Martin Pfundner

Martin Pfundner (born August 2, 1930 in Vienna ; † April 18, 2016 ) was an Austrian manager , networker, author and racing expert.

Life

Martin Pfundner was born in Vienna. His father Josef was the owner of the bell foundry in Pfundner, founded in 1906 . He studied chemistry at the Technical University of Vienna . Due to his father's enthusiasm for racing, he came to motorsport very early. Together with his father, he drove numerous long-distance competitions and worked as a correspondent for several motorsport magazines and as editor -in- chief of Auto-Jahr (Lausanne). His main job was initially in the bell foundry in Vienna and was the owner of the world's largest collection of old church bells.

At the age of 26 he was the initiator of the Austrian airfield races and race director in Vienna-Aspern. In 1956, Martin Pfunder was a co-founder of the Austrian Automobile Sports Club and worked for the club as the racing director of major racing events. As a board member of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in Paris and as Vice-President of the International Sports Commission (CSI), he played a key role in determining the fate of motor racing worldwide for a decade. In 1961, Pfundner became known as a sponsor of the future Formula 1 world champion Jochen Rindt . He helped Rindt to get into Formula 2 in 1965 , as did Niki Lauda seven years later .

Martin Pfundner was race director of the Austrian Grand Prix in Zeltweg and developed this airfield race from 1959 to the world championship run. In 1964 he succeeded in bringing the first Formula 1 race counting towards the world championship to Austria. In the same year Pfunder founded the magazine Autorevue , which he himself published as editor-in-chief until 1975. The first issue appeared at the end of December 1964 and has been monthly since then. In 2012 the magazine had an average print run of around 60,000 copies.

From 1975, Pfundner worked as a director at British Leyland Austria . In November 1984 he was appointed director of public relations at General Motors Austria (GMA) and General Motors Austria Werke (GMAW). After leaving Opel Austria at the end of 1995, he became Honorary Chairman of the Austrian Automobile Importers in the Federation of Industry.

Awards

• Large silver medal for services to the Republic of Austria
• FIA Heritage Cup of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in Paris
• 2007: Bela Barenyi Prize 2007

Works as an author (excerpt)

• Jochen Rindt. A picture biography. ISBN 978-3-205-78827-0 .
• With cars and bells through the 20th century. ISBN 978-3-205-78733-4 .
• 100 years of Alpine travel. ISBN 978-3-205-78529-3 .
• Austro Daimler and Steyr. Rivals until the merger. Ferdinand Porsche's early years. ISBN 978-3-205-77639-0 .
• Formula 1 in Austria. Böhlau, Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-205-79540-7 .
• Together with Hans Seper and Hans Peter Lenz , Martin Pfundner wrote numerous other books on the history of technology and the automotive industry in Austria.

Web links

• Short biography of Martin Pfundner on the website of the Technisches Museum Wien .
• Interview Martin Pfundner: bell founder and switchman. (PDF) Therein u. a .: Jochen Rindt and Niki Lauda asked Pfundner for help. In the Last but not least section on motorline.cc, 2011.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ General Motors Austria mBH: Announcement of the dates of birth of the managing directors to the Vienna Commercial Court for registration in accordance with Section 3 (8) of the Commercial Register Act on October 18, 1991. Inspection of the Commercial Register on October 25, 1991.
2. ^ MH: Martin Pfundner (1930 - 2016). Short obituary in: Rally & more, undated, accessed on April 29, 2016.
3. ^ Formula 1 in Austria from 1964 until today . In: orf.at accessed on August 8, 2020
4. ↑ Note: GMAW (production and maintenance) was merged in 1987 with the acquiring company GMA (administrative and technical departments as well as sales). After several other changes, the company has been called Opel Wien GmbH since May 2011 .
5. ↑ Martin Pfundner left the management of Opel Austria GmbH , which was operating at the time, on January 5, 1996. Query from the commercial register FN 110500a on January 12, 2015.
6. ↑ Bela Barenyi Prize 2007 (PDF) on the Austria Motor Veterans website .
7. ↑ Note: With Formula 1 in Austria , racing expert Pfundner published his tenth book on the history of automobiles in April 2014.