Name Richard Divila | ||
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Fomula 1 fittipaldi fd 01 designers richard divila odilon c franco jr avi
Ricardo Divila, also known as Richard Divila (born 30 May 1945 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian motorsports designer. He has worked in Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Three, Formula 3000 and sports car racing.
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Life and career
Divila had a very close relationship with Wilson and Emerson Fittipaldi. He started by designing Formula Vee and various sports cars for them in Brazil in the 1960s. When the brothers established the Fittipaldi Automotive team in Formula One he became the Technical Director and designed the team's first three cars. These three cars had the name "FD" based on Fittipaldi's "F" and Divila's "D" like the Brabham's "BT" (Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac). He remained with the team until it closed down in 1982.
Since then he has worked for many teams in many categories - in particular with Ligier in Formula One and with Nissan in various sports car series. Between 1988 and 1989 he designed a Formula One car for Lamberto Leoni, a former F1 driver who intended to enter his FIRST GP team in the 1989 championship. Although the team had contracts with Judd and Pirelli as engine and tyre suppliers, and with Gabriele Tarquini as a driver, the team did not race that year. It was Divila's last chance to see an F1 car designed by him racing, especially as his designs were altered to become the L190 run by the short-lived Life Racing Engines.
Since the 1990s, he has worked for some Japanese racing teams such as Nismo, SARD, and Dome.