Luiz Vicente AulerPassos Miranda

Camillo Christofaro - Chevrolet 327 - early 70's - grid (03)

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Johnny Mallonee
@johnny-mallonee   12 years ago
A run what ya brung track that looks like fuuuuuuuuunnnnnn
Luiz Vicente AulerPassos Miranda
@luiz-vicente-aulerpassos-miranda   12 years ago
The #18 car, the overwhelming "Carretera Corvete #18" is believed to be one of the most important race cars in Brazil, being built in yhe early 60's, and very competitive to the early 70's when she was retired. Initially the basic structure came from a 1937 Chevy Coupe, equiped with Ferrari components, such as front and rear independent suspensions, transmissioin, spoke wheels and brakes. The engines .. Camillo that was a terrific engine tuner, installed one of his Corvettes 327 fully loaded with Webers 48 IDA, rolled rocker arms, roller tappets, etc. Year after year Camillo used to upgrade his car, and in the last version you can see a set of Ferrari 512S wheels and slick tires.Unfortunately Camillo passed away aging less than 70 but won many races driving his beloved "Carretera Corvette #18", like the "1966 Mil Milhas Brasileiras", in Interlagos speedway, and the Brazilian Speed Record in an airport, as afr as I remember 2 to 3 km straight, agains much more modern cars, like Lamborghini Miuras, among others.In the previous comment I informed Emerson Fittipaldi almost won the 1966 Mil Milhas Brasileiras. The story of the most dramatic long race in Brazil is very complex but, in few wors, at the end of the race Camillo's car was leading and came to the in the pits because the engine started showing up an erratic behavior. The youngster Emerson Fittipaldi, driving a Malzoni with Jan Balder, that was in second camo also to tye pits trying to solve a problem in his DKW 2 stroke engine. The Chevy engine refused to fire up. A drama in the pits, as Camillo lost many "Mil Milhas" since the late 50's at the end of those races. The Fittipaldi's Malzoni also refused to work well, 1 cylinder out. Finally, Camilo's co-driver, Eduardo Celidonio (in this photo driving his mid-engine Corvair powered prototype in foreground) suceeded firing up the 327 and the "Carretera Corvette #18" left the pits and went gloriously to the checkered flag winning the race. There is a photo of Fittipaldi crying, being consoled by the "vteran" Camillo placed on the highes position of the podium, camillo said: "dont cry, boy, you will win many races".Back to the photo, in the background, the "topless" BMW-2002 Schnittzer driven by Ciro Cayres. The #95 car is a modified Maserati 300s, a car from the 50's. The race was in 1970, March.I shall post more photos in the future.
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