Over the years, FIVA has spoken to many key players in the historic vehicle scene. Some of these discussions were filmed, and FIVA would like to honour these individuals in this list of Motoring Heroes.
Should you know of someone who deserves to be included on this page, please contact FIVA here. Please include a short explanation of why you’d like to see them included.
See also, FIVA’s Hall of Fame at our Youtube channel
Joe Ramirez
Joaquín Ramírez Fernández (born August 20, 1941, Mexico City) is an author and retired employee of several sports car racing teams. From 1984 to 2001 Ramírez was coordinator of the McLaren Formula One team, including during the infamous Prost / Senna rivalry of the late-1980s
Marcello Gandini
Interview with Marcello Gandini, designer of may great cars such as Lamborghini’s groundbreaking mid-engined Miura and extreme Countach, as well as many practical cars such as the Citroën BX, the first-generation BMW 5 Series (E12), the Innocenti Mini, and the Renault Supercinq. He introduced the concept of scissor doors with the Alfa Romeo 33 Carabo prototype, while the Lancia Stratos supercar was another Gandini design.
Giacomo Agostini
Giacomo Agostini (born 16 June 1942) is an Italian multi-time world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Nicknamed Ago, with an absolute record of 122 Grand Prix wins and 15 World Championships titles, of these, 68 wins and 8 titles came in the 500cc class, the rest in the 350cc class.
Frederick Burdette Spencer a.k.a. ‘Fast Freddie’
Frederick Burdette Spencer (born December 20, 1961), known by the nickname Fast Freddie, is an American former world champion motorcycle racer. Spencer is regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle racers of the early 1980s. Interviewed here by FIVA Senior Vice-President Mario Theissen on the importance of maintaining historic vehicles for the world.
Christopher Edward ‘Chris’ Bangle
Christopher Edward “Chris” Bangle (born October 14, 1956) is an American automobile designer. Bangle is known best for his work as Chief of Design for BMW Group, where he was responsible for the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce motor cars.
Walter Röhrl
Röhrl was a World Rally Championship favourite throughout the 1970s and 1980s, winning the Monte Carlo Rally four times with four different marques. His co-driver for many years was Christian Geistdörfer. His Fiat 131 Abarth carried him to the 1980 title, clinched with his victory in that year’s San Remo rally, but it was arguably his equivalent success in 1982 that impressed most of all, with Röhrl fending off audacious four-wheel drive opposition, led by Audi.
Jesse Valadez, creator of the Gypsy Rose Lowrider
Valadez’s car, which also was seen in the 1979 movie “Boulevard Nights,” was one of the highlights of “La Vida Lowrider: Cruising the City of Angels,” an exhibit that opened in 2007 at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Born of Mexican pride and defiance after World War II, lowriding — a customizing trend in which cars are lowered onto their suspensions, reupholstered and extravagantly painted — has become a quintessentially American tradition.
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