The Pace to be world champion

Since his death in 1977, Jose Carlos Pace, rated as one of the best 25 drivers never to have won the world championship in this week's special AUTOSPORT feature, has been deeply missed in Brazilian motorsport.

Regarded as one of the brightest talents of his generation and a driver with the potential to be a world champion, he passed away on March 18 1977 when the plane carrying him and fellow driver Marivaldo Fernandes crashed during a tropical storm.

Up to that point, Pace had climbed from British Formula 3 star to grand prix winner with Bernie Ecclestone's Brabham team and was seen by some as a potential champion.

Until 1969, Pace, also known as 'Moco' by his friends, was one of the up-and-coming young drivers on the Brazilian scene.

He had grown up in the same neighbourhood as the Fittipaldi brothers, Emerson and Wilson, and their off-time was entirely dedicated to downhill races in small, engineless wooden cars with sphere bearings in place of the wheels.

Many of their friends of those days became racing drivers, but only Pace and the Fittipaldis made it to the highest level.

Pace joined Fittipaldi in F1 © LAT

Their initial step was with the all-conquering Willys team, led by Luiz Antonio Greco, who had a special ability to spot raw talent. He hired Pace in 1963 for his junior team, which raced highly-modified Renault Gordinis.

Wilson became the young gun of the main team, pushing the established stars Luiz Pereira Bueno and Bird Clemente hard at the wheel of the tail-happy Interlagos Berlinettes. Too young to qualify for a licence, Emerson was still waiting in the wings and winning in karting.

In 1966, Pace moved to the Jolly Gancia Team and became Brazilian champion twice, driving the Alfa Romeo GTa. In 1968, he and Wilson moved to a new team, Dacon, and dominated the Brazilian races at the wheel of Karmann-Ghia powered by Porsche 904 engines.

In parallel, they raced in the new Formula Vee series. The low power of the 1200cc VW engines didn't allow them to match the pace of lighter drivers such as Emerson and Ricardo Achcar, but it would be valuable experience in single-seaters for the following years.

The success of the younger Fittipaldi in British Formula Ford and F3 in 1969 opened Wilson's and Pace's eyes to their chances of an international career. In 1970, both headed to England to race in British F3, and their obvious choice was the Lotus 59 model in which Emerson had claimed nine wins.

At the end of the season, Pace was the champion of the Forward Trust Trophy and third in the more prestigious Lombank Trophy after an intense battle with champion Tony Trimmer and Lotus works driver Dave Walker.

As the 1970s progressed, Pace's distinctive 'arrows' helmet became a feature at the front in F1 © LAT

Always close to Pace, Wilson still rates him as world champion material.

"Moco was almost unbeatable in his best days," says Wilson, who started 35 grands prix from 1972-'75. "In those first years in England, he made his mark since the initial rounds and gained a lot of self confidence as he started winning.

"But the short F3 races were not physically tough and he never felt it necessary to work out, which would cost him an F1 win in Argentina in 1977.

"I think it made his career a little less successful than it might have been if he had the right approach. He was not disciplined enough but he graduated to F2 with Frank Williams in 1971 and got one single win, at Imola.

"It was a shame, because he had talent for much more than what he achieved. Even so, he made immense progress since our first days in England, as the races were all we were living for. There were many less distractions and so he improved much beyond what we all thought he could ever get in the Brazilian days."

Even though it was his only F2 win, that victory in the Grand Prix of Imola in July 1971 earned Pace a contract to race in F1 for Frank Williams, driving a one-year-old March 711 the following year.

Pace's F1 chance came in a Williams-run March © LAT

While not a particularly competitive package, he did score his first point with sixth in his second start in Spain, adding a fifth place in the Belgian GP two races later.

There was also an invitation to race alongside Arturo Merzario in a works Ferrari 312PB in the Osterreichring 1000km. They came home in second place behind the sister car of Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman.

This result opened the door to a Ferrari works team contract in 1973. Pace and Merzario claimed second in the Le Mans 24 Hours that year.

"In those days, he was already established as a high-level driver," recalls Francisco 'Chico' Rosa, who would today be called Pace's manager. "I was always present at his races and my sensation was that those races in sportscars would lead to a F1 deal if he had not signed to run with Team Surtees.

