Divila was born in São Paulo. He had a very close relationship with Wilson and Emerson Fittipaldi. He started by designing Formula Vee and various sports cars for them in Brazil in the 1960s, including the famous Fittipaldi twin-engine Volkswagen Beetle that developed 410 bhp for 407 kg.[3] When the brothers established the Fittipaldi Automotive team in Formula One he became the technical director and designed the team's first three cars. These three cars had the name "FD" based on Fittipaldi's "F" and Divila's "D" like the Brabham's "BT" (Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac). He remained with the team until it closed down in 1982.
Divila founded his own research, development and consulting in the 1980s. His early customers included March, Jordan, and several IndyCar teams.[4]
Between 1988 and 1989, he designed a Formula One car for Lamberto Leoni, a former F1 driver who intended to enter his FIRST GP team in the 1989 championship. Although the team had contracts with Judd and Pirelli as engine and tyre suppliers, and with Gabriele Tarquini as a driver, the team did not race that year. It was Divila's last chance to see an F1 car designed by him racing, especially as his designs were altered to become the L190 run by the short-lived Life Racing Engines.
Despite the F1RST Racing fiasco Divila held various roles in different F1 teams between 1989 and 2001, including Ligier, Fondmetal, Minardi, and Prost.[5]
In the 1990s, he also worked for some Japanese racing teams such as SARD, and Dome, as well as with the Apomatox Formula 3000 team and with Courage at Le Mans.[6][4]
Divila was a regular columnist for the British magazine Racecar Engineering from 2012 to 2020. He was known for his eclectic and idiosyncratic approach of racing engineering and history that included his own personal interests such as literature or philosophy.[7]
He died in Magny-Cours (France) on April 25, 2020, at the age of 74, after a stroke.[5][8] Divila was still actively working as an engineer and columnist until his stroke caused him to fall into a short coma.[7]
