Rudolf Fischer (racing driver)

Rudolf Fischer

Nation:	Switzerland
Automobile world championship
First start:	Swiss Grand Prix 1950
Last start:	1952 Italian Grand Prix
Constructors
1950 SVA  • 1951–1952 Ecurie Espadon
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Cup fourth ( 1952 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 7th - - -
World Cup points :	10
Podiums :	2
Leadership laps :	-

Rudolf Fischer (born April 12, 1912 in Schaffhausen , † December 30, 1976 in Lucerne ) was a Swiss racing driver .

Career

The amateur racing driver and successful restaurant owner drove his own Ferraris under the flag of the Ecurie Espadon in the 1950s .

After Fischer already in the 1930s with an Alfa Romeo sporadically in national sports car racing had appeared, he started in 1947 at the price of Lausanne with a 1.1-liter Cisitalia race car, which he for the following season by a Simca - Gordini also with 1.1 l displacement replaced. Although the car well below the for Grand Prix was allowed cc for normally aspirated engines limit of 4500, took fishermen not only in various national and international races for Voiturette category in part, but went with it at the Gran Premio di San Remo at a Grand Prix. In 1949 he rose to another Simca-Gordini to deal with 1430 cc capacity, with whom he at hill climb of La Sonnaz could gain the victory.

In 1950 he planned to enter Formula 1 with an SVA racing car designed by the former Fiat and Cisitalia engineer Giovanni Savonuzzi, which, however, with its 1.1-liter supercharged engine also exceeded the Formula 1 displacement limit for supercharged engines of 1500 cm³ not fully exploited. The car quickly proved to be non-competitive, so that Fischer then joined the British HWM team, for which he contested several Formula 2 races as a team-mate of Stirling Moss, among others .

Together with the Swiss racing driver Peter Staechelin , Fischer then founded their own racing team, the Ecurie Espadon , which contested the 1951 season with two Formula 2 racing cars from Ferrari . A V12 engine with a capacity of 2560 cm³ was also available for Formula 1 racing, which could optionally be installed in one of the cars. In Formula 2, Fischer won the races in Aix-les-Bains and Angoulème as well as the day's victory in the hill climb on the Schauinsland in the Black Forest. In Formula 1 he achieved podium places in Siracusa (3rd place), San Remo (3rd place) and Bordeaux (2nd place). At the world championship run at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring , he just missed the points in sixth place. At the end of the season, Fischer became Swiss racing car champion.

In 1952 , Fischer acquired the Italian racing car manufacturer's latest model, the Ferrari 500 . As a result of a crisis in Formula 1, the world championship races were held this year with Formula 2 racing cars, so that Fischer was able to contest a full Grand Prix season with really competitive material for the first time. The Ferrari 500, in particular the car used by the works team with Alberto Ascari , quickly proved to be the dominant construction of the season and Fischer also took second place in the opening race, the Swiss Grand Prix in Bremgarten and third place at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, where he also managed to break into the phalanx of works cars, achieved remarkable results for a private driver. In the final accounts of this year he finished fourth in the overall classification after five starts, which meant the best result ever achieved by an amateur or private driver in the drivers' world championship. In addition, Fischer was able to win another important international Formula 2 race with the Eifel race and again secure the championship title in Switzerland.

After not Fischer, but the Englishman Mike Hawthorn was accepted into the Ferrari factory team for 1953, despite his impressive performance, he saw no more prospects for himself as a privateer and decided to give up racing.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1951	Ecurie espadon	Ferrari 212F2	Ferrari 2.5 V12	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1952	Ecurie espadon	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 2.0 L4	5	-	1	1	-	-	10	4th
total				7th	-	1	1	-	-	10

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th
1950
				DNA
1951
	11					6th
1952
	2			11	13	3		DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Web links

• About Rudolf Fischer

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Obituary for Rudi Fischer in Automobil Revue , issue 2/1977 of January 13, 1977, p. 9