Franz Wurz
Franz Wurz (born December 2, 1946 in Eggern , Lower Austria ) is a former Austrian automobile athlete .
Professional and sporting career
Franz Wurz was born as the son of the Waldviertel mill owner Franz Wurz sen. born, who was also active in motorsport and with his BMW 328 was a well-known racing driver in Austria in the 1950s.
Franz Wurz jun. learned the trade of miller and completed his training as a master miller. Later he was sales manager of the B2000 car care products company . In 1967 he began his own motorsport career with an Opel rally cadet . His first competition was the Seiberer evaluation run , in which he took 4th place in the class up to 1250 cm³ displacement.
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Soon afterwards he took over a Mini Cooper S from the later FIA European Rallycross Cup winner Herbert Grünsteidl. Wurz had met Gründsteidl in the army . In 1968 Wurz contested his first autocross race with the Mini Cooper S. In 1969 Wurz switched to the autocross camp and achieved four national championship titles in a row. In 1972 he drove his first rallycross race in the Netherlands, from 1973 he concentrated on this still young racing sport and was European champion in this discipline in 1974 with a VW 1302S and in 1976 with a Lancia Stratos HF .
After an unsuccessful interlude on a Fiat 131 Mirafiori Abarth and professional problems, Wurz withdrew at the end of the 1978 season. In 1982 he made a comeback and was again European Rallycross Champion in an Audi quattro .
Towards the end of his active career, Wurz returned to his roots and sporadically competed in several well-known rallies at home and abroad. With Rudi Stohl as co-driver, Wurz won the Group A classification of the Rally Argentina 1983 in an Audi 80 quattro and thus received the FIA's B driver license . In 1984 he was Björn Waldegård's navigator (Audi quattro) and finished second in the January rally and with co-driver Johannes Geist in an Audi quattro overall winner of the Turkish rally .
In the same year he took on the role of national driving safety instructor at the ÖAMTC automobile club and became head of the new club facility in Teesdorf's driving technology center . For image reasons, he had to commit himself to no longer actively participate in races. In the following years, Wurz set up a number of such "Safer Drive Centers" in Austria.
From the early 1990s, Franz Wurz looked after the racing career of his son and later Formula 1 driver Alexander Wurz .
On June 8, 2006, Franz Wurz was officially awarded the title of Commercial Councilor in the Vienna Federal Chancellery .
In 2012, he and his son were commissioned to build a driving safety center near Cairo . In this, Egyptian bus drivers in particular are to be trained in the 40 hectare center.
family
Franz Wurz is married and has two sons.
List of important achievements in autocross and rallycross
- 1969: OSK Autocross Cup winner ( Ford Escort TwinCam )
- 1970: Austrian Autocross State Champion ( VW Buggy 2.0 )
- 1971: Austrian Autocross State Champion ( VW Buggy 2.0 )
- 1972: Austrian Autocross State Champion ( VW Buggy 2.0 )
- 1973: 3rd overall place in the Embassy European Rallycross Championship ( VW 1302S 2.2 )
- Overall winner at the Belgian Rallycross European Championship on June 17, 1973
- Overall winner of the English Rallycross European Championship on September 15, 1973
- 1974: Embassy European Rallycross Champion ( VW 1302S 2.4 )
- Overall winner of the Austrian Rallycross European Championship on May 12, 1974
- Overall winner of the Swedish Rallycross European Championship on May 19, 1974
- 1975: 4th overall place in the ERA European Rallycross Championship ( VW 1302S 2.4 )
- 1976: Austrian national rallycross champion ( Lancia Stratos HF 2.4 )
- 1976: FIA European Rallycross Cup winner ( Lancia Stratos HF 2.4 )
- Overall winner at the Finnish Rallycross European Championship on May 30, 1976
- Overall winner of the Austrian Rallycross European Championship on August 1, 1976
- 1977: Austrian State Rallycross Champion ( Lancia Stratos HF 3.0 )
- 1977: 6th place overall in the FIA European Rallycross Cup ( Lancia Stratos HF 3.0 )
- 1978: 13th overall (7th place in the TW division ) of the FIA European Rallycross Championship ( Fiat 131 Mirafiori Abarth )
- 1982: FIA European Rallycross Champion ( Audi quattro )
- Overall winner of the Austrian Rallycross European Championship on March 28, 1982
- Overall winner at the Finnish Rallycross European Championship on May 23, 1982
- Overall winner of the German Rallycross European Championship on October 3, 1982
- 1983: 6th place overall in the FIA European Rallycross Championship ( Audi quattro )
See also
publication
- Franz Wurz, Meine Fahrtechnik (“The book for safety and fun while driving a car”), 1987, Orac-Verlag, ISBN 3-7015-0083-5
Individual evidence
- ↑ Franz and Alexander Wurz set up a driving safety center in Egypt at: auto-motor.at from June 4, 2009, accessed on March 5, 2012.
- ↑ Driver training in Egypt with the knowledge of Alex Wurz from: Regio-News from March 4, 2012, accessed on March 5, 2012.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wurz, Franz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 2, 1946 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Eggern , Austria |