Peter Lindner

Peter Lindner's Jaguar E-Type Lightweight at the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1963: Lindner led the first lap of the race with this car, but had to give up after 25 laps when the oil pressure dropped.

This time at the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1964: Peter Lindner and Peter Nöcker (with helmet) stand behind the Jaguar E-Type during a pit stop.

Peter Lindner (born March 16, 1930 in Düsseldorf , † October 11, 1964 in Linas ) was a German businessman and racing driver .

Success as a businessman

Peter Lindner came after the Second World War to Wiesbaden , completed his schooling there and managed together with his sister the inherited from the parent company. His father - a native of East Prussia  - was killed in the last days of the war. The house on Taunusstrasse had a shop in which the Nerotal car dealership - at that time a supplier of MG cars to crew members - was interested. The rent was offset against the income, because Peter Lindner himself got into the business as a car seller on this occasion. "Until then, I had hardly cared about cars any more than others my age."

But dealing with fast cars was apparently fun, because Lindner soon became managing director. In 1953 the Jaguar agency was added. The English gave him a chance, and so a young man of 27 years became an importer of the Jaguar brand with practically no capital - even if initially only for six months on a trial basis . Lindner took his chance. In 1957 he was able to exhibit at the automobile exhibition in Frankfurt. The conservative British factory had just released a new model, the Jaguar 3.4 liter Mark VIII , which found some fans in Germany. In 1958 the business ran, Lindner's contract was extended for another year. In 1962, in addition to Jaguar, Lindner KG offered the brands Lotus , Aston Martin and Daimler as an importer and, to round off the program, also continued to represent MG and Triumph . Volvo vehicles were also part of the range.

When asked about his future plans for the ever-growing company, the young businessman replied: “I will have to build, my customer service network has to be expanded further. In 1960 we sold a little more than 100 cars, in 1962 there will be 600 Jaguars. And in England, of course, one expects these numbers to increase. ”In addition to Wiesbaden, Lindner KG now had representative offices in Frankfurt and Düsseldorf .

Success as a racing driver

Peter Lindner drove his first race in 1957 in horses field with an old Jaguar XK 120 . However, the race came to an early end for him after another Jaguar spun in front of him and his car suffered a total loss. Soon he was back in circuit races and rallies with a new Jaguar.

Starting in 1960, Lindner started in the German Circuit Championship , which was newly launched this year and won in 1961 on a Jaguar Mark II 3.8 . In addition to Jaguar, Lindner also drove an Aston Martin DB4 GT in 1961 , with which he achieved a class win and otherwise without exception second places behind Peter Nöcker ( Ferrari 250 GT ). In June 1961, Lindner brought the successful and talented driver to his Jaguar racing team. The Lindner / Nöcker team achieved several class and overall victories in national and international races. At the beginning of the 1962 season, the old "WI-PL 1" was replaced by a new Jaguar with a 3.8 liter engine and the same license number. All races in which Lindner took part with this car, he won by a large margin. The “WI-PL 1” was soon joined by a Jaguar E-Type with the registration number “WI-PL 2”. Of course he couldn't beat the much faster Ferraris with the "E", but the car was mostly good for a second or third place.

Among his most important successes he counted the class and overall victory in the 6-hour race for touring cars in 1961 at the Nürburgring , the class and overall victory in the 6-hour race in 1962, the class and overall victory in the 12-hour race at the Nürburgring, the 2nd place overall in the 6-hour race at Brands Hatch , overall victory (against Hans Joachim Walter in a Jaguar) in the touring car race at the German Grand Prix in 1962, class victory in the Achum airfield race and class victory in the Trier airfield race.

In addition to the Jaguar, he was also successful with his Aston Martin DB4 and the Jaguar E-Type: With an Aston Martin, he finished second in the overall classification (behind the Swiss from Czsasy, Ferrari 250 GTO) in the Gran Turismo race as part of the big one Prize of Germany at the Nürburgring and second in its class at the Norisring race (behind Nöcker, Ferrari). In the Jaguar E-Type, he finished second in the large GT class at the Trier airfield race and the Achum airfield race (behind Nöcker, Ferrari).

