Friedrich Victor Rolff

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Friedrich Victor Rolff (born June 28, 1934 in Cologne ; † February 15, 2012 ) was a German entrepreneur , art collector and patron as well as a formerly successful car racing driver .

Entrepreneur, art collector and patron

F. Victor Rolff was a grandson of the mine director Viktor Rolff (1878-1950), owner of the lignite mines and briquette factories Wachtberg I (until 1920), Graf Fürstenberg (from 1937) and Zülpich . After the death of the founder, the company was initially continued by his widow Elisabeth and his son Joachim, later the legacy was partly passed on to F. Victor Rolff, partly to his cousin Eduard Joachim Rolff (* 1936, later managing partner of the Früh brewery in Cologne) accepted.

After Rolff's house in Cologne-Weiden burned down and the property was sold, Victor Rolff lived at Gladbach Castle near Vettweiß.

Like his grandfather, the art collector and nature lover Victor Rolff made a name for himself as a patron: in 1996 he founded the F. Victor Rolff Foundation , a non-profit foundation for the promotion of art, music, nature conservation, environmental protection and monument preservation. The foundation supports up-and-coming artists such as Tom Fronza (Analogue Birds), Margret Schopka , Stefan W. Knor and Antje Fuß . In 2009 the F. Victor Rolff Foundation caused a sensation with the offer to buy parts of the North Rhine-Westphalian state forest in order to develop them in the interests of nature conservation. In addition, the foundation supported an action against factory farming in 2009 .

Rolff was not married and had no children. Most recently he lived with his partner, the artist Caroline Lauscher , at Gladbach Castle.

Since 1959 he was a member of the Corps Palatia Bonn .

Racing car driver

Victor Rolff was - like his grandfather, who was a member of the DAC as early as 1905 - an enthusiastic driver who was also active in racing. He drove mainly sports car racing in the classes for production sports car and GT - Touring Car . His preferred brand was initially Porsche , later also Mercedes-Benz , his home track the Nürburgring in the nearby Eifel.

In the mid-1950s in particular, Rolff achieved a number of national and international successes:

  • In 1954, Rolff became German champion in a Porsche 356 1300 in the class for series sports and GT cars up to 1300 cm³ (GT 1.3) . This season he won the international ADAC Eifel race and the Berlin Grand Prix (International AVUS race of the AvD ). As a result of the championship he received various honorary awards, including the "Great Sports Plaque" from the city of Cologne.
  • In 1955, Rolff won the German championship in the GT class up to 1600 cm³ (GT 1.6) in a Porsche 356 and 550 .
  • In 1956 and 1957 Rolff competed in the sports car world championship with moderate success in a Porsche 356 and Mercedes-Benz 300 SL .

Rolff was a supporter and close friend of Vice World Champion Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips, who died in an accident in 1961 . In addition to car racing, the families of the two drivers were also linked by entrepreneurship in the Rhenish lignite industry. Other successful drivers in the Rolff and von Trips group were Hubert Oebels , Wolfgang Seidel and Hubert Hahne .

statistics

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season team race car 1 2 3 4th 5
1956 Fritz Riess Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ArgentinaArgentina BUA United StatesUnited States SEB ItalyItaly MIM GermanyGermany ONLY SwedenSweden KRI
DNF

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The spelling of the first name is often incorrectly Vi k tor (with k instead of c). Warning, risk of confusion with his grandfather Viktor Rolff !
  2. ↑ Racers and Topics NO. (No longer available online.) Motor Racing Archives, archived from the original on September 5, 2010 ; Retrieved January 5, 2012 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Christoph Bouillon: Friedrich Victor Rolff. June 28, 1934 - February 15, 2012 Mine director a. D. Mr. at Gladbach Castle . In: F. Victor Rolff Collection. Gladbach Castle . Special catalog on the occasion of the auction on 15/16. November 2013. With an obituary for F. Victor Rolff. Van Ham Art Auctions , Cologne 2013, p. 8–9 ( excerpt from obituary online [PDF]). Excerpt of obituary online ( memento from November 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Obituary notice F. Victor Rolff . In: Aachener Zeitung / Aachener Nachrichten . Aachen February 22, 2012 ( online at aachen-gedenken.de ).
  5. ↑ a b A castle full of art . In: The time . October 31, 2013.
  6. ↑ Otto Becker: Brown coal on the outskirts of the Roman town of Zülpich . In: Home calendar of the Euskirchen district . Schiffer, Rheinberg 1959, DNB  015111199 ( full text on wisoveg.de).
  7. ^ Peter Josef Früh (1862–1915), founder of the brewery. Landschaftsverband Rheinland , accessed on January 6, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Rolff threatens the city of Zülpich with a bathing ban on the lake. (No longer available online.) City of Zülpich, January 11, 2002, formerly in the original ; Retrieved January 6, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.zuelpich.net
  9. ^ F. Victor Rolff Foundation. LumenTenebris, accessed December 31, 2011 .
  10. ↑ Foundation details . (No longer available online.) Ministry of the Interior and Local Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, archived from the original on April 19, 2014 ; Retrieved January 1, 2012 .
  11. ↑ Michael Schmitz: The country wants to sell parts of the state forest. The West , April 22, 2009, accessed January 1, 2012 .
  12. ↑ Broiler opponents see each other shortly before the goal. Aachener Zeitung , August 6, 2009, accessed on January 6, 2012 .
  13. ↑ Kirsten Röder: Gallery in Münsterstrasse: New studio in a “nice town” . In: Kölnische Rundschau . April 13, 2014 ( full text in the Rundschau's online archive ).
  14. ↑ Barbara Haubner: Thrill and Leisure Time: Automobilism in Germany 1886-1914 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998, ISBN 3-525-01372-8 , pp. 83 .
  15. ^ The history of the Porsche Club Köln eV Porsche Club Köln eV, accessed on January 1, 2012 .
  16. ^ A b Friedrich-Victor Rolff, Germany. Racing Sports Cars, accessed January 1, 2012 .
  17. ^ The series sports car champions 1954: Wolf Graf Berghe von Trips and Friedrich Victor Rolff . In: Auto- und Motorradwelt . No. 26 , 1954.
  18. ↑ a b German Sportscar Championship - final positions and tables. World Sports Racing Prototypes, accessed January 1, 2012 .
  19. ^ German Sportscar Championship 1954. World Sports Racing Prototypes, accessed on January 1, 2012 .
  20. ^ Vita Graf Trips. (No longer available online.) Villa Trips Museum of Racing History, archived from the original on July 16, 2011 ; accessed on December 31, 2011 .
  21. ^ World Sportscar Championship. WSPR Racing, archived from the original on March 2, 2007 ; Retrieved January 1, 2012 .
  22. ^ Klaus Ridder: Visit to the Villa Trips. Retrieved December 31, 2011 .
  23. ↑ a b The history of the Scuderia Colonia: The Sports Drivers Association - Part II. (No longer available online.) Scuderia Colonia, formerly in the original ; Retrieved January 1, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.scuderia-colonia.de
  24. ^ Hans Gerd Dick: 6th Tour de Tolbiac: Juntersdorf Castle . Information leaflet. Ed .: Marketing working group for Zülpich. City of Zülpich, Zülpich 2009 ( full text as PDF on zuelpich.de ).
personal data
SURNAME Rolff, Friedrich Victor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rolff, Friedrich Viktor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur, patron and racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH June 28, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 2012