20 replies to this topic

[Amazin]

Wow, this is like a dream coming true to me. Dana, a brazilian company that produces auto parts fully restored the Fittipaldi Copersucar FD01, check their site www.dana.com.br/fittipaldif1

You can download videos and see pics of Wilsinho testing the car. Too bad the site is only in Portuguese. I can help you guys, if needed.

Carlos

[CSGPR]

Hi Amazin

It's very nice to read that the Car has been restored , but we can't say that it made the headlines. It’s a shame, the car was quiet unusual in its design for that time. With the radiators mounted at the rear of the car where almost all others cars was running with side mounted radiators.

I have some problems open the page listed as it seems that I reach a host web page instead of the on with all the fun.

I’m surprised that nobody seems to be interested in the car, I know Emerson was allowed to test the car during the summer 1975 at Silverstone. And I’m looking for a picture, but in Europe they are hard to find.

Thanks for the news. And please continue to bring updates

Best Regards

[Twin Window]

I've just had a fiddle, and you can access the video files etc - but first you need to disable your anti-popup device.

However this will take you straight there...

[CSGPR]

Thank You Twin Window

It just great all the old videos. I was only 12 years old at the time, (but already a great Fittipaldi fan) and living in Denmark where we only had one Grand Prix broardcast a year. i 1975 it was the Sweedish Grand Prix. So to look at thise videos 30 years later are just great.

Who had the car storaged in all those years? and will they restore other Fittipaldi cars

And thanks again Amazin. I've now spend the rest of my day as a happy man

Best regards

[Boli-Nica]

Thanks for the link. . Living in Latin America at the time, there was a lot of news about this being the first not only Brazilian, but Latin American entry in the World Championship.

[Roly]

Hi,

Would anyone of you know if there is a way to DL the pics from the slide show.
I have a kit of this car, stil need to build it, and want the pics for reverence ( I hope I wrote that correctly).

Greetings,
Roland

[Paul Taylor]

It should have been restored to look a little less ugly

[Kojima_KE007]

This is absolutely fatastic!!

Though its design is unique, I don't think that the car is ugly at all.

[Amazin]

Hey guys,

Wilsinho (Wilson Fittipaldi Jr) was in the news for the whole week, giving interviews, telling about the old times... He told that the Fittipaldis lent engines to Frank Williams many times, that they have made lots of mistakes, but there was no regret.

Dana also is already restoring one of the Yellow Fittipaldis, the F5, I guess, from 1977. Not as great as the F5A that was second in Jacarepaguá (Rio), but at least was driven by Emerson.

According to the interviews, only two things aren't original: the front suspension, which had to be rebuilt, and the rear tires, which are way smaller than the 1975 ones. I don't know if Avon isn't manufacturing them (I don't think so, they can manufacture any kind of antique F1 tire) or they couldn't get them on time for the presentation.

The FD01 is right now on Dana's booth at the Brazilian Auto show, being held in Sao Paulo. I'll try to go there by next weekend, and if I do, I promise to come home full of pictures of the FD01 (and the babes!)

Carlao

[eldougo]

Thanks for this thread Carlos ,it sure is good to see such a lovely car running again and Wilson doing the driving ,they have done a fatastic restoration job ,a real credit to them you can see they all have that wonderfull look of pride on their faces.

I aggree with Roly ,i personally would like to have it as a wallpaper shot. :

[sp66d_rac6r]

see more in http://www.thef1.com...topic.php?t=956

[550spyder]

There is one more FD01 Chassis and 5 FD04/05 chassis. One FD04/5 has suspensions, gearbox and fairing. The engine is missing.

Wilson tested the restored FD01 in a private track near São PAulo. The track belongs to a rich sportsman that has a Ford GT 40, a Bugatti, e DTM Mercedes and a Mercedes CLR.

Not bad.

[harryglorydays]

Originally posted by Amazin
Dana, a brazilian company that produces auto parts...

As a small point of clarification, Dana Corporation is a global producer of automotive and truck components and is headquartered in Toledo, Ohio. Among other well-known names, they make Victor gaskets and Perfect Circle piston rings. They are one of the largest "tier-one" suppliers in the world. Obviously, the Brazilian market is very important for them to take on a project of this size. Well done!

P.S. I know all of this because I did PR for Dana in the 80s.

[panzani]

Yesterday Wilson drove the car in Interlagos, more than 30 years after it was launched. He was pretty emotional, obviously, and made just two complete laps. He said the dashboard smiled for him when he entered the cockpit...

He said also they spent US$800.000 in 1974 building the first car. Dana spent US$80.000 to restore it. The car was in a barn in the farm of Fittipaldi's family all these years.

[Muzza]

Panzani,


I heard a rumor that "someone" found the tub of the Willys-Gávea Formula 3 car built by Greco et al in 1966, and that there are some folks trying to raise money to restore it as well...

Is that true? (I am crossing my fingers)

Abraço,


Muzza

[panzani]

The Willys Gávea F3 is said to be under restoring by José Roberto Nasser, in Brasília. He is the Chairman of the Museu do Automóvel.

Even though forix (6thGear) says this car never raced, it was the 2nd in the 1965 500 Kilometros de Interlagos (the only open-wheel car on that race?). And attended the 4 races of the 1966 F3 Argentinean Temporada: Buenos Aires [23/01], Rosario [30/01], Mendoza [06/02] and Mar del Plata [13/02]. With Wilson Fittipaldi driving in all five races.

