André Wicky

Bizzarrini P 538 chassis number 001; Edgar Berney and André Wicky contested the 1966 Le Mans 24-hour race with the 003 chassis

Cockpit of a Porsche 908 Spyder like the one André Wicky drove in endurance races in the early 1970s

The Cooper T51 , with which André Wicky contested the Naples Grand Prix in 1961

André Wicky (born May 22, 1928 in Le Mont-sur-Lausanne ; † May 14, 2016 in Lausanne ) was a Swiss car racing driver and racing team owner.

Career in motorsport

André Wicky was a well-known car racing driver in Switzerland in the 1960s. He had been running a profitable tire trade in Lausanne since the 1950s . He put the money he earned into his racing activities. Wicky had a lifelong friendship with Georges Gachnang , who converted sports cars in Aigle through the Établissements Cegga and built racing cars in very small numbers. For many years, Wicky and Gachnang competed together in sports car races .

Sports car racing

André Wicky began racing in Switzerland in the mid-1950s. Since motorsport events on circuits were banned by law in Switzerland after the accident at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1955 , the first stakes were limited to mountain races . He drove his first international race in Belgium in 1957 . He finished 16th overall at the Spa Grand Prix in a Maserati 200S (winner Tony Brooks in an Aston Martin DBR1 ).

In 1960 the long connection between Wicky and the Le Mans 24-hour race began . On his first attempt at the 24-hour race in western France, he drove an AC Ace with partner and friend Gachnang . The duo covered 239 laps; however, that was not enough to be classified. The winners Paul Frère and Olivier Gendebien in the factory - Ferrari 250TR59 / 60 were 75 laps short of the finish.

Wicky was never lucky at Le Mans. It competed ten times between 1960 and 1974 . He was only able to place himself in 1973 when he finished 21st in the overall standings together with Max Cohen-Olivar and Philippe Carron . Otherwise, apart from the non-placement, there were only cancellations in 1960 due to a lack of distance. 1966 he went with a plant - Bizzarrini P538 in the race. The race car had a 5.4-liter Chevrolet - V8 engine and fell from already after eight rounds. Teammate Edgar Berney spun and damaged the suspension. While trying to repair the suspension, a mechanic put the jack on the side member. This also damaged the pipe frame, so that the cooling liquid running through the pipes escaped. The vehicle could not be made operational again.

Apart from Le Mans, Wicky was able to celebrate some successes. In 1966 he and his partner Jean-Pierre Hanrioud finished second overall in a Porsche 906 in the 1000 km race in Paris . There were also victories in French GT and sports car races, such as Dijon in 1967 and Magny-Cours in 1968 .

Monoposto racing

André Wicky competed in nine Formula 1 races in the 1960s , none of which had world championship status. It was used for the first time at the Grand Prix de Pau in 1961 . The emergency car was a Cooper T51 , which broke down after just three laps. In addition to a Cooper T53 , he also drove a Lotus 24 in this race, where he could not achieve any countable results.

André Wicky Racing Team

At the beginning of his career, Wicky competed almost exclusively as a privateer. In the mid-1960s, he founded his own racing team under the name André Wicky Racing Team , which remained active for some years after his retirement as a driver.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1960	Ecurie Laussannoise	AC Ace	Georges Gachnang		not classified
1961	Ecurie Laussannoise	AC Ace	Edgar Berney		failure	Engine failure
1966	Prototip Bizzarrini SRL	Bizzarrini P 538	Edgar Berney		failure	suspension
1967	Philippe Farjon	Porsche 911S	Philippe Farjon		failure	crankshaft
1968	Jean-Pierre Hanrioud	Porsche 910	Jean-Pierre Hanrioud		failure	rocker arm
1969	Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 911T	Edgar Berney		failure	Cylinder head gasket
1970	Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 907	Jean-Pierre Hanrioud		failure	accelerator
1971	André Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 908/2	Max Cohen-Olivar		failure	Gearbox damage
1973	André Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 908/2	Max Cohen-Olivar	Philippe Carron	Rank 21
1974	André Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 908/2	Jacques Boucard	Louis Cosson	failure	Gearbox damage

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1969	Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 911T	Gérard Larrousse	Jean Sage	Rank 12 and class win

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th
1960	Lausannoise team	Maserati 200SI AC Ace	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM
						DNF	DNF
1961	Lausannoise	Maserati 200SI AC Ace	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
					DNF	DNF
1962	Ecurie Lausannoise	Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
											DNF
1964	Wicky Racing Team	Lotus Elan	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
												DNF
1965	André Wicky	Jaguar E-Type	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
							DNF
1966	André Wicky Bizzarrini Charles Vögele	Porsche 906 Bizzarrini P 538 Porsche 906	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
					12				DNF			6th	7th
1967	Wicky Racing Team Philippe Farjon	Porsche 911 Porsche 910	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
					17th				DNF						10
1968	Wicky Racing Team Jean-Pierre Hanrioud	Porsche 910	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
						6th						DNF
1969	Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 911	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
			10	12						DNF
1970	André Wicky Racing	Porsche 907	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
						15th		DNF	9	DNF	18th
1971	Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 908	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
							10			10	DNF
1973	Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 908	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
					12	DNF				21st
1974	Wicky Racing Team	Porsche 908	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
							DNF

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

Commons : André Wicky  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• André Wicky at Racing Sports Cars
• André Wicky at F1 Stats

Individual evidence

1. ↑ André Wicky and Georges Gachnang (French)
2. ^ 1957 Spa Grand Prix
3. ↑ Oldtimer Market 10/2008. P. 45.
4. ^ GT race Dijon 1967
5. ^ GT race Magny-Cours 1968
6. ↑ Grand Prix de Pau 1961