Carlos Pace

José Carlos Pace (; 6 October 1944 – 18 March 1977) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from Template:Ifnumber to Template:Ifnumber. Pace won the 1975 Brazilian Grand Prix with Brabham.

Born and raised in São Paulo, Pace competed in Formula One for Williams, Surtees and Brabham. He finished sixth in the World Drivers' Championship in Template:Ifnumber with the latter.

In March 1977, Pace was killed in a light aircraft accident in Mairiporã. The Interlagos Circuit in São Paulo was renamed the Autódromo José Carlos Pace upon his death, home of the Brazilian Grand Prix since 1972 and the location of his sole victory in Formula One. It also is his final resting place since 2024.

Early life

José Carlos Pace was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil to Angelo Raphael Pace, a textiles businessman, and Amélia Pace. His father was of Italian descent as was his mother, who hailed from Brazil. The family moved back to Italy for a part of Pace's childhood and upon returning to Brazil he was given the nickname 'Moco' because he could only speak Italian. He was encouraged by friends Wilson and Emerson Fittipaldi to start karting. Pace studied accounting while his elder brothers helped their father. He first raced in a kart in 1960 and moved to cars in 1963.

Career

File:1973-05-27 35 Carlos Pace, Ferrari, Hatzenbach.jpg

Pace driving a Ferrari 312PB at the Nürburgring in 1973.

Pace was a contemporary of the Fittipaldi brothers, Wilson and Emerson, and began racing in Brazil in the late 1960s. He travelled to Europe in 1970 and competed in British Formula 3, winning the Forward Trust Championship in a Lotus car. In Template:F2 he moved up to Formula Two with Frank Williams, but did not score any points from six races. Nevertheless, he moved up to Formula One in Template:Ifnumber, competing with a Williams-entered March. He scored points on two occasions and finished eighteenth in the Drivers' Championship. His best result came at the non-championship Victory Race, in which he finished in second position. He also competed in some further F2 and Can-Am races.

For Template:Ifnumber, Pace moved to the Surtees team and improved to eleventh place in the championship after scoring a fourth place in Germany and his first championship podium finish with third in Austria. He also set the fastest lap in both of these events. He also competed in three F2 races for Surtees, but his main racing activities outside F1 were in the World Sportscar Championship, in which he drove for the works Ferrari team. Sharing a 312PB with Arturo Merzario, the duo finished second at the Nürburgring and at Le Mans (after starting in pole position for the latter event), and third at Watkins Glen.

Pace remained with Surtees for Template:Ifnumber and scored a fourth-place finish in Brazil, but parted company with the outfit mid-season after falling out with the founder, John Surtees. He drove a privately entered Brabham for Goldie Hexagon Racing at the French Grand Prix but failed to qualify, before moving to the works team alongside namesake Carlos Reutemann for the next race. After initially struggling with the new machinery, he finished fifth and set the fastest lap at Monza, and repeated the feat on his way to second, behind Reutemann, at Watkins Glen, securing a one-two finish for Brabham.

File:Carlos Pace 1973.jpg

Pace at the Nürburgring in 1973.

The Brabham team's BT44B chassis were competitive throughout the Template:Ifnumber season, allowing Pace and Reutemann to feature at the front of the grid. Pace duly took his first and only Formula One victory in front of his home crowd at the Brazilian Grand Prix, took his first pole position at the following race in South Africa, and also finished on the podium at Monaco and Silverstone, ending the season sixth overall in the Drivers' Championship and helping Brabham to second in the Constructors' Championship, behind Ferrari.

Pace remained with Brabham for Template:Ifnumber, but the car was much less competitive due to a change of engine, from Ford-Cosworth to Alfa Romeo. The Italian flat 12 units were larger, heavier, less reliable and less economical than their V8 predecessors, restricting Pace to fourteenth place in the championship, whilst Reutemann left the team before the end of the season.

By the start of the Template:Ifnumber season, the competitiveness and durability of the Alfa engines had been much improved for Pace and his new teammate, John Watson. He demonstrated this fact by taking second position at the season opener in Argentina, and running strongly in the next two Grands Prix before suffering from mechanical trouble, but he was unable to capitalise on the improved performance for the rest of the season due to his sudden death.

Personal life

Pace married Elda d'Andrea in 1968, his girlfriend of ten years. His father committed suicide in 1972 due to business related issues. Pace was not told until after he had achieved his maiden points at the Spanish Grand Prix, finishing sixth. His friend, Carlo Gancia, claimed Pace "loved his father more than anything". Pace returned to Brazil after the 1977 South African Grand Prix, heartbroken at the death of Tom Pryce. His wife Elda recalls "he was very upset. Most drivers were cool, they needed to be cool, but I saw him crying after accidents four or five times". Gancia added that "he was touched and moved by these things because everybody liked him and he made friends around the pitlane". After Pace died in 1977, long-time friend Bernie Ecclestone helped Elda to sort out finances and ensure they were well taken care of.

In popular culture

In the 1977 motorsport film Bobby Deerfield, the eponymous title character is represented by Pace in the racing scenes.

Death and honours

Pace was killed in a private light aircraft accident near São Paulo, Brazil on 18 March 1977, 13 days after fellow F1 driver Tom Pryce and marshal Frederik Jansen van Vuuren lost their lives during the 1977 South African Grand Prix. The Interlagos track, the scene of his only F1 win in 1975, was renamed Autódromo José Carlos Pace in his honour. He was buried in the Araçá cemetery in São Paulo.

