Moisés Solana

Moisés Solana Arciniega (26 December 1935 – 27 July 1969) was a Mexican racing driver. He participated in eight Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 27 October 1963, and scoring no championship points. He also participated in one non-championship Formula One race. He also took part in Formula Two in with Team Lotus at the Jarama Circuit near Madrid, Spain. His first racing events were in a 1954 special (the "Solana Sports"), built by Javier Solana. Solana was also a proficient Jai alai player and his racing career was partly funded by this.

From 1960 to 1968 he won the Mexican Formula Libre Championship nine times, winning over 200 times in the 270 races he participated in.

In 1968, Solana tested a Formula Two car for Ferrari. He also drove for Lola and McLaren in the USRRC/Can-Am series between 1966 and 1968, and in March 1968 he won the first point-scoring race of the USRRC Group 7 series in the first international race in Mexico City. He still holds all the records in the Mexican road race categories and those at the Mexican Magdalena Mixhuca circuit.

Solana was the only driver in the history of the Formula One World Championship to start a race in a number 13 car (Divina Galica, in the 1976 British Grand Prix, also attempted a race with the number, but failed to qualify), something he did for BRM on his Formula One debut in the 1963 Mexican Grand Prix until Pastor Maldonado adopted 13 as his permanent number in 2014. Solana was a classified finisher in 11th despite his engine having failed eight laps short of the chequered flag.

On 27 July 1969, Solana was killed in the Hillclimb Valle de Bravo-Bosencheve in Mexico, in a fatal accident after his McLaren went wide in a bend and hit a concrete trimming on the edge of the road, overturning the car which landed on top of him and caught fire. The Solana family is still very active in motor racing and has manufactured handmade sports cars on a mostly one-off basis.

The first chicane at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City (turns 1–3) is known as the Ese Moisés Solana ("the Moisés Solana Esses").

Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 WDC Points 1963 Scuderia Centro Sud BRM P57 BRM V8 MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER ITA USA MEX RSA NC 0 1964 Team Lotus Lotus 33 Climax V8 MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA MEX NC 0 1965 Team Lotus Lotus 25 Climax V8 RSA MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX NC 0 1966 Cooper Car Company Cooper T81 Maserati V12 MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX NC 0 1967 Team Lotus Lotus 49 Cosworth V8 RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER CAN ITA USA MEX NC 0 1968 Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus 49B Cosworth V8 RSA ESP MON BEL NED FRA GBR GER ITA CAN USA MEX NC 0