Slowly, but steadily, the Altaya Lendas Brasileiras do Automobilismo (Brazilian Motorsports Legends) collection is getting to the newstands on my state. So I finally grabbed this awesome Brabham, driven by José Carlos Pace.
Some of you may had recognized the name from the Interlagos circuit, which is actually called Autódromo Internacional José Carlos Pace to pay homage to this driver.
Pace’s connection to motorsports com from a long time ago. He started racing in 1963, in Brazilian touring races. His first championiship came in 1970, in the British F3.
In 1972 he won the Imola Formula 2 race, and was invited to drive a Ferrari prototype on ‘73 24 Hours of Le Mans. In that same year, he was hired by the Williams F1 team, racing both on F1 and Le Mans during some years.
But in 1974, despite starting the championiship driving for Surtees, he changed teams mid-season to Brabham. In the next year, he raced both F1 and the Brazilian touring car championiship, winning also the 25 Horas de Interlagos race. He was a winning machine.
It was in this same year, 1975, where the first dobradinha (as we call when Brazilian drivers finish both first and second place) of F1 history happened, when Pace won the second GP of the season and Fittipaldi finished second.
1976 wasn’t a good year. He used Alfa Romeo engines, which weren’t very powerful nor reliable. He finished 14th on that season. However, he acted as Al Pacino’s double on Bobby Deerfield, taking the place of the actor during the racing scenes.
On the next year he scored his last podium finish, with a second place on the Argentinian Grand Prix, because on March, 1977, his plane crashed on a tree during a violent storm.
Shortly after this, in 1985, the Interlagos circuit received his name.
This model is an insane deal for its price. It costed me R$49.95, which translates to just shy above $15 USD. The decals are great, the driver is detailed, there are nanoscopic F O R D decals on the engine heads and even the undercarriage received some nice details!
It was a very pleasant surprise when I found this for sale, and even more when I could put my hands on it to give it a better look.
I hope you liked it, because I certainly did!