Notes:
Born in Lodi, then province of Milan, Italy, on 04 June 1924, Ettore Chimeri immigrated as a child to Venezuela with his parents Giuseppina and Dante Luigi Chimeri, and later became a citizen of that country. After the end of World War II, during which he had served for the Italian Aeronautica Militare (Air Force) as a sergeant pilot, he founded in Venezuela a successfull textile factory which enabled him to indulge in motor racing. He started his career as an amateur racing for personal satisfaction, but achieved success in touring-car local events in the early 1950s. He progressed to sportscar races and took part in the 1955 Gran Premio de Venezuela, held at Los Próceres, Caracas, sharing a Ferrari 500 Mondial entered by the Scuderia Guastalla with Franco Cornacchia of Italy. The pair did not finish the race.

Chimeri returned to Italy and drove a Maserati 200SI in the 1957 Mille Miglia. Back home he scored with Mauricio Marcotulli as team mate a creditable 6th place in the Gran Premio de Venezuela at Caracas, then a round of the 1957 World Sportscar Championship, in a Maserati 300S. It was the former factory car #0354 in which Stirling Moss-Carlos Menditeguy had won the 1956 1000 Km of Buenos Aires.

In 1958 Ettore Chimeri drove a Ferrari 250GT LWB #0619GT owned by fellow Venezuelan racer Julio Pola, scoring outright wins in the Premio Cuidad di Valencia and in the Vuelta a Aragua-Maracay, finishing 4th overall in the Caracas-Maracaibo-Caracas road race, after winning the first stage of the event. Then he came 7th in the Gran Premio de Venezuela at Palmarejo, Caracas. The following year Pola purchased a new 250GT LWB Berlinetta Scaglietti "Tour de France" #1037GT, in which Chimeri won the Grand Premio de La Trinidad and the Subida a Pedro García. He vainly tried to enter the 1959 Indianapolis 500, and later he raced in the 1959 Nassau Speed Week driving for the first time the 3-litre Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 58/59 #0726TR which he had rented from Lino Fayen of Venezuela. Chimeri finished a solid 4th in the Ferrari Classics, Handicap Race and 7th in the Governor's Trophy, over 2-litre race.

At the age of 34 Ettore Chimeri planned to try his hands in Formula 1. By the end of 1959 he acquired from Juan Manuel Fangio a Maserati 250F, just the car in which "El Chueco" had won his fifth title in 1957. He managed to have his debut in the last round of the 1959 season, the United States Grand Prix held on 12 December 1959 at Sebring, but the car did not arrive in Florida due to a delay in shipping. Chimeri did not start the race and reverted to the Formula Junior supporting race, driving a Stanguellini - Fiat.

Chimeri was one of the creators of the Sorocaima Racing team (the name Sorocaima came from the chief of an Indian tribe in Venezuela), which was founded by some Italian motorsport enthusiasts living in Venezuela. The team entered South American drivers in Formula 3, Formula 2 and Temporada races until the late 1960s.

In January of 1960 Ettore Chimeri was in Argentina to participate with his friend Julio Pola in a Maserati 300S in the World Sportscar Championship's 1000 Km of Buenos Aires scheduled for 31 January, and in the subsequent Argentine Grand Prix, one week later, in his own Maserati 250F. Unfortunately Pola destroyed the sportscar crashing hard during practice and the pair did not start the event.

At Buenos Aires on 07 February 1960 Chimeri became the first Venezuelan to compete in a World Championship Grand Prix. The next Venezuelan Formula 1 driver didn’t appear until the 1980s, when Johnny Cecotto scored a single championship point during two frustrating seasons. Chimeri drove one of the four oldish, ill-prepared Maserati 250Fs entered in the race. He qualified his car #44 in 21st position, starting from the penultimate row. He failed to finish the race, due to heat exhaustion during 24th of 80 laps.

One week later, he drove his Maserati to a remarkable 5th place, 12 laps behind the winner Maurice Trintignant in a Cooper T51 - Climax, in the Gran Premio Ciudad de Buenos Aires, a Formule Libre race held at Parque Sarmiento street track in Córdoba. Fangio himself had his first post-retire outing in a Formula 1 car, driving Ettore Chimeri's Maserati in two exhibition laps on Saturday. He damaged the car in a huge crash, but Chimeri was able to repair it before the start of the race.

