Florian Camathias

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Florian Camathias (born March 23, 1924 in St. Gallen ; † October 10, 1965 in Brands Hatch ) was a Swiss motorcycle racer .

Camathias 1960 in Assen
Victory run of the Dutch TT in Assen 1959

background

Camathias' father was already a motorcycle racer and had a fatal accident two years after the birth of his son. After the war Florian Camathias opened a motorcycle shop with a workshop as a BMW dealer near Montreux . Camathias was very nearsighted and had to wear glasses all the time, which is a rarity among racing drivers. He was considered a top driver and was always traded as a potential world champion. He was popular with the public because of his will to win and the resulting driving style. He built his motorcycle combinations himself on a BMW basis. He was later supported by his friend Helmut Fath. The machines were designated FCS B for F lorian C amathias S pecial B MW. The motorcycle manufacturer did little to accommodate him when it came to delivering racing-grade material. He had to get many components from other companies.

Career

He contested his first race, still on a solo motorcycle, in Lausanne in 1947 with an old BMW R 5 . He finished second behind the reigning Swiss champion Benoît Musy . In 1948 he was the first to finish a race in Schaffhausen. Gradually he started more and more with the teams. He converted his BMW himself. From 1953 he only competed in the sidecar world championship. The first successes emerged and in 1955 he and his co-driver Maurice Büla in a BMW finished eleventh in the overall standings, the following year already fifth and the 1957 season he finished third. This year the co-driver was partly the German Hilmar Cecco. With Cecco he took first place in Assen in 1958. You finished the season as vice world champion. They were able to repeat this success in the 1959 motorcycle world championship . With three co-drivers - the Briton John Chisnell, the German Roland Föll and the Swiss Gottfried Rüfenacht - it was only enough for fourth place in the coming year, despite some placements among the top three. In 1961, Cecco was again a partner in the sidecar. On May 11, 1961, both crashed on the last lap of a race in Modena . Cecco succumbed to his injuries the following day. In the 1962 season Camathias started with the German Horst Burkhardt, but only with the British Harry Winter followed victories and the season ended with the runner-up title. Despite being on the podium, there was only fourth place for him and his Swiss co-driver Franz Ducret in the following season. On October 10, 1965, he had a fatal accident at the Race Of South in Brands Hatch, England.

Victory statistics (excerpt)

year class machine run
1958 Team BMW Dutch TT
1959 Team BMW Grand Prix of Germany
1959 Team BMW Dutch TT
1962 Team BMW Belgian Grand Prix
1963 Team BMW TT
1963 Team BMW Grand Prix of Germany
1965 Team BMW French Grand Prix

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ findagrave.com. Hilmar Cecco. Retrieved April 4, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Camathias, Florian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Gallen
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1965
Place of death Brands Hatch