In August 2024, Pace's body was transferred from his vandalized mausoleum to the race circuit to be laid to rest in the race track named after him. The idea for this was organized by the president of the Confederação Brasileira de Automobilismo (Brazilian Automobile Confederation) (CBA), Paulo “Loco” Figueiredo, the president of the Comissão Nacional de Carros Clássicos (National Classic Car Commission) and journalist Ricardo Caruso, as soon as they were informed of the vandalism of Pace's mausoleum, in the Araçá cemetery, in São Paulo. Figueiredo and Caruso began a long battle against bureaucracy, which included meetings with municipal authorities, at least 15 trips to the cemetery, as well as searches in registry offices, collecting documents and various authorizations, just to give the departed racer his deserved respect, and all with the support and help of Pace's family, who were unaware of the situation of his grave in the cemetery and immediately authorized them to do whatever was necessary.

Finally, on August 23, Pace's body arrived in Interlagos, where he was buried next to the bust that stands there in his honor. The emotional ceremony was attended by Pace's family (his widow Elda, his children Patrícia and Rodrigo, and his grandchildren), friends, other drivers, journalists and admirers of “Moco”. Then, José Carlos Pace took one last lap around the track, where Rodrigo, “Moco's” son, drove a 1967 Karmann-Ghia racing car that was used by his father, from the old Dacon team, where José Carlos Pace formed a trio with none other than the Fittipaldi brothers of Emerson and Wilson Jr. at the time. Alongside Rodrigo was Maurício Marx, collector and current owner of the Karmann-Ghia, who took the urn with Pace’s remains to his “final chequered flag”. This makes Pace the first departed driver ever to be buried in a race circuit.

His bust was damaged by a couple of inebriated fans during a fight following a Stock Car Brasil event on December 2025. The São Paulo state government issued a statement promising the reconstruction of a new bust in tribute to the driver.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
1970	BRSCC Lombank British Formula Three	Jim Russell Racing Driver School	13	1	2	4	7	43	3rd
	BRSCC Motorsport/Shell British Formula Three		11	1	0	1	2	22	5th
	BARC Forward Trust British Formula Three		11	2	1	2	4	41	1st
1971	European Formula Two	Frank Williams Motul March	6	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1972	Formula One	Team Williams Motul	11	0	0	0	0	3	18th
	European Formula Two	Pygmée Racing Team	4	0	1	1	1	6	15th
	Can-Am	Advanced Vehicle Systems	3	0	0	0	0	10	15th
1973	Formula One	Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees	14	0	0	2	1	7	11th
	World Sportscar Championship	Ferrari SEFAC SpA	9	0	0	0	4	0	NC
	European Formula Two	Surtees Racing	3	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Le Mans	Ferrari SEFAC SpA	1	0	0	0	1	N/A	2nd
1974	Formula One	Team Surtees Bang & Olufsen Team Surtees	7	0	0	0	0	11	12th
		Motor Racing Developments	6	0	0	2	1
1975	Formula One	Martini Racing	14	1	1	1	3	24	6th
1976	Formula One	Martini Racing	16	0	0	0	0	7	14th
1977	Formula One	Martini Racing	3	0	0	0	1	6	15th

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position / Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1972	Team Williams Motul	March 711	Cosworth V8	ARG	RSA 17	ESP 6	MON 17	BEL 5	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER NC	AUT NC	ITA Ret	CAN 9	USA Ret						18th	3
1973	Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees	Surtees TS14A	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	ESP Ret	BEL 8	MON Ret	SWE 10	FRA 13	GBR Ret	NED 7	GER 4	AUT 3	ITA Ret	CAN 18	USA Ret			11th	7
1974	Team Surtees	Surtees TS16	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA 4																12th	11
	Bang & Olufsen Team Surtees					RSA 11	ESP 13	BEL Ret	MON Ret	SWE Ret	NED
	Goldie Hexagon Racing	Brabham BT42										FRA DNQ
	Motor Racing Developments	Brabham BT44											GBR 9	GER 12	AUT Ret	ITA 5	CAN 8	USA 2
1975	Martini Racing	Brabham BT44B	Cosworth V8	ARG Ret	BRA 1	RSA 4	ESP Ret	MON 3	BEL 8	SWE Ret	NED 5	FRA Ret	GBR 2	GER Ret	AUT Ret	ITA Ret	USA Ret				6th	24
1976	Martini Racing	Brabham BT45	Alfa Romeo Flat-12	BRA 10	RSA Ret	USW 9	ESP 6	BEL Ret	MON 9	SWE 8	FRA 4	GBR 8	GER 4	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN 7	USA Ret	JPN Ret		14th	7
1977	Martini Racing	Brabham BT45	Alfa Romeo Flat-12	ARG 2	BRA Ret																15th	6
		Brabham BT45B				RSA 13	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN	JPN
Source:

Complete Formula One Non-Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position / Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6
1972	Team Williams Motul	March 711	Cosworth V8	ROC	BRA Ret	INT	OUL	REP
	Team Surtees	Surtees TS9B							VIC 2
1973	Brooke Bond Oxo Team Surtees	Surtees TS14A	Cosworth V8	ROC	INT Ret
1974	Team Surtees	Surtees TS16	Cosworth V8	PRE 9	ROC	INT
1975	Martini Racing	Brabham BT44B	Cosworth V8	ROC	INT	SUI 6
1976	Martini Racing	Brabham BT45	Alfa Romeo Flat-12	ROC Ret	INT 9

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1973	Template:Flagicon Ferrari SEFAC SpA	Template:Flagicon Arturo Merzario	Ferrari 312PB Ferrari 312 F12 2991cc	S3.0	349	2nd	2nd

External links

• Pace's profile at Motorsportmemorial.org