Csaba Kesjár

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Csaba Kesjár (1984)

Csaba Kesjár ( Hungarian Kesjár Csaba ; born February 9, 1962 in Budapest , † June 24, 1988 at the Norisring , Nuremberg ) was a Hungarian racing driver . He was the first Hungarian to drive a Formula 1 car.

Career

Kesjár came from a motorsport-loving family. His father János Kesjár had won 15 championship titles in various motorsport classes in the post-war period.

Csaba Kesjár's motorsport career began in 1975 with kart racing . In this class he was Hungarian champion several times. From 1982 Kesjár started in the Easter formula . In his first season he was the Hungarian champion of this series; In 1983, 1984 and 1985 he defended the title.

1986 Kesjár started in the Austrian Formula Ford Championship for Walter Lechner Racing . Kesjár won the championship in a Reynard car .

In 1987 Kesjár competed for Horst Schübel Racing in the German Formula 3 Championship . Here he was Bernd Schneider's teammate . Schneider became German champion that year, Kesjár finished the season with twelve points in 14th place.

In August 1987, Kesjár had contact with Formula 1 . As part of the Hungarian Grand Prix in 1987 , Erich Zakowski gave him the opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car from the Zakspeed team. A few hours after the end of the race, Kesjár did three laps in the Zakspeed 871 on the Hungaroring . These were not test drives in the traditional sense, but demonstration laps for advertising purposes. Kesjár was 15 years before Zsolt Baumgartner the first Hungarian to drive a Formula 1 car.

Death at the Norisring

Burial place of Csaba and János Kesjár in Budapest

In 1988 Kesjár continued his Formula 3 involvement. After the first half of the season he had scored 33 championship points and was thus in 19th place in the interim standings.

During the first training session for the Formula 3 race at the Norisring on June 24, 1988, there was a fatal accident. The training had already been written off; Kesjár was on his last lap. At the apex of the hairpin bend at Dutzendteich , Kesjárs Dallara - VW drove straight ahead. He crashed into a pile of tires at 200 km / h and broke through the guardrail behind it. Kesjár was dead on the spot. A marshal reported that Kesjár had not made any braking or steering movements in the hairpin, but simply drove straight ahead at undiminished speed. After the death of Kesjár, the driver colleagues decided against the pressure of the sponsors and the team bosses not to race.

The actual cause of the accident has not been clarified. An investigation report in 1988 concluded that the brakes on Kesjár's Dallara 388 had failed. There was also speculation about an epileptic seizure or a blackout of the driver; some observers even considered Kesjár's suicide possible. Years later, Kesjár's father János claimed that his son's Dallara had been manipulated.

Csaba Kesjár is buried in Budapest.

literature

  • Peter Wyss: Death in the last round. Obituary for Csaba Kesjár with a description of the course of the accident in: motorsport aktuell , issue 27/1988, p. 30

Web links

Commons : Csaba Kesjár  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Csaba Kasjár's biography and career data on the website www.8w.forix.com (accessed on August 14, 2012).
  2. ^ Report on the accident in: Motorsport Aktuell, Issue 27/1988, p. 30.
  3. ↑ Csaba Kasjár's biography and career data on the website www.8w.forix.com (accessed on August 14, 2012).
  4. ^ Report on the accident in: Motorsport Aktuell, Issue 27/1988, p. 30.
personal data
SURNAME Kesjár, Csaba
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH June 24, 1988
Place of death Nuremberg