Gerhard Mitter

Gerhard Mitter

Nation:	Germany
Automobile world championship
First start:	1963 Dutch Grand Prix
Last start:	1967 German Grand Prix
Constructors
1963 Ecurie Maarsbergen 1964 and 1965 Lotus 1967 Gerhard Mitter Racing
statistics
World Cup balance:	Twelfth World Cup ( 1963 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 5 - - -
World Cup points :	3
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Gerhard Karl Mitter (born August 30, 1935 in Schönlinde ; † August 1, 1969 in Nürburg ) was a German motorcycle and automobile racing driver . As an all-round driver , he was just as good in formula cars as he was in touring cars , sports cars , endurance races and especially hill climbs , where he was three times European champion. He celebrated his greatest successes in sports car races as a works driver for Porsche .

biography

Childhood and youth

Gerhard Mitter spent the first years of his life in Kunnersdorf near Reichenberg , where his parents August and Marta Mitter owned a butcher's shop. When the father was called up for military service, the mother and the child moved to live with their parents in Schönlinde, where Mitter was born. In 1945 Marta Mitter had to flee with her son and first daughter, born in 1943. August Mitter was considered missing until he reported from Leonberg near Stuttgart after a short American captivity. In 1946 Marta Mitter came there with the children.

The family found an apartment in Korntal . Gerhard Mitter attended grammar school - first in Korntal, then in Bad Reichenhall - which he left early with the secondary school leaving certificate to begin an apprenticeship as a mechanic and electrician. During his apprenticeship he already drove off-road races on a self-prepared NSU Fox .

Start of his career on the motorcycle

Gerhard Mitter drove his first street race in May 1952. In the car workshop of his father, who had given up his job as a butcher after the war, he converted the Fox and started regularly - initially against the parents' wishes. After the first few years with the private NSU , a factory machine from DKW followed and then a private MV Agusta . His greatest success was winning the German Junior Championship in the class up to 125 cm³ in 1955. With the decline of the German motorcycle industry at the end of the 1950s, Mitter withdrew from motorcycle racing . He married on October 4, 1957 and in 1958 he took his master's degree as a mechanic.

Racing driver since 1959

Gerhard Mitter in the Lotus 25 at the German Grand Prix in 1965

In the Porsche 908 at the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1969

Gerhard Mitter on August 1, 1969 in the BMW F 269 a few minutes before the accident

Gerhard Mitter on August 1, 1969, after the morning training on the return trip to the paddock at the Nürburgring

Constructor and driver in Formula Junior

Mitter-DKW Formula Junior

In 1959, Mitter switched from motorcycle to Formula Junior . His first car was a self-made car with a front-mounted two-stroke engine based on the DKW three-cylinder (AU 1000) and front-wheel drive, with which he initially competed in mountain races. Mitter also sold performance-enhanced DKW engines from its own factory to other manufacturers of racing cars. Among other things, Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips used the engine tuned by Mitter in his TCA (Trips-Colotti-Auto-Union) in 1960. The Swiss company MBM owned by Peter Monteverdi was also one of Mitters customers .

When the competition from mid-engine cars from England became stronger and the Mitter DKW and similar designs with a front engine became more and more superior, Mitter installed DKW engines in Lotus chassis from the summer of 1960. He produced a small series of these cars with light plastic bodies for sale. 40 victories in the Lotus 18 DKW and Lotus 22 DKW made Gerhard Mitter the most successful German Formula Junior representative by far.

On April 28, 1963, for example, Gerhard Mitter started his Lotus DKW as the fastest in training at the ADAC Eifel race on the Nürburgring. He won ahead of Jacques Maglia (Lotus-Ford) and Kurt Bardi-Barry (Cooper-Ford). He drove the fastest lap in practice in 3: 13.5 minutes, which corresponds to a speed of 144.1 km / h. The organizer had shortened the race with 34 participants from 20 to 13 laps (100.711 km) due to rain and fog. Mitter needed 48: 23.4 minutes for this distance or won with an average speed of 124.5 km / h.

In 1959, Mitter had already built his first self-made Eifel race and finished third in the field of only eleven cars in the new Formula Junior, behind Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips and Michael May (both Stanguellini -Fiat).

