Karl Foitek

The Ferrari 250 GTO of Kalman von Csazy and Karl Foitek at the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring in 1963

Karl Foitek (born April 28, 1931 in Oberndorf an der Melk ; † January 1, 2019 in Zurich ) was an Austrian - Swiss racing driver and entrepreneur.

Life

After finishing school in 1945, Karl Foitek learned the trade of a car mechanic in his uncle's workshop. In 1951 he moved to Zurich, where he worked, among other things, in the workshop of the Jaguar importer Emil Frey AG . After gaining his first racing experience in 1956, he started his own business with a workshop specializing in the preparation and tuning of Alfa Romeo vehicles.

In 1962, Foitek and his wife Sonja opened the Foitek garage in Zurich on Brauerstrasse. They took over the representation of the brands Alfa Romeo, Jaguar and Lotus , later Ferrari , Lamborghini and Maserati were added. Three of his five children, sons Gregor , Reto and Frank, worked in the company. In 2004 Karl Foitek sold the company.

On New Year's Day 2019, Karl Foitek died of cancer at the age of 87 in the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich .

Motorsport

After first attempts with an Austin-Healey , Karl Foitek won the Schauinsland hill climb in 1957 in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce . In the following years he achieved further class and overall victories at national and international racing events. In 1990 Foitek and the car manufacturer Peter Monteverdi took over the British Formula 1 team Onyx , which competed in the Formula 1 World Championship with Gregor Foitek as a driver until August 1990.

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1961	Abarth	Fiat-Abarth 700S	Paul Condrillier	failure	coupling
1962	Scuderia Sant Ambroeus	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato	Riccardo Ricci	failure	coupling
1963	Scuderia Filipinetti	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Zagato	Armand Schäfer	failure	Valve train

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1968	Valvoline Oil Company	Porsche 910	Rudi Lins	failure	accident

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
1957	Karl Foitek	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
						35
1958	Karl Foitek	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
						DNF
1959	Edgar Berney	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
					DNF
1961	Abarth	Fiat-Abarth 700	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	PES
						DNF
1962	Karl Foitek Scuderia St. Ambroeus	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
									DNF	DNF	19th
1963	Kalman by Csazy Scuderia Filipinetti Karl Foitek	Ferrari 250 GTO Alfa Romeo Giulietta SV Lotus 23	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
									30th			DNF				17th			7th
1964	Squadra Foitek Karl Foitek	Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ Lotus 23 Alfa Romeo TZ	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
									DNF	4th			11			16						15th
1965	Karl Foitek	Lotus Elan	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
													15th				9
1966	Karl Foitek	Lotus Elan	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
													13
1967	Karl Foitek	Lotus Elan	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
															12
1968	Valvoline Oil Company	Porsche 910	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
				DNF	9

Web links

Commons : Karl Foitek  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Racing pictures Karl Foitek
• Airfield race Vienna-Aspern 1965 winning picture with Karl Foitek
• Portrait for the 80th birthday on Zwischengas.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.foitekautomobile.ch/fileadmin/downloads/Festschrift-80-Jahre-Karl-Foitek.pdf Festschrift for the 80th birthday of Karl Foitek
2. ↑ Karl Foitek († 87): A whole life for four wheels. Blick , January 2, 2019, accessed January 4, 2019 .  
3. ↑ http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/results/Karl-Foitek-CH.html
4. ↑ http ://www. Zwischengas.com/de/HR/rennberichte/Le-Mans-1961-Ferrari-und-die-vom-Pech-verwegste-Konbewerb.html
5. ↑ http://www.racingsportscars.com/results/Le_Mans-1962-06-24.html
6. ↑ http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Le_Mans-1963-06-16.html