Joe Willpart

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Joe Willenpart (left) and Gerhard Berger , who is sitting in Willenpart's Lotus

Johannes "Joe" Willenpart (born July 4, 1953 in Scheibbs , Lower Austria ; † March 6, 2015 ) was an Austrian - American entrepreneur and owner of a large collection of vintage and Formula 1 and Formula 2 cars, including those worldwide largest collection of original racing cars by Jochen Rindt .

Professional background

Joe Willenpart went to Maryland in 1976, where he founded the security technology company Austronic Security Systems in 1981 , which was briefly sold and re-established as Vintage Security in 2000. The business areas include access control, video surveillance, alarm systems, fire alarm systems, etc.

Willenpart lived with his family again in Scheibbs and Melk and regularly commuted to the USA.

collection

Willenpart's father was a car dealer and owned a garage in Scheibbs. Joe Willenpart wanted to become a racing driver himself, but that was financially impossible for him. After the great financial success as an entrepreneur, he was a passionate collector of vintage cars and racing cars, including three original Formula 1 and Formula 2 cars of Jochen Rindt , Lotus 49B / C R6, Lotus 72 /1, Lotus 69 /4 represents formula 2 from Team Lotus , a Williams FW08C / 09 from Keke Rosberg , a Porsche 356 C / SC Calif. Blackplate, a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost , built in 1914, and the famous racing transporter that Lotus had built in 1967 on the chassis of a London double-decker bus .

The three ex-Rindt cars from Joe Willenpart's fleet play important roles in Hubert Lepka's Jochen Rindt opera. Willenpart drove his collector's items in historic races such as the Histo Cup, Loser Bergtrophy, the Ennstal Classic or the Wachau Classic, where they always generate great media interest. His "home route" was the Wachauring near Melk . From 2007 to 2008 the exhibition Jochen-Rindt Memorial was on view in the City Museum Graz. In the accompanying DVD Jochen Rindt - unforgettable , scientists and companions had their say, including Joe Willenpart.

Jochen Rindt Lotus 49B / C

Jochen Rindt in 1969 in the Lotus 49 B during training at the Nürburgring
Rindt in the Lotus Formula 2 in 1970
Lotus racing transporter from 1967, before that Willenparts Lotus 72 and Willenpart himself on the right

Graham Hill was world champion that year with the 1968 built Lotus 49 with chassis number 6 and won the last race in Mexico . The following year, 1969, Hill with the number 6 had the famous accident at the Circuit de Montjuïc in Barcelona because the wing high above the tail broke. The car was not very badly damaged at first, but the rear wing of the following Jochen Rindt also broke shortly afterwards and he collided with the Hill car. Lotus built a new car for Hill and Hill's chassis was repaired for Rindt. Rindt won his first Grand Prix with this car in Watkins Glen on October 5, 1969, and in 1970 he won it in Monaco .

The car was originally in the Beaulieu Museum . In 1980 it was exchanged for a Ferrari and came to Jack Sutton in Paris , who owns a large Ferrari collection. Sutton sold a few cars, including the Lotus, and Bruce McCawl bought it for his Seattle collection but never restored it. Willenpart bought the car in 2003, and since autumn 2004 the car has been completely rebuilt at Hall & Hall in England.

Jochen Rindt Lotus 69/4 Formula 2

In 1970 Jochen Rindt also drove a Lotus in Formula 2, a Lotus 69/4, with which he scored a hat trick in Thruxton in April 1970 . Jochen Rindt drove his last race in this car, in Austria at the Salzburgring , a Formula 2 race.

Jochen Rindt Lotus 72/1

Rindt drove test drives with this Lotus 72/1, but with the Lotus 72/2 Jochen Rindt won four Grandes Prix in uninterrupted order in Zandvoort, Clermont-Ferrand, Brands Hatch and Hockenheim. It was with this car that Rindt had his fatal accident during the final training session for the Monza Grand Prix on September 5, 1970.

HMS Hethel Lotus racing transporter (1967)

In 1967 Lotus had a racing transporter built on the chassis of a London double-decker bus, the bus was completely restored in the Gold Leaf Team Lotus colors. This bus also served as a changing room for Jim Clark , Graham Hill , Jochen Rindt and Emerson Fittipaldi , there were no motorhomes back then.

Keke Rosberg Williams FW08C / 09

Rosberg in the Williams FW09 at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix

Rosberg won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1982, which is why this 1983 car has the starting number 1. On July 19, 1983, Ayrton Senna drove a Formula 1 racing car in Donington for the first time, it was this Williams. Within five laps he set the fastest time for Williams test driver Jonathan Palmer, and in the end he was two seconds faster than Palmer. Nevertheless, Senna decided to start his Formula 1 career with Toleman .

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost built in 1914

Model of the "Alpine Eagles" series, officially "Continental models", the YB series, chassis number 43YB. This car was developed by Rolls-Royce for the Austrian Alpine Tour at the beginning of the twentieth century and tested at Katschberg.

Exhibitions

  • 2007–2008 Jochen-Rindt Memorial , loan from Jochen-Rindt vehicles, Graz City Museum
  • 2009 Jochen-Rindt opera , opera equipment, Salzburgring, Salzburg

DVD editions

  • 2007 "JOCHEN RINDT - UNFORGETTABLE!" , DVD for the exhibition Jochen-Rindt Memorial in the City Museum Graz

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official Journal LG St. Pölten, November 22, 2012 , www.wienerzeitung.at on January 10, 2013, accessed on March 19, 2015.
  2. ↑ Siegfried Herrmann: Newsletter Lotus Historic Register Germany ( Memento from April 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on hockenheim-historic.de (accessed on March 23, 2015).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Helmut Zwickl : Ennstal Classic commemorates Jochen Rindt. Autosport.at, 2005, accessed on July 29, 2009 .
  4. ↑ TaNoah Morgan, Sun Staff: Willenpart comes back to home security. (No longer available online.) Vintage Garage.at, 2002, archived from the original on April 18, 2014 ; Retrieved July 29, 2009 .
  5. ↑ Vintage Security: About Us. VintageSecurity.com, 2005, accessed July 29, 2009 .
  6. ^ Konnie Aistleitner: Multimedia opera in the pit lane. (PDF; 1.9 MB) SVZ Kultur, July 10, 2009, accessed on July 30, 2009 .
  7. ↑ Interview with Helmut Zwickl (accessed on July 30, 2009)
  8. ^ Wachau Classic ( Memento from March 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on July 30, 2009)
  9. ↑ Classic Rallye Wien-Triest ( Memento from November 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on July 30, 2009)
  10. ↑ Stadtmuseum Graz (accessed on July 30, 2009)
  11. ^ Klaus Ewald: Jochen Lives. ResearchRacing.de, 2000, accessed on July 29, 2009 .
  12. ^ Prova: Ennstal-Classic 2003: 155 cars, 52 brands, 14 nations. Prova.de, 2009, accessed on August 2, 2009 .
  13. ^ Report on Jochen Rindt Opera on ORF (accessed on August 5, 2009)
personal data
SURNAME Will part, Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Will part, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Scheibbs
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 2015