Divila was born in
São Paulo. He 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, including the famous Fittipaldi twin-engine
Volkswagen Beetle that developed 410 bhp for 407 kg. 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. Divila founded his own research, development and consulting company in the 1980s. His early customers included
March,
Jordan, and several
IndyCar teams. 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 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. winning campaign Despite the F1RST Racing fiasco Divila held various roles in different F1 teams between 1989 and 2001, including
Ligier,
Fondmetal,
Minardi, and
Prost. He died in
Magny-Cours (France) on April 25, 2020, at the age of 74, after a
stroke. Divila was still actively working as an engineer and columnist until his stroke caused him to fall into a short
coma. He estimated that he worked at over 2000 races in various roles over the course of his life. ==References==