Formula One & Sports Car Racer
Mieres competed in a number of different sports, including rowing, sailing, rugby and tennis. He first took up motorsport in Argentina with an MG, which he later replaced with a Mercedes-Benz SSK and then a Bugatti formerly driven by Achille Varzi, using the latter to win the Argentine sports car championship. As a reward, he was invited to join his compatriots Juan Manuel Fangio and José Froilán González on a trip to Europe, during which he finished fourth in the 1950 Circuit des Nations in Geneva driving a Ferrari 125 Formula One car. After returning to Argentina, he was recruited by the Gordini team to replace the injured Jean Behra, allowing him to make his début in the World Championship at the 1953 Dutch Grand Prix. He also competed in the French and Italian Grands Prix, taking a best finish of sixth at Monza.
Mieres scored his best result of 1953, however, in the non-championship Grand Prix de l'Albigeois held in Albi, France, finishing in fourth place. He also finished third in a sports car handicap race at Caen in July 1953, which was won by Jean Chancel. In January 1954 Mieres came in second at the Buenos Aires Grand Prix. Maurice Trintignant was victorious after Mike Hawthorn skidded close to the finish. The tail of Mieres' Maserati caught fire during the 1954 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps. After belatedly realising this, he slammed on the brakes and jumped to safety. Mieres then finished fifth in a Maserati at the 1954 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. In the 1957 City of Buenos Aires sports car race Mieres drove a 3.5 litre Jaguar to a fourth place finish. His driving partner was Ninian Sanderson of Scotland. Mieres later teamed with Anton Van Dorey for a fourth place finish at the 1960 12 Hours of Sebring.
It is likely that an oil slick dropped by Mieres' Porsche caused a tragic accident at the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix, in which at least four people were killed and fifty more injured. Ferrari driver Armando Garcia Cifuentes skidded on a large oil slick which had been deposited on the track and crashed into a grandstand; one lap earlier, Mieres had pitted to replenish oil he had lost with a broken oil line.
Read more about this topic: Roberto Mieres
Famous quotes containing the words formula, sports and/or car:
““It’s hard enough to adjust [to the lack of control] in the beginning,” says a corporate vice president and single mother. “But then you realize that everything keeps changing, so you never regain control. I was just learning to take care of the belly-button stump, when it fell off. I had just learned to make formula really efficiently, when Sarah stopped using it.””
—Anne C. Weisberg (20th century)
“Reading about ethics is about as likely to improve one’s behavior as reading about sports is to make one into an athlete.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The car has become the carapace, the protective and aggressive shell, of urban and suburban man.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)