Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Fritz d'Orey, a former racing driver, from Brazil. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix


Frederico José Carlos Themudo "Fritz" d'Orey (born March 25, 1938 in São Paulo) is a former racing driver, from Brazil. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on July 5, 1959.

Although he was Brazilian by birth, Fritz d’Orey’s parents were Portugues  nationals and his grandfather a German. The family settled in São Paulo where they earned a more than comfortable living by importing Packard cars from America. Fritz wanted for nothing, and what he wanted was to go racing.


That was with a Porsche initially before the 20 year old bought Chico Landi’s Ferrari 375 that was now fitted with a V8 Corvette engine. Victory in the Interlagos endurance race of 1958 and further national success persuaded d’Orey to race in Europe.

Formula 1 career with Centro Sud and Tec-Mec
He joined Scuderia Centro Sud for the following season and his Maserati 250F was 10th at the 1959 French Grand Prix. The youngster was wild and ragged and a heavy crash during the subsequent British GP ended his immediate plans.

D’Orey also competed in hillclimbs, sports car races and Formula Junior events during 1959. He won an FJ race at Messina and was second in the United States GP support race at Sebring. D’Orey also made his third and final GP start that day with Camoradi USA’s Tec-Mec F415 – a strangely modified Maserati 250F whose reshaped body certainly made the car no quicker. D’Orey retired early on in what was Tec-Mec’s only Formula 1 appearance.

Instead of open-wheel racing, the Brazilian planned a season in sports cars in 1960. He finished sixth in the Sebring 12 Hours with William Sturgis’s Ferrari 250GT but then crashed while testing before the Le Mans 24 Hours. D’Orey suffered severe head injuries in the accident and was hospitalised for eight months. Although he recovered fully, he was finished with racing. Instead he returned to work for his father’s business and eventually settled in Rio de Janeiro.






Friday, July 24, 2020

Leslie Marr, a British landscape artist, painter and former Formula 1 racing driver

Sir Leslie Lynn Marr, 2nd Baronet (born 14 August 1922) is a British landscape artist, painter and former racing driver.

Marr was born in Durham, England, the son of John Lynn Marr (1877–1931) and Amelia Rachel, née Thompson (1884–1971). He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He inherited his baronetcy in 1932, on the death of his grandfather, shipbuilder Sir James Marr, 1st Baronet, though he does not use the title.

 He studied engineering at Cambridge University, where he graduated in 1942. During World War II he served as a technician in the Royal Air Force. His interest in painting developed during his posting to Palestine.

 Marr participated in two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, making his debut on 17 July 1954 at the British Grand Prix.[3] Racing in his private Connaught, he finished in 13th place, but retired from his last world championship race in 1955, after a damaged brake pipe caused him to spin off.[4][5]

Marr competed in several non-Championship races, with his best results including winning the 1955 Cornwall MRC Formula 1 Race and finishing fourth in the 1956 New Zealand Grand Prix.

Marr is recognised primarily as a landscape artist and painter.

Between 1983 and 1991, Marr lived and painted on Arran, and later moved to a home and studio in Norfolk.[1] Artworks by Marr are held in the public collections of the British Academy, Imperial College Collection, Laing Art Gallery Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.  After the war ended, Marr attended life classes at Heatherley's Art School in Pimlico and subsequently studied under David Bomberg at what was then known as the Borough Polytechnic (now London South Bank University).

He allocated the upper floor of a bookshop he had rented as an exhibition space for Bomberg's students (who became known as the Borough Group). Following the Group's dissolution in 1950, Marr continued to paint and to travel across Britain and the continent, and it was at this time that Marr tried his hand at motor racing.[1][9]