. One of Ferrari’s 1961 wins (Baghetti) were achieved by a FISA entered car, but it was really a works entry. Additionally, Jackie Stewart won the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix driving a non-factory March. Nominally at least, Emerson Fittipaldi did not win the 1972 World Championship in Monza driving a factory Lotus: the car was entered under the name World Wide Racing. The Italian judiciary was still looking into Rindt’s 1970 death, and Colin Chapman was advised to enter the team under a different name, just in case, lest the judiciary impound his equipment. But it was still the Lotus works!

 

In 2006, the national level championship that by far boasts the largest number of former formula 1 drivers is the Brazilian Stock Cars championship, six. The following ex GP drivers are racing in the championship: Chico Serra, Ingo Hoffmann, Christian Fittipaldi, Tarso Marques, Raul Boesel and Luciano Burti.

 

Lola, the top racing car manufacturer, was involved in Formula 1 as a chassis suppliers, several times from the early 60s until the 90’s. When it did decide to enter the championship as a works team, in 1998, with plans for a proprietary engine, no less, the company almost folded, the effort lasting a single race. The entry was to be funded by a novel, yet rather naïve, sponsorship scheme through Mastercard. Lola initially provided chassis to teams such as Bowmaker and Reg Parnell, in the first years of the 1.5 liter formula. Next, it was involved  with Honda, in 1967/1968, and then the manufacturer quit F-1. In 1974 and 1975, Lola provided chassis for Graham Hill’s team. It would also provide chassis for the short lived Beatrice/Force team, in 1985/1986, settling the longest with the Larrousse team from 1987 to 1993. The marque won a single race, the 1967 Italian Grand Prix, mostly identified in the record books as a proprietary Honda chassis, and led in other occasions.