Fritz d'Orey's parents came from Portugal. His first name Fritz, which is atypical for a Brazilian, refers to his grandfather, who was German. His parents ran a Packard dealership in Sao Paulo, and that's how early d'Orey came into contact with motorsport. His first vehicle was a Porsche Spyder. He later bought by his compatriot Chico Landi its Formula 1 - Ferrari , with whom he began in the late 1950s in Brazil , Argentina and Uruguay regularly to race.
In 1959 he came to Europe and started for the small Italian racing team Scuderia Centro Sud in the Formula 1 World Championship. He had a serious accident on his debut at the French Grand Prix . After another brief appearance at the British Grand Prix , he drove for Camoradi Racing with their Tec-Mec-Maserati for the US Grand Prix . He could not place in any of the three Grand Prix and his Formula 1 career remained unfinished.
At the same time as the Monposti, d'Orey also drove sports car races, and these were so successful that Ferrari offered him a works contract for 1960, which he accepted. But already at the first race in Monza, d'Orey, who said of himself, “I remained a big, naughty kid”, had a serious accident after a collision with his team-mate Phil Hill .
Fritz d'Orey's career (he almost always drove beyond his means) ended in 1960 during training for the Le Mans 24 Hours . He crashed into a tree in a Scuderia Serenissima Ferrari in the early hours of the morning and suffered such serious injuries that he had to spend eight months in hospital. He made a full recovery, but never raced again.
Brazil
Bill Sturgis
BUA
