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Ettore Chimeri


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#1 HistoryFan

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Posted 19 May 2012 - 14:58

He was the first Venezuelan F1 driver. Do someone remember him? What guy was he?

I heard he was born in Italy but grandprix.com writes he was born in Cuba.

Were there some more good Venezuelan racing drivers in that time?

Chimeri was very successful in Venezuelan Grand Prix. Did some know all Venezuelan Grand Prix with winners? Was it a sports car race or Formula Libre?

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#2 D-Type

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Posted 19 May 2012 - 15:29

Steve Small has Chimeri as Cuban born and beink killed in practice for a sports car race in Cuba two weeks after his one and only World Championship race in the Argentine GP.

The 1957 Venezuelan GP was a round in the World Sports Car Championship so there must have been earlier sports car Venezuealan GP's as it wouldn't have been given championship status without previous races to demonstrate the organisers' competence.

Martin Krejki lists several Venezuelan GPs which all appear to have been for sports cars.

There don't appear to be many Venezuelans in the entry and none in the top positions

#3 Paul Taylor

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Posted 19 May 2012 - 16:39

This is a rather good, detailed Google Translation of a Spanish article on Chimeri's life/career:
http://translate.goo...e...913&act=url

Says he was born 50km south of Milan in Lodi, flew with the Italian air force in the war and moved to Venezuela in the 1950s.

#4 Rob G

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Posted 19 May 2012 - 17:19

Steve Small has Chimeri as Cuban

He has him listed as Venezuelan in his "Grand Prix Who's Who." Alan Henry also lists him as Venezuelan, with no information beyond what's derived from the bare-bones stats.

#5 D-Type

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Posted 19 May 2012 - 19:00

He has him listed as Venezuelan in his "Grand Prix Who's Who." Alan Henry also lists him as Venezuelan, with no information beyond what's derived from the bare-bones stats.

My words were "Steve Small has Chimeri as Cuban born " not "Steve Small has Chimeri as Cuban" in Grand Prix Who's Who

But I now see that Peter Higham's International Motor Racing Guide and David Hayhoe & David Holland's Grand Prix Data Book both have him as born in Lodi, Italy

And they were published later so ...

#6 Rob G

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Posted 19 May 2012 - 19:10

My words were "Steve Small has Chimeri as Cuban born " not "Steve Small has Chimeri as Cuban" in Grand Prix Who's Who

My apologies, I accidentally deleted the word "born" from your quote when shortening the rest of it. My copy of the book doesn't list a birthplace for him, but I've only got the first edition.

#7 Richard Jenkins

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Posted 19 May 2012 - 20:51

I've never really considered Chimeri from Venezuela at all - I've always felt he was Italian born and bred, and had a Venezuelan racing licence - http://www.oldracing.../Ettore_Chimeri - I refer to him as Italian.

Whether he at one time had citizenship is another matter, but I don't think he did. Lived there for years, perhaps, but so has Thierry Boutsen at Monaco, but he's not Monegasque.

So I think it's only Cecotto and Maldonado, although Viso has also been in a Grand Prix car.

To be honest, even if Maldonado hadn't won last week, this has to be somewhat of a golden age for Venezuelan racing - Maldonado, Viso, Rodolfo Gonzalez, Johnny Cecotto Jr and ahem... Milka Duno - some maybe not as good as past drivers, but all of them appearing at a higher level of racing than their countrymen of the past.

#8 Bruno

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Posted 20 May 2012 - 08:14

http://www.racingspo...Chimeri-YV.html

#9 HistoryFan

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Posted 20 May 2012 - 13:24

Thank you very much!