The most famous racing car owned by Lindner was a Jaguar E-Type Lightweight . Jaguar only built twelve of these vehicles for racing; Lindner bought the fifth chassis. The silver Jaguar with chassis number S850662 was one of the most striking appearances on the European racing tracks in the early 1960s. The cars not only differed from the original E-types in terms of their engine power, they also had an extremely light aluminum body. Lindner's Lightweight was the most powerful of the twelve vehicles with an engine output of 344 hp (253 kW); all the others had engines with an output of around 320 hp (235 kW).

In the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1963 , Lindner competed with his Lightweight against Scuderia Ferrari , which brought two Ferrari 250P to the start. Lindner took the lead from eighth position immediately after the start, but was overtaken by Ferrari drivers John Surtees and Ludovico Scarfiotti on the second lap . After 25 laps the Jaguar failed with the oil pressure dropping. On June 30, 1963, Peter Nöcker won a sports car race at the AVUS with the car ; in the same year Nöcker became the first overall winner of the European Touring Car Championship .

In 1964, Peter Lindner and Peter Nöcker again took part in the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring. With their Jaguar E-Type Lightweight, however, they had to end the race with transmission problems on lap 17.

In 1964 , a good result at the Le Mans 24-hour race was the main goal of Lindner and Nöcker. Lindner's Jaguar was extensively redesigned in the winter of 1963/64, which is why it stood out clearly from the other lightweight models. It received numerous new parts from the Jaguar factory in the UK, including a high-speed transmission. The body was also redesigned for 1964. Instead of the conventional hardtop structure, Lindner's car was given a streamlined body with a hatchback that was designed by Jaguar designer Malcolm Sayer . Lindner's revised lightweight is mostly referred to as the low-drag E-Type in the British motor press, alluding to its reduced air resistance .

In the pre-tests, the duo was again able to convince with fast lap times. The two Germans drove the sixth fastest time in Le Mans, and against the prototype of Ford and Ferrari. In the race, Lindner was in the lead for a long time, but had to park the Jaguar in the pits after driving 149 laps. One of the cylinders had overheated so that the engine could no longer be started.

Death in Montlhéry

The 1964 sports car season ended with the 1000 km race in Paris , the 20th and final race of the sports car world championship of that year. Peter Lindner and Peter Nöcker also took part in the race on the high-speed track of Montlhéry, which was feared primarily because of its steep turns. After it started to rain, there was a serious accident on lap 83. The Italian Franco Patria had the class leading work - Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero by his compatriot Luigi Taramazzo adopted and had new tires and a full tank on the way from the pit lane back to the track. The pit lane in Montlhéry was only separated from the track by bales of straw. In order to ensure a minimum of security, two stewards and a stewardship, including the former racing driver Jean Pairard , monitored the exit and only allowed cars back on the track when it was free. As Patria was waiting at the exit, Peter Lindner came out of the steep bend in front of the start and finish on the wet track, seemed to be braking and skidded. He was in sixth place and was involved in a duel with the British Dick Protheroe , who also drove an E-Type Jaguar.

Lindner lost control of the Jaguar on the smooth track, touched the straw bales, and vehicle parts came loose. The car was thrown up about ten meters, turned on its own axis, so that Lindner fell out. The jaguar hit Patrias Abarth with full force and pushed him against a wall. Franco Patria as well as the stewards and the steward who were in the immediate vicinity died immediately. Peter Lindner was initially conscious, but died a little later in the hospital from serious internal injuries despite a blood transfusion. The race went on and ended with a win for Graham Hill and Joakim Bonnier in a Ferrari 330P .

