Kaimann team
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The Kaimann team was an Austrian motorsport racing team that was founded in 1966 by Kurt Bergmann in Vienna-Eßling. Occasionally Bergmann performed under a sponsored name such as Bosch Racing-Team, Vienna .
Bergmann's flair for young talents and their development into top drivers in the Kaimann team led several drivers into Formula 1. The team was successful in all major Formula Vee championships and in 1971 won the annual USA - Europe match at Daytona Speedway in the USA. Building on the success of his works drivers, Bergmann started building the Kaimann Mk III in series for private drivers from 1968. Over 200 Kaimann racing cars were used on the international race tracks. The years up to around 1979 were an era of great Austrian successes in international motorsport.
The beginnings
Porsche racing director Huschke von Hanstein brought Formula Vee from the USA to Europe in 1964 and presented it to the public on May 16, 1965 at the hill climb in Eberbach and on August 1, 1965 as part of the supporting program for the German Grand Prix. In Austria the kart elite were invited to a race in Innsbruck. Fascinated by the idea, Opel dealer and kart driver Kurt Bergmann built the first two racing cars with units from the VW Beetle 1200 based on the American model in 1966. The Kaimann team was born, Kurt Bergmann the team boss. The kart champion Werner Riedl drove the first races. The second car was made available to Fritz Glatz , who also brought the first sponsor partner for the team. In the autumn of the first season, Dieter Quester was joined by another driver. In 1967 Dieter Quester and Erich Breinsberg drove for Kurt Bergmann. Dieter Quester achieved his first victory on a Kaimann in the Aspern airfield race.
Helmut Marko
In 1968 there was an important change in the regulations. The engines and aggregates came from the more powerful VW 1300. The cars with a 1300 cm³ VW engine and a carburetor reached a top speed of around 180 km / h with around 70 hp. According to the regulations, they weighed 375 kg. A rigid tubular frame was constructed for the Kaimann Mark III. The Kaimann team was supported by the Technical University of Vienna and the assistants at the time, Fritz Indra and Heinz Lippitsch. Lippitsch designed a torsion tower to stiffen the frame, which proved itself convincingly. Kurt Bergmann chose Helmut Marko , Günther Huber and Erich Breinsberg as the driver . Marko won several races and the Austrian championship for the team. He switched to Martini Racing via Formula 3. In 1971 Helmut Marko won the Le Mans 24 Hours in a Porsche 917 . In the same year he drove for BRM in the Formula 1 team. After 9 Grand Prix starts, he had to end his driving career. Marko became a motorsport manager and is now the mastermind or driving force behind the Red Bull Formula 1 team.
Niki Lauda
The next year saw the Kaimann racing car with a new, slim body. With the young Niki Lauda , Kurt Bergmann again proved to be a talent discoverer. Lauda and Breinsberg were successful with several victories, this time the championship went to Breinsberg. The only twenty year old Niki Lauda was third in the championship. With Helmut Bross, a private Kaimann driver won the hard-fought German championship. Niki Lauda's road to success led to Ferrari via formulas 3, 2 and 1. He became world champion in Formula 1 three times and founded several airlines. He was a partner and member of the supervisory board of the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
The European Cup
1970 turned out to be the most successful year for Kurt Bergmann to date. The “Kaimänner” were piloted by Erich Breinsberg, Harald Ertl and Peter Peter . For the first time, Erich Breinsberg succeeded in bringing the coveted European Cup to Eßling. The Austrian championship also went to Breinsberg, this time ahead of Harald Ertl. This marked the end of the Formula V 1300 era for the Kaimann team. The next challenge was another milestone for Kurt Bergmann. Harald Ertl's path also went through Formula 2 and the German racing championship to Formula 1. He drove a total of 21 Formula 1 races for Hesketh, Ensign and ATS Ford.
Formula Super Vee and the Daytona victory
In 1971 Volkswagen created a stronger and faster successor series. The Formula Super V 1600 had Volkswagen engines again and was already at the level of the international Formula 3 in terms of performance and speed. The first race for Kurt Bergmann's Kaimann Super V team in 1971 was the Trans Atlantic Challenge. The annual USA-Europe match took place at Daytona Speedway in the USA; four European brands against the US phalanx. In a heartbeat final, the Kaimann Super V with Erich Breinsberg won ahead of the American champion Tom Davey - the first victory for Europe in the USA.
The Super V gold cup
Volkswagen announced an international championship with ten European races, the "Super V Gold Cup". Kurt Bergmann chose the drivers Helmut Koinigg , Werner Riedl and again Erich Breinsberg for his Super V team . It was the most successful year for the Kaimann team. After the victory in Daytona, the gold cup championship also went to Erich Breinsberg in front of Greger Kronegard from Sweden from the Bonnier-Lola team. Kurt Bergmann was awarded the Constructors Trophy for the first time. Erich Breinsberg ended his active racing career on a Brabham BT21 / V8. With this car he was runner-up in the Austrian mountain championship in 1971 and 1972 .
