Joaquín Ramírez Fernández (born August 20, 1941,

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...

) is a Mexican author and retired employee of several

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing i ...

teams. From 1984 to 2001 Ramírez was coordinator of the

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...

team, including during the infamous Prost–Senna rivalry of the late-1980s.

Early life

The third of eight children, Ramírez was born in Mexico City and studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigge ...

(UNAM). Contrary to his father's desires he dropped out in 1960 to follow his friend Ricardo Rodríguez to Europe. Ramírez worked as apprentice mechanic for

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A. () is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in reference to their logo. ...

for two years. When Rodríguez died in a racing crash in the Mexican GP in 1962, Ramírez first took a job at

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. ...

and later at

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–199 ...

as a

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning and ...

of their new line of high-performance road cars. In 1964 he moved to England where he worked for Ford on the GT40, before joining

Dan Gurney Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, ...

’s

All American Racers All American Racers is an American auto racing team and constructor based in Santa Ana, California. Founded by Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby in 1964, All American Racers initially participated in American sports car and Champ Car races as well as ...

team in 1966.

Formula One career

During the 1960s and '70s Ramírez worked for several teams, including

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

, Tyrrell, where founder Ken Tyrrell advised him to keep a diary of his time in the sport, and for

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender *Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Rod ...

and

Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once. Moving up from Formula Two, Fitti ...

in their Fittipaldi Copersucar F1 team. In December 1983 Ramírez joined the front-running McLaren Formula One operation as Team Coordinator, becoming close friends with many top drivers including

Alain Prost Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French retired racing driver and Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing ...

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers from Brazil to win the World Championship and wo ...

David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...

and

Mika Häkkinen Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968), nicknamed "The Flying Finn", is a Finnish former racing driver. He won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1998 and 1999, both times driving for McLaren. Häkkinen is one of three For ...

. In 2001, after more than 40 years, Ramírez retired from the ''Great Circus'' and was advised by McLaren team manager

Ron Dennis Ronald Dennis CBE (born 1 June 1947) is a British businessman and Official British Business Ambassador for the United Kingdom. He is best known for his former role as owner, CEO, chairman and founder of McLaren Group. Dennis was removed from h ...

not to write his life story as no one would be interested. Ramírez was left in little doubt that Dennis's true aim was to stop any undesirable details of the team's inner workings from becoming public. As a parting gift from F1 David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen gave him a

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...

Road King. ;Statistics * 479 Grands Prix in which he participated. * 116 triumphs on F1 Grands Prix. * 10 F1 Drivers' World Championships:

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast As ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, 1988,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

, 1990,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

. * 5 F1 World Champions:

Jackie Stewart Sir John Young Stewart (born 11 June 1939), known as Jackie Stewart, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Cham ...

(1),

Niki Lauda Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula ...

(1), Alain Prost (3), Ayrton Senna (3) and Mika Häkkinen (2). * 7 Constructors' F1 World Championships (McLaren): 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1998. * 8 F1 teams: Ferrari, AAR Eagle, Tyrrell, Fittipaldi-Copersucar,

Shadow A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette ...

, ATS,

Theodore Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Saskatche ...

and McLaren. * 1

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and ...

( JW- Porsche):

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. * 1 World Sportscar Drivers' Championship: Pedro Rodríguez and

Jackie Oliver Keith Jack "Jackie" Oliver (born 14 August 1942 in Chadwell Heath, Essex) is a British former Formula One driver and team-owner from England. He became known as the founder of the Arrows team as well as a racing driver, although during his d ...

. * 4 teams and prototype sports car: Ferrari, Maserati, Ford and JW-Porsche.

After Formula One

In 2005 Ramírez published his life story: ''Jo Ramirez: Memoirs of a racing man''. Ramírez also has written the foreword of some books like: ''Los Hermanos Rodríguez'' 2006, ''The Brothers Rodríguez'', 2009 and ''La Carrera Panamericana: "The World's Greatest Road Race!"'', 2008. During F1 seasons Ramírez has a column in the Mexican newspaper ''

Reforma REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, more commonly known as REFORMA, is an affiliate of the American Library Association formed in 1971 to promote library services to Lat ...

''. Ramírez was a great supporter and inspiration to Mexican talents like

Adrián Fernández Adrián Fernández Mier (born April 20, 1963 in Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico) is a Mexican former professional race car driver and he was co-owner of the Fernandez Racing team. Racing career Early career Fernández began his career in Mexico by ...

Salvador Durán Salvador Durán Sánchez (born 6 May 1985) is a Mexican race car driver who raced in the FIA Formula E Championship for the Amlin Aguri team. Durán has also previously competed in A1 Grand Prix, Formula Renault 3.5, and the NASCAR Toyota Ser ...

, Checo Pérez and Esteban Gutiérrez. He is a member of the Scuderia Rodríguez, Mexico's racing Legion of Honor, and was named to its Hall of Fame of Mexican Motorsport. Ramírez is fluent in Spanish, English, Italian and Portuguese.

Carrera Panamericana

After his retirement from F1, Ramírez has participated in the

Carrera Panamericana The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan (stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, it ...

, including the fourth place in the A+ Historic category in 2010 in a

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

. In the 2012 edition Ramírez and his co-driver Alberto "Beto" Cruz got the podium with a third place in the category of A+ Historic 2,000 cc. Ramírez drove his Volvo P-1800 of Escuderia Telmex and concludes on the 50th overall with a time of 5h.55m.3.1s.

References

External links