Brazilian racing driver (1944?1977)
Jose Carlos Pace
(
Portuguese pronunciation:
[?o?z?
?ka?lus
?pat?i]
; 6 October 1944 ? 18 March 1977) was a
racing driver
from
Brazil
. He participated in 73
Formula One
World Championship Grands Prix, debuting at the
1972 South African Grand Prix
. He won one race, achieved six podiums, and scored a total of 58 championship points. He also secured one
pole position
.
Career
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]
Pace was a contemporary of the Fittipaldi brothers,
Wilson
and
Emerson
, and began racing in Brazil in the late 1960s. He travelled to Europe in 1970 and competed in
British Formula 3
, winning the Forward Trust championship in a
Lotus
car. In
1971
he moved up to
Formula Two
with
Frank Williams
, but did not score any points from six races. Nevertheless, he moved up to
Formula One
in
1972
, competing with a Williams-entered
March
. He scored points on two occasions and finished eighteenth in the Drivers' Championship. His best result came at the non-championship
Victory Race
, in which he finished in second position. He also competed in some further F2 and
Can-Am
races.
For
1973
, Pace moved to the
Surtees
team and improved to eleventh place in the championship after scoring a fourth place in
Germany
and his first championship podium finish with third in
Austria
. He also set the fastest lap in both of these events. He also competed in three F2 races for Surtees, but his main racing activities outside F1 were in the
World Sportscar Championship
, in which he drove for the works
Ferrari
team. Sharing a
312PB
with
Arturo Merzario
, the duo finished second at the
Nurburgring
and at
Le Mans
(after starting in
pole position
for the latter event), and third at
Watkins Glen
.
He remained with Surtees for
1974
and scored a fourth-place finish in
Brazil
, but parted company with the outfit mid-season after falling out with the founder,
John Surtees
. He drove a privately entered
Brabham
for
Goldie Hexagon Racing
at the
French Grand Prix
but failed to qualify, before moving to the works team alongside namesake
Carlos Reutemann
for the next race. After initially struggling with the new machinery, he finished fifth and set the fastest lap at
Monza
, and repeated the feat on his way to second, behind Reutemann, at
Watkins Glen
, securing a one-two finish for Brabham.
The Brabham team's
BT44B
chassis were competitive throughout the
1975
season, allowing Pace and Reutemann to feature at the front of the grid. Pace duly took his first and only Formula One victory in front of his home crowd at the
Brazilian Grand Prix
, took his first pole position at the following race in
South Africa
, and also finished on the podium at
Monaco
and
Silverstone
, ending the season sixth overall in the Drivers' Championship and helping Brabham to second in the Constructors' Championship, behind Ferrari.
He remained with Brabham for
1976
, but the car was much less competitive due to a change of engine, from
Ford
-
Cosworth
to
Alfa Romeo
. The Italian
flat 12
units were larger, heavier, less reliable and less economical than their
V8
predecessors, restricting Pace to fourteenth place in the championship, whilst Reutemann left the team before the end of the season.
By the start of the
1977
season, the competitiveness and durability of the Alfa engines had been much improved for Pace and his new teammate,
John Watson
. He demonstrated this fact by taking second position at the season opener in
Argentina
, and running strongly in the next two Grands Prix before suffering from mechanical trouble, but he was unable to capitalise on the improved performance for the rest of the season due to his sudden death.
Death and honours
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Pace was killed in a private light aircraft accident near Sao Paulo, Brazil
[1]
on 18 March 1977, 13 days after fellow F1 driver
Tom Pryce
and marshal Jansen Van Vuuren lost their lives during the
1977 South African Grand Prix
.
[2]
The Interlagos track, the scene of his only F1 win in 1975, was renamed
Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace
in his honour. Pace is buried in Cemiterio do Araca, Sao Paulo.
In the 1977 motorsport film
Bobby Deerfield
, the eponymous title character is represented by Pace in the racing scenes.
Racing record
[
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]
Career summary
[
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]
Complete Formula One World Championship results
[
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]
(
key
) (Races in
bold
indicate pole position / Races in
italics
indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula One Non-Championship results
[
edit
]
(
key
) (Races in
bold
indicate pole position / Races in
italics
indicate fastest lap)
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
[
edit
]
References
[
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]
Books
[
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]
External links
[
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]
Carlos Pace sporting positions
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Three-time
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Two-time
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One-time
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