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. 

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