Gerhard Mitter built his own four-cylinder two-stroke engine for Formula 2 according to the 1964 regulations (displacement limit 1000 cm³), but it did not grow to the point of racing. Nevertheless, Mitter appeared sporadically in Formula 2 races, for example in 1967 with the Brabham BT23 - Cosworth .

Appearances in the automobile world championship

In 1962 Mitter drove his first Formula 1 race in a Lotus 21/24 on the Solitude racetrack , which, however, was not part of the world championship and finished sixth. In 1963 he competed in a now two-year-old Porsche 718 owned by Count Carel Godin de Beaufort's Ecurie Maarsbergen at the Dutch Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix . In Zandvoort he failed due to a clutch failure; at the Nürburgring he finished fourth with the technically outdated Porsche and won three world championship points. With 2: 21: 18.3 hours and a gap of 8: 11.5 minutes, Mitter finished the 342.1 km race on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring on the same lap as the winner John Surtees in a Ferrari 156/63 . In the 1963 Solitude race, which was not part of the world championship, he was fifth. In 1964 and 1965 Colin Chapman provided him with a Lotus 25 for the home races ; best result was ninth place in 1964 on the Nürburgring. At the Solitude 1964, Mitter was canceled due to an accident and at the Nürburgring in 1965 due to a defect in the water pump.

Works drivers in sports cars and prototypes from Porsche

Mitter has been part of the Porsche factory team since 1964 . After winning the airfield race in Trier in Count Beaufort's Porsche 904 on May 3, he and Herbert Linge competed for the first time for Porsche on May 31 in the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring , which placed the team in twelfth place in the overall classification finished. From 1966 to 1968, Gerhard Mitter won the European Hill Climb Championship three times for Porsche and, in 1969, together with Udo Schütz in a Porsche 908, the Targa Florio . In numerous other races he achieved victories or good placings with Porsche sports cars and Porsche prototypes. A success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans was denied him. The closest he got to victory was in 1969 . Mitter and Schütz's Porsche 908 was in second place before Udo Schütz had an accident with the car halfway through the race.

In addition to the commitment for Porsche, Mitter drove Formula 2 and Formula V races. He also started in 1965 and 1960 in the 500 km race at the Nürburgring and in Innsbruck for Abarth and in the 500 km race in 1968 with a Ford Escort TC .

Formula 2 engagement with BMW

In 1969, Gerhard Mitter, who was aiming for a permanent place in a Formula 1 team, had a Formula 2 contract with BMW. At the Eifel race on April 27, 1969 at the Nürburgring, he practically drove the BMW F269 , which had been newly developed together with Dornier , and gave up after the sixth of ten laps due to increasingly difficult steering. At the German Grand Prix in August, in which Formula 1 and Formula 2 cars competed together, BMW competed with three F 269s that Hubert Hahne , Gerhard Mitter and Dieter Quester were to drive.

In the second round of the afternoon training session on Friday, August 1, 1969, Gerhard Mitter had a fatal accident at km 4.9 of the Nürburgring between the airfield and Schwedenkreuz sections. The cause of the accident was probably a defect in the steering (standard steering on the Hillman Imp ), but possibly an incorrectly installed steering, perhaps by Mitter himself. In view of the accident, BMW and Hans Herrmann decided not to start the race.

Gerhard Mitter left behind his wife and a ten-year-old daughter and an eight-year-old son.

On April 27, 1967, he was awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf for his sporting successes.

Private

In addition to racing, Gerhard Mitter ran an automobile trade with a workshop and gas station in Böblingen and another workshop in Tübingen. On January 1, 1969, he also took over his father's business in Leonberg, which was now in need of renovation and which he wanted to rebuild.

Gerhard Mitter jr. Owner of the Mitter car and motorcycle service in Böblingen, which, in addition to the usual repair shop, also has a department for restoring classic cars.

In honor of Gerhard Mitters , the “Gerhard Mitter Memorial Rally” takes place in Calw every year on the first weekend in September.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

These statistics include all of the driver's participations in the World Automobile Championship, which is now known as the Formula 1 World Championship .