Helmut Koinigg and the Formula 2 project
In 1972 Helmut Koinigg drove again for the Kaimann team and as paydriver Kennerth Persson and Harald Menzel. Manfred Schurti on Royal won the gold cup just ahead of Helmut Koinigg. In 1973 Helmut Koinigg was the works driver again, with Swedes Kennerth Persson and Tommy Brorsson at his side. This time Koinigg won the gold cup again. Kennerth Persson won the GTX Trophy for the Kaimann team. Kurt Bergmann won the Constructors' Trophy a second time. In 1974, Helmut Koinigg made the long-awaited leap into Formula 1 with John Surtees' team . He had a fatal accident in his second race, the US Grand Prix.
As a new project, Kurt Bergmann and Ludwig Apfelbeck built an Opel-based engine for Formula 2. Initially, a used March chassis was to serve as a test vehicle. The engine was not stable. The project went beyond budget and was discontinued.
Keke Rosberg
In 1974 only Scandinavians drove in the Kaimann team. The Finn Keke Rosberg joined Kennerth Persson and Tommy Brorsson . This time the gold cup went to Freddy Kottulinsky from the Bonnier-Lola team in front of Kennerth Persson and Keke Rosberg. The GTX Trophy belonged to Kaimann with Kennerth Persson ahead of Keke Rosberg. In 1975 Keke Rosberg rode the Kaimann again, but this time with Leopold Prinz von Bayern as a team-mate for the German core team. The gold cup again went to the Bonnier-Lola team with Mikko Kozarowitzky ahead of Kennerth Persson on Kaimann. The GTX Trophy was even more enjoyable: Keke Rosberg on Kaimann won 8 races and relegated Mikko Kozarowitzky to second place. He also won the German and Scandinavian championships with the Kaimann Super V that year. Keke Rosberg switched to Formula 2 in 1976 and to Formula 1 in 1978, in which he drove 114 races. In 1982 he became world champion in Frank Williams' team .
End of the successful streak
After Keke Rosberg left the 1978 season, the successful decade in Kurt Bergmann's Kaimann team came to an end. There were still some notable successes, Jo Gartner won a few more races with the Kaimann Super V with a 1.6 liter engine and an output of around 150 hp. The championships went to the English and Scandinavian teams. Kurt Bergmann could look back on an efficient chapter in racing history. He was a contributor to the era that was so glorious for Austrian motorsport. In just over a decade, he built over 200 of these coveted racing cars. Only on the British Isles were there such successful teams.
Kurt Bergmann was the discoverer and promoter of a victorious generation of drivers. He gave the best of these "uncut diamonds" the material with which they could prove their driving potential. His perfectly prepared racing cars were the tools for the way to the top. Eight successful Kaimann drivers made their way into Formula 1. Niki Lauda and Keke Rosberg became world champions, Lauda three times. In addition to these two champions, Helmut Marko, Helmut Koinigg, Dieter Quester, Harald Ertl, Jochen Mass and Jo Gartner got their first victories on the Kaimann racing car before they entered the big world of the Grand Prix.
Championship wins with Kaimann racing cars
| year | driver | competition |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Helmut Marko | Austrian FV Championship |
| 1969 | Erich Breinsberg | Austrian FV Championship |
| Helmut Bross | German FV Championship | |
| 1970 | Erich Breinsberg | FV European Cup |
| Erich Breinsberg | Austrian FV Championship | |
| 1971 | Erich Breinsberg | Super V gold cup |
| Walter out | Austrian FV-1300 Championship | |
| 1972 | Walter out | Austrian FV-1300 Championship |
| 1973 | Helmut Koinigg | Super V gold cup |
| Kennerth Persson | Castrol GTX Trophy | |
| Walter out | Austrian FV-1300 Championship | |
| 1974 | Kennerth Persson | Castrol GTX Trophy |
| Kalle Jonsson | FV-1300-Europe-Rating | |
| Wolfgang Holy | Austrian FV-1300 Championship | |
| 1975 | Keke Rosberg | Castrol GTX Trophy |
| Kalle Jonsson | FV-1300-Europe-Rating | |
| Dieter Karl Anton | Austrian FV-1300 Championship |
literature
- Erich Breinsberg: Niki, Keke and the genius from the suburbs . Egoth Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-902480-58-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Powerslide. Special print 45 years of Formula Vee, Verlag Petrolpics, Bonn 2011.
- ↑ Powerslide , special edition 45 Years of Formula Vee , October 2011, cites a significantly higher number with “around 350”.
- ↑ Erich Breinsberg: The Niki, the Keke and the genius from the suburbs. Ed .: Egoth Verlag, Vienna 2009 ,. ISBN 978-3-902480-58-3 .