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Luiz Pereira Bueno: 1937 - 2011

Luiz Pereira Bueno, one of the crop of talented Brazilian racing drivers who made their way to the United Kingdom in the late '60s, sadly lost his prolonged battle with cancer and passed away on 8th February.

Bueno began his international racing career in the 1969 Formula Ford 1600 Championship under the SMART banner – Stirling's racing team, the Stirling Moss Automobile Racing Team - as their Number One driver. Fellow Brazilian, Ricardo Achcar was in the second of the two racing Light Borneo Green coloured Merlyn Mk11A’s. Team Manager Val Pirie recalls “Stirling chose the colour as it stood out well in the black and white images of the day.”

Bueno and Achcar brought with them Brazilian sponsorship from Shell, which did not conflict with Stirling's allegiance to BP, as well as Renner, a large department store in Brazil and Tergal, a fabric manufacturer.

Delays in signing the sponsorship contracts and the release of their money saw both drivers start their campaigns in May with the championship already in full swing. The Formula Ford 1600 Championship, having been established two years prior, was seen as the way of getting into Formula 3 and the route into international racing and Formula 1. Emerson Fittipaldi, who had arrived in Europe at the beginning of 1969 season, had already achieved two victories; driving a similar Denny Howland Merlyn Mk11A.

Bueno’s international racing debut on 22nd June at Snetterton, along with fellow Brazilian Achcar, was not auspicious, both failing to finish, however as the season progressed they began notching up wins.

By the second race of the season at Brands Hatch, the results started to come in and it was soon realised that the SMART team, with its Brazilian drivers, was a force with which to be reckoned. Bueno went onto score six wins for SMART, the last at Brands in September, as well as a second place and a third in that year's Formula Ford season, finishing 4th in the championship with 40 points.

He returned to Brazil to campaign in a Merlyn in 1970 but, siting age and a lack of sponsorship money, his international career was virtually at an end. He won two national championships in the 1970s - the 1972 Brazilian Sportscar Championship and the 1975 Division 4 Championship. The first he took racing a Porsche 908/3 and the second in a Brazilian engined Ford Maverick, built by Argentinian touring-car wizard Oreste Berta.

Bueno's Formula 1 debut came at the 1972 non-championship event held at Interlagos, where he finished a creditable 6th in the Hollywood Team Ford March 711 entry, partnering Ronnie Peterson. His last and only Formula 1 World Championship race in 1973, again in Brazil, was a totally different story when he raced the ageing works Surtees TS9B, which had previously been driven by Mike Hailwood. He qualified last, 12 seconds slower than pole sitter Ronnie Peterson, and went onto finish the race 4 laps down on the winner, fellow Brazilian Fittipaldi.

Many have commented that had Bueno embarked on his racing career earlier than he did, he could have gone on to match his countryman Fittipaldi.

Stirling remembers Bueno and the 1969 season with fondness. “Luiz had an enthusiasm for racing and life and his results during the time he was with SMART demonstrate this - he even beat Emerson a couple of times. He will be sadly missed by all those who knew him”

Val Pirie remembers Bueno equally fondly. “Luiz was a good and loyal team member and it is a tragedy that he was unable to reach his full potential.”

courtesy: http://www.stirlingmoss.com/node/687

Who is king, never loses the majesty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v4sZPu_870

R.I.P my friend!

Cheers/Namaste from Brazil

Douglas Gravina