Fittipaldi Automotive was a Formula One racing team and constructor that competed from to. The cars were officially called Copersucar until the end of 1979 and Fittipaldi from the beginning of 1980 onwards. It was the only Formula One team to have been based in Brazil. The team was formed during 1974 by racing driver Wilson Fittipaldi and his younger brother, double world champion Emerson, with money from the Brazilian sugar and alcohol cooperative Copersucar. The team raced under a Brazilian licence.[2] Emerson Fittipaldi became a driver for the team in 1976 after leaving McLaren, but was unable to replicate his earlier success with the family-owned team. Future world champion Keke Rosberg took his first podium finish in Formula One with the team.
The team was originally based in the Fittipaldis' hometown of São Paulo, almost 6,000 miles (10,000 km) away from the centre of the world motor racing industry in the UK, before moving to Reading, UK during 1977. It participated in 119 Grands Prix between 1975 and 1982, entering a total of 156 cars. It achieved three podiums and scored 44 championship points.
Origins
In the 1960s the young Fittipaldi brothers, Wilson and Emerson, ran a successful business in their native Brazil building karts and tuning engines. They went on to build customer Formula Vee racing cars and various successful one-off sports cars, including a twin-engined, fibreglass-bodied Volkswagen Beetle, as well as maintaining a car and racing accessories business.[3] They were also race-winning drivers in Brazil and in the late 1960s went to Europe, where they progressed through the junior ranks to reach Formula One, the highest international single seater racing category. The younger brother, Emerson, was the more successful; by 1970 he was driving for the Lotus team in Formula One and won his first world championship in 1972.[4] Wilson drove for the Brabham team in Formula One in 1972 and 1973, scoring a best race finish of fifth place. In late 1973 the brothers decided to start their own Formula One team.[5]
The 1974 season was spent setting up the new team, which was to have a strong Brazilian flavour. Wilson was able to persuade Brazilian sugar and alcohol cooperative Copersucar
Racing history
Copersucar-Fittipaldi (1975–1977)
The team, initially known as Copersucar-Fittipaldi, did not have great success in its first racing season in 1975. Wilson crashed in chassis FD01 on lap 13 of their first race, the Argentine Grand Prix, which his brother went on to win in his McLaren.[9] Chassis numbers FD02 and FD03, used for the rest of the year, were the same design as the original car but abandoned most of the original bodywork.[10] Wilson was the sole driver and managed only five finishes, the highest of which was a 10th and last place at the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen (his last race in Formula One), and failed to qualify on three occasions. Italian Arturo Merzario did no better when he took over the chassis for his home Grand Prix after Wilson broke two bones in his hand in a practice crash at the Austrian Grand Prix.[11] Despite the lack of success, the tiny team achieved a coup for the following year: Emerson Fittipaldi joined the team from McLaren, with whom he had taken his second Driver's Championship in 1974. His brother stepped down from driving to look after the management of the team.
Aurora Formula One
A Fittipaldi F5A chassis run by RAM Racing (in the guise of 'Mopar Ultramar Racing Team') took the make's only race win in the Aurora Formula One championship at the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch on 15 April 1979 in the hands of Guy Edwards, albeit actually 7th on the road behind six cars from the world championship which were not entered in the Aurora series. Edwards and team-mate Bernard de Dryver scored other good results in the series, including a string of podium finishes.[26]
Valentino Musetti, a British stuntman, raced an updated F5B variant in the 1980 Aurora Formula One UK championship, but with less success than the previous year.[27]
Drivers
For much of its history Fittipaldi Automotive was entirely focussed around Emerson Fittipaldi. Emerson was a double world champion renowned for a smooth and quick style when he joined the family team. Although his older brother drove in the team's first season, the suggestion that Emerson might drive for the team was always in the air and only a year later he cancelled contract discussions with his then team McLaren at a very late stage and signed with Fittipaldi. Although he remained capable of front-running performances, during his time with Fittipaldi Automotive he became an inconsistent performer. On several occasions team manager Jo Ramírez berated his driver after a sudden burst of speed indicated that he had not been driving to his full potential. By 1980 Fittipaldi's teammate Keke Rosberg thought him long past his best, and found him demotivated. Emerson retired at the end of that year after five full seasons with the family team, but returned to racing in the CART series in 1984. He won the series championship in 1989, and the Indianapolis 500 in both 1989 and 1993. Emerson's CART career came to an end in 1996, after he suffered serious injuries at the Michigan 500.
The young Finn Keke Rosberg was struggling to get into a competitive seat when he joined Fittipaldi for the 1980 season. He had previously driven two disjointed seasons for the Theodore Racing, ATS and Walter Wolf Racing teams but although he had won a non-championship race with Theodore, he had scored no world championship points. Fittipaldi bought the remains of Wolf at the end of 1979. Rosberg reports that Emerson, who had not previously had a full-time teammate while at Fittipaldi Automotive, wanted another Brazilian driver but was persuaded by ex-Wolf employees Peter Warr and Harvey Postlethwaite to offer the number two drive to the Finn. Rosberg himself saw a full season in Formula One with Fittipaldi as a step "towards victory". He was competitive alongside Emerson during his first season, scoring a podium in his first race with the team, the
Complete Formula One results
(key)
Non-championship results
Further reading
- -- A Fittipaldi Automotive F5A competes in the European Thoroughbred Grand Prix Championship. Brief details and pictures.
References
- Case History Corktree.tripod.com, retrieved 20 June 2018^
- 1975 Austrian Grand Prix Entry list^
- Ludvigsen (2002) pp.26–29^