[Muzza]

Valeu, Panzani,


Thanks for the info - great news about the Willys Gávea! (indeed I should not have used hyphen; the correct name of the car is Willys Gávea, not Willys-Gávea.

Oh, yes, that car defintely raced, as you quite correctly described. I remember the coverage of that 500 km de Interlagos race - a mixed-bag event in which just about anything with four wheels took part (as the contemporary report at magazine Autoesporte described, "the only thing missing on the grid was a tractor").

I think there is a misunderstanding on this page at 6th Gear: the Gávea was never intended to be or to become a Formula 1 car; such plans did not exist. The page you and I mentioned is about Formula 1 projects, Panzani; the person that wrote that page (Mattijs and collaborators) may have been misinformed by some contributor, or by a translation mistake.

What Luís Greco (Gávea project manager) said at the time was that the car could be adapted to race in other formulae, or evolve into something to race in other formulae. Unfortunately some journalists blew these comments out of proportion, but I am absolutely sure that there wasn't any Formula 1 intention behind the Gávea. That was definitely a Formula 3 car. The concept of the project was to build a minor formula open-wheel car that could allow young Brazilian drivers to acquire international experience, and to use it as the backbone of an international campaign by the (locally) very successful Willys Racing Team. Also, the team had an eye on local Formula Libre races.

Unfortunately the board of Willys Overland Brasil knew that a take over by Ford was imminent, thus the project was put on bain-marie and slowly faded into oblivion. Ford would effectively acquire all Willys Overland Brasil assets in late 1966.

Also, I think the words "simple, crude chassis" used on this page are not exactly accurate. Indeed it was not a refined project such a Lotus or Brabham Formula 3 - but then, it was the first single seater ever designed and built by Willys. There was nothing "crude" about the car - as its restoration will surely show. The most common issue affecting new racing car constructors is excessive weight - and that was precisely the biggest problem with the Gávea. Undoubtedly it was a heavy car (I am almost sure it was the heaviest car taking part in the 1966 Temporada, I seem to remember a comparison about that), and its dimensions were too large to make it nimble and easy to drive; but again, this was a consequence of design inexperience, and not of eventual Formula 1 considerations. A yardstick of such an inexperience are the extensive changes done to the car during its short life as a racing vehicle, notably to its suspensions.

Regards,


Muzza

[Racer.Demon]

Originally posted by Muzza
I think there is a misunderstanding on this page at 6th Gear: the Gávea was never intended to be or to become a Formula 1 car; such plans did not exist. The page you and I mentioned is about Formula 1 projects, Panzani; the person that wrote that page (Mattijs and collaborators) may have been misinformed by some contributor, or by a translation mistake.

The Willys Gávea was mentioned on the infamous F1 entries that never made it thread on which said page is based, but I can't recall where the rest of the information came from. I certainly didn't invent all that myself! As I've said before, the fact that I run a (usually) well-informed site on motorsport history doesn't necessarily reflect on my own knowledge of the past.

Anyway, as I understand it the car has no right to be on the never raced page, so I'll take it off at once. Apologies if I caused any confusion.

[Muzza]

Hello, Mattijs,


I am glad you took my comments lightly - they were meant to be constructive. I understand the challenge of writing a document about Formula 1 entries that never happened - where exactly to draw the line? What cars should be listed, and what should not? Some of the proposals were rather concrete, other were just wild dreams by some rather megalomaniac individuals...

In my personal opinion the Willys Gávea should not be included in such a document because the project never aimed Formula 1. It was indeed supposed to be car that could be adapted to different needs - but the whole concept was focused on Formula 3, with the possibility of also being used in local Formula Libre races, and even endurance events as the Mil Milhas Brasileiras if needed (the fact that the first race the car was entered was the 500 km de Interlagos is an indication of that; Willys did try to win it outright and did not face it as an "extended testing session").

I have some documentation on the car, but unfortunately it is in my library in Brazil thus I am unable to post scans or precise quotes here (I am in the United States). I am confident though that the "Formula 1 rumours" were result of a question like "Could you adapt it to run in Formula 1" by a local journalist to which Luís Greco (project manager) replied in the lines of "Well, why not?". But, to me, this does not constitute an intention to run the car as such. Then - such is human nature - news were changed here and there, each person adding or removing a word in Brazil and abroad and, at the end of the day, voilà the Gávea Formula 1. But, again, this is how I see it - this is a subject where the definitions are quite blurred ("What it takes for a car or a project to be considered a possible or potential Formula 1 entry?")

Thanks for leading me to the thread Formula 1 entries that never made it. I found the postings by Tombe

http://forums.atlasf...2284#post792284 (quoting in the Swedish magazine Illustrerad Motor Sport of April 1966)

and

http://forums.atlasf...4829#post794829

(with Luiz Pereira Bueno at the wheel; the car was painted in Brazilian racing colours, yellow with green stripe).

Cheers,


Muzza

[panzani]

Thanks Muzza and Mattijs for taking your time to enlighten me! I now realise I'd misunderstood the above mentioned 6th Gear page -- I though it made a reference to a never raced car but it was a never F1 raced car...

And Mattijs, please apologise me if my post made you think I was criticising your supperb job. Never was and never will.

[550spyder]