Two weeks later Ettore Chimeri moved to Cuba, with several other racers from Venezuela, to compete in the "Semana Automovilistica En La Habana". In 1960, a year after the revolution led by Fidel Castro took power in Cuba, the event was organized at Camp Freedom, a military airport previously known as Columbia Air Force Base and located at the heart of La Habana. The course, approximate 6.437-kilometer-long, was laid over the facility's airstrips. On 24 February Chimeri finished 6th in the first heat of the Formula Junior race, at the wheel of his Stanguellini - Fiat. The sportscar race was called Gran Premio de Cuba and Primer Gran Premio Libertad.

During a practice session for that event, on Saturday, 27 February 1960, Chimeri lost control of his Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa at the U turn on the west side of the track. The car got off the course and went over a chain link fence, flipping several times. Chimeri was immediately taken to hospital by helicopter but he died there later that afternoon in consequence of the accident. It is believed that the accident was caused by braking failure.

Camp Freedom has been renamed Ciudad Libertad. The area has been considered as a potential site for the organization of an international race in Cuba - the first since the one in which Chimeri lost his life in 1960.

• Book "The International Motor Racing Guide", by Peter Higham, David Bull Publishing, Phoenix, United States, ISBN 1-893618-20-X, page 808.
• Book "Grand Prix Data Book 1997", by David Hayhoe and David Holland, 3rd. edition, Duke Marketing, Douglas, Isle of Man, United Kingdom, 1996, ISBN 0-9529325-0-4.
• Book "The Tribute Project", edited by Ed Watson, 1997, page 10, contribution by Lloyd Cradler.
• Book "Albo della Gloria: Al Piloti Caduti in Tutto il Mondo al Loro Posto di Combattimento", by Emanuele Carli, Modena, Italy, 1972, page 47.
• The Wilson Howard Davis Archives [incorrect age and event].
• Newspaper "La Stampa" (Turin, Italy) issue of 28 February 1960, page 9, article "Il pilota Chimeri muore nelle prove de! Premio di Cuba", retrieved by website http://www.archiviolastampa.it/ .
• Website TheF1, page http://www.thef1.com, forum "Foro Historia", thread "ACERCA DEL ESPANOL JULIO POLA, DECADA DEL CINCUENTA", posting by "Octavio", message http://www.thef1.com/foro/historia/viewtopic.php?p=14521#14521 .
• Website World Sports Racing Prototypes, by Martin Krejčí, page http://wsrp.ic.cz/nassau1959.html and page http://wsrp.ic.cz/laraces1960.html#3 .
• Website Diario Automotriz, article "Ettore Chimeri llevó la bandera de Venezuela a la Fórmula 1" by Octavio Estrada, page http://diarioautomotriz.com/home/?p=1913 .
• Website The GEL Motorsport Information Page by Darren Galpin, page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1960/60ba.html and page http://www.teamdan.com/archive/wsc/1960/60seb.html .
• Website Circuiti, by Guido De Carli, article "La Habana, Camp Freedom", page http://www.gdecarli.it/php/circuit.php?var1=2849&var2=1.
• Website Barchetta, page http://www.barchetta.cc/english/all.ferraris/detail/0619gt.250gt.tdf.htm and page http://www.barchetta.cc/english/all.ferraris/detail/1037gt.250gt.htm and page http://www.barchetta.cc/english/all.ferraris/detail/0726tr.250tr.htm .
• Website Grand Prix.com, chapter Drivers, article "Ettore Chimeri", page http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-chiett.html .
• Website PASION A LA VELOCIDAD Y MOTORES Forum -> MASERATI A6 GSC Y OTROS MASERATIS EN EL PAIS, thread "MASERATI 300S serial # 3054", page http://server4.foros.net/viewtopic.php?t=233&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=chimeri&sid=3c4525e9328d846b38c40880d5ceb21f&mforum=muchasrpms .
• Website Autocourse Grand Prix Archive, page http://www.autocoursegpa.com/season_driver.asp?season=1960&driver_id=11664 .