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1963	Ecurie Maarsbergen	Porsche 718	Porsche 1.5 F4	2	-	-	-	-	-	3	12.
1964	Team Lotus	Lotus 25	Climax 1.5 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1965	Team Lotus	Lotus 25	Climax 1.5 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1967	Gerhard Mitter	Brabham BT23	Ford-Cosworth 1.6 L4	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
total				5	-	-	-	-	-	3

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11
1963
			DNF			4th
1964
						9
1965
							DNF
1966
						DNS
1967
							DNF
1969
							DNS

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1964	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 904/8	Colin Davis	failure	Clutch damage
1965	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 904/8	Colin Davis	failure	Clutch damage
1967	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 907/6 long tail	Jochen Rindt	failure	camshaft
1968	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 908	Vic Elford	Disqualified
1969	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 908 long tail	Udo Schütz	failure	accident

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1965	Porsche Automobile Co.	Porsche 904/8	Herbert Linge	9th place and class win
1966	Porsche System Engineering	Porsche 906	Günter Klass	failure	Valve damage
1967	Porsche car	Porsche 910	Scooter Patrick	3rd place and class win
1968	Porsche Automobile Co.	Porsche 907 2.2	Rolf Stommelen	failure	Connecting rod damage
1969	Porsche System Engineering Ltd.	Porsche 908/02	Udo Schütz	Rank 5

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	21st	22nd
1963		Mitter lotus	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
																DNF
1964	Porsche	Porsche 904	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
									12		DNF	6th										DNF
1965	Porsche Abarth	Porsche 904 Abarth 1300 OT	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
				9					2		9		1	DNF			2		2	2
1966	Porsche	Porsche 904 Porsche 906	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
			7th	DNF	4th	DNF						1	2		1
1967	Porsche	Porsche 906 Porsche 910	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
			DNF	3	3	7th	DNF	4th	DNF		1			DNF	1
1968	Porsche	Porsche 907 Porsche 908	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
			DNF	DNF	2	11	49	DNF	2			DNF
1969	Porsche	Porsche 908 Porsche 917	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
			24	5	3	DNF	1	DNF	31	DNF

See also

• List of fatally injured Formula 1 drivers

literature

• Siegfried C. Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. Distributed at home, but in motorsport at the forefront of Porsche, Lotus, DKW and BMW. Gerhard Mitters life and racing career. Schneider Media, Portsmouth 2010, ISBN 978-3-931824-43-3 .
• Thora Hornung: Unforgotten, Gerhard Mitter. A great driver's way. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1970.

Web links

Commons : Gerhard Mitter  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, pp. 15-20.
2. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, p. 21.
3. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, pp. 26-27.
4. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, p. 33.
5. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, p. 30.
6. ^ Julius J. Weitmann: Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips. From his life. Krüger-Verlag, Dortmund 1962, pp. 48-49.
7. ^ Roger Gloor, CL Wagner: Monteverdi. History of a Swiss car brand. Self-published by Monteverdi Automobile, p. 107.
8. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, pp. 28-36.
9. ↑ Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrndt: ADAC Eifelrennen. (The history of Germany's most traditional motorsport event since 1922). Heel, Königswinter 2009, ISBN 978-3-86852-070-5 , pp. 89 and 254.
10. ↑ Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrndt: ADAC Eifelrennen. (The history of Germany's most traditional motorsport event since 1922). Heel, Königswinter 2009, ISBN 978-3-86852-070-5 , pp. 77 and 253.
11. ↑ Thora Hornung: 50 years Nürburgring. Curve labyrinth for experts. Görres-Verlag, Koblenz 1977, p. 179.
12. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, pp. 71–72 and 266.
13. ↑ Lothar Boschen, Jürgen Barth: The great book of Porsche types. All vehicles from 1948 to today. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-454-9 , p. 332.
14. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, pp. 90, 266-267.
15. ↑ auto motor and sport. Issue 14, 1969, ISSN  0005-0806 , p. 65.
16. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, pp. 264, 266-267.
17. ↑ auto motor and sport. Issue 10, 1969, p. 134.
18. ↑ Program for the Grand Prix of Germany 1969.
19. ^ Siegfried C. Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter . Schneider Media, Portsmouth 2010, ISBN 978-3-931824-43-3 , pp. 208-211.
20. ↑ auto motor and sport. Issue 17, 1969, p. 60.
21. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, pp. 209-211.
22. ^ Sports report of the federal government of September 29, 1973 to the Bundestag, printed matter 7/1040, page 68.
23. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, p. 238.
24. ↑ Strasser: Racing legend Gerhard Mitter. 2010, p. 243.
25. ↑ Memory rally