"But then Niki Lauda showed up and maybe that's why that deal never became more than a feeling, but I firmly believe that Pace could have been world champion in F1, or fought closely for it, as winning or not always depends on circumstances."

Rosa had gone to England to help Emerson Fittipaldi in 1969, as he was one of the few guys around who spoke English.

Paired with Merzario, Pace took Ferrari to second at Le Mans in 1973 © LAT

"As I had met a lot of people in the racing scene, I went back to help Wilson and Moco, mostly Moco because he needed more support," says Rosa. "He and Wilson hired a place to keep their cars, and in those days it was quite a simple operation.

"Each one had a mechanic and would trail their race cars to the tracks in their day-to-day cars. Ricardo Divila, who would become a outstanding designer in F1 and many other categories, was there to help Wilson, but we were a kind of a family.

"They changed opinions on set-ups and tracks, borrowed pieces from each other and Ricardo was always near to lend a helping hand, despite being part of Wilson's team. But they were very close friends, at least until the flag dropped.

"He was very quick to learn the tracks, he would take no more than two or three laps to find the limits. It was probably his main quality, but he could go fast in any circumstance.

"At Ferrari, it was hard to him to fit in the same cockpit as Merzario, who was much smaller than him. And also with the car set-up, as Merzario liked understeering cars, while Moco would always go for oversteer.

"Even so they were second in Le Mans in 1973, the best Ferrari car on a day that the Matra of Henri Pescarolo and Gerard Larrousse was totally out of reach for the whole field.

Pace's bravery at Spa stunned Ickx © LAT

"In the Spa-Francorchamps race, Jacky Ickx asked him where he was lifting in the approach to the entry of the fast Maison Blanche corner. He barely could believe when Moco said he was flat, it was something around 340km/h. He was blindingly quick in the fast corners, no doubt he could have been world champion given the right car, or at least fought for it."

Wilson believes it would have happened if that plane had not fallen in 1977.

After spending two years with Surtees, claiming a few encouraging results including third place in the 1973 Austrian GP, Pace switched to Brabham the following season. At that time, the team was still in the process of rebuilding after the departure of Jack Brabham but it was on an upward curve.

In 1974, there was a second podium at Watkins Glen and a year later Pace claimed a famous victory in the Brazilian GP at Interlagos, the circuit that now bears his name, on his way to a career-best sixth in the world championship.

While Brabham was inconsistent in this period, the team was on a trajectory that would lead to its re-emergence as a world championship-challenging force in 1980. Unfortunately, Pace's death three races into the '77 season meant he would not be part of that rise.

"He was at the right team," Fittipaldi says. "Brabham was starting to develop as a big team and Bernie Ecclestone loved him.

"More than this, he was becoming much more committed to his career and had started to work out. Emerson had been working out for a long time with Admildo Chirol, the Brazilian Football National team physical trainer, and Moco started to work out with him and his stamina was much better.

His only F1 win came on home ground © LAT

"It was a shame that he didn't get to the end of the Argentinian GP in that year. He was leading until late in the race, but he was feeling dizzy and gave up what would have been his second victory in his career. He had it all to go much beyond."

Rosa recalls the day that he and Moco were having lunch with Enzo Ferrari in Maranello.

"He was in a relaxed mood and I felt free to ask him some questions. Then I asked how he rated Jacky Ickx. And Il Commendatore said that Ickx was the best amateur driver in the world because of his lack of commitment.

"In my opinion, Moco was Ickx's strongest rival in this class of drivers. But if he did not die in 1977, I'm sure that his story, and also the Brabham story, would have been different."

Ecclestone once said that he would not need Lauda if Moco had not died that day. Rosa suspects that "maybe Bernie was being kind with Moco, because they loved each other, but maybe he feels that he could put Moco on the right path to becoming a world champion.

"Maybe he was already on the right path, because he was much fitter when I saw him in Brazil, one or two days before that tragic flight. No doubt, he could become world champion, and maybe he got the right drive to fulfill his potential after that Argentinian GP. But then he and Marivaldo went into that plane..."

See where Pace ranks in AUTOSPORT's feature on the 25 best drivers who never won an F1 title in this week's magazine