According to investigations by the investigation commission, a material defect was the cause of the accident. A piece of the left rear wheel rim of his Jaguar was found about 30 meters from where Lindner's car first touched the bales of straw. About 80 percent of the fracture surface indicated a fatigue fracture, the rest of the fracture surface indicated a forced fracture, which was possibly caused by a bump at the exit of the elevated target curve.

statistics

Sporting successes (selection)

with his teammate Peter Nöcker
meeting	event	vehicle	Result
June 11, 1961	Int. ACS 6-hour race for touring cars at the Nürburgring	Jaguar MK II 3.8 Ltr.	1st place
June 17, 1962	Int. ADAC 6-hour race, touring car GP, Nürburgring
May 19, 1963	9th Int. ADAC 1000 kilometer race at the Nürburgring	Jaguar E-Type Lightweight	Failure (oil pressure, oil line broken)
June 16, 1963	Int. ADAC 6-hour race, touring car GP, Nürburgring	Jaguar MK II 3.8 Ltr.	1st place
0July 6, 1963	6-hour race for touring cars at Brands Hatch (GB)		2nd place, rank 1 TW over 3000 cm³
July 14, 1963	Int. ADAC 12-hour race for touring cars at the Nürburgring		1st place
September 22, 1963	Budapest Nagydij , Budapest (H)		3rd place, rank 1, class 9

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1964	Peter Lindner	Jaguar E-Type Lightweight	Peter Nöcker	failure	Overheated cylinder

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	Peter Lindner	Jaguar E-Type	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
									DNF
1964	Peter Lindner	Jaguar E-Type	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
									DNF		DNF											DNF

literature

• Lars Döhmann: Sports show. Chronicle: The sporting successes of the E-Type . In: Motor Classic Special No. 2 "everything about Jaguar E-Type" . 1986, ISSN  0177-8862 .
• Peter Hoffmann, Thomas Fritz: Peter Lindner - the racing years 1955–1964 . VIEW Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-945397-01-5 , pp. 300 .

Web links

Commons : Peter Lindner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Peter Lindner at Motorsport Memorial
• Peter Lindner at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} People are talking about you . Peter Lindner. In: autoparade . 2, autumn. A. Eugen von Keller Verlag, Bonn 1962, p. 30 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Rainer Braun: We introduce: Peter Lindner . In: automobile illustrated . No. 8 . Gildeverlag, Alfeld / Leine April 20, 1963, p. 44-45 .
3. ↑ Kieron Fennelly, Peter Hoffmann: Gentleman and tamer - Peter Lindner and the Jaguar brand . In: powerslide - historical motorsport . 5, April, May, June edition. Petrolpics, 2010, ISSN  2190-0701 .
4. ↑ Rainer Braun: We introduce: Peter Nöcker . In: automobile illustrated . No. 2 . Gildeverlag, Alfeld / Leine January 20, 1964, p. 43 .
5. ↑ ^{a b} Michael Riedner: Performance Society. The competition versions of the Jaguar E-Type . In: Motor Classic Special No. 2 "everything about Jaguar E-Type" . 1986, ISSN  0177-8862 , p. 40 .
6. ↑ Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrndt: ADAC 1000 km race . 1st edition. Heel, Königswinter 2008, ISBN 978-3-89880-903-0 , p. 47 and 208 .
7. ↑ International ADAC 1000-kilometer race 1964.proteilstrecke.de, accessed on April 21, 2013 . 
8. ↑ auto motor and sport. Issue 22/1964, p. 44.
9. ↑ Sports Notes . In: automobile illustrated . No. 3 . Gildeverlag, Alfeld / Leine February 5, 1965, p. 41 .
10. ↑ International ADAC 6-hour race, Grand Touring Car Grand Prix 1963. pro- teilstrecke.de, accessed on April 21, 2013 . 
11. ^ The Motor 6 hours 1963. touringcarracing.net, accessed on April 21, 2013 (English). 
12. ↑ International ADAC 12-hour race for touring cars in 1963. pro- teilstrecke.de, accessed on April 21, 2013 . 
13. ↑ Budapest Nagydij 1963. touringcarracing.net, accessed on April 21, 2013 (English).