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.

Fittipaldi Automotive was a Formula One racing team and constructor that competed from 1975 to 1982. 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.

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 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.[citation needed] It achieved three podiums and scored 44 championship points.

 

Headquarters: São Paulo, Brazil,1975–1977 and Reading, Berkshire, UK,1977–1982

f8

Fittipaldi Automotive had bought the assets of the Wolf team for 1980, and initially used Harvey Postlethwaite's Wolf WR7/WR8/WR9 cars, updated and renamed Fittipaldi F7s.The design team also included the very young chief aerodynamicist Adrian Newey.

The F8 was highly conventional, following the shape of the Williams FW07, Brabham BT49 and Arrows A3. Like almost all F1 cars of that era, it employed inboard front suspension with rocker arms, had outboard brakes both front and rear, and used a single pillar (centre post) rear wing.

The F8 was a huge improvement on the F7, and Rosberg had a storming drive from last place to finish fifth at Monza.

A heavily revised car, the F8C, was produced for 1981. Although largely the same shape as the F8, the F8Cs were said to have nothing interchangeable, having a stronger monocoque, revised front suspension, and new bodywork and aerodynamics.

emerson fittipaldi

1980

ford-cosworth dfv 8 cylinders 2993 cc

brands hatch

Fittipaldi F8 1980

 

1975-1982

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