Tommy Spychiger
Thomas "Tommy" Spychiger (born September 29, 1934 in Langenthal ; † April 25, 1965 in Monza ) was a Swiss racing driver .
Career
Tommy Spychiger, whose family ran a restaurant in Lugano, began his motorsport career in 1950 with an Osca 1100S . In 1959 and 1960 he competed in two Formula Junior seasons with a Cooper T52 and then returned to sports car racing.
He became a works driver at Abarth and competed for the Italian racing team in hill climbs and sports car races. In 1960 he made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans , where he competed twice. Both times it was canceled prematurely due to technical defects.
He took part in all major European sports car races, such as the 1000 km race in Paris , the 1000 km race at the Nürburgring and the 1000 km race in Spa-Francorchamps . At the 1962 Targa Florio , he drove a works Porsche 718 RSK .
In 1960 he had a serious accident at the Gaisberg race in which he broke an elbow. Just a few minutes earlier, the German racing driver Walter Häderle had a fatal accident at the same point .
In 1965 he started for the Scuderia Filipinetti in the sports car world championship . At the 1000 km race in Monza in 1965 , after the first refueling stop, he took over the Ferrari 365P2 from his compatriot Herbert Müller . In his first fast lap he drove straight ahead in the Parabolica with no apparent braking effect. The car overturned over an earth wall and burned out completely in the forest behind the racetrack. Spychiger succumbed to his serious injuries at the scene of the accident.
statistics
Le Mans results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1960 | Abarth Corse & Cie | Fiat-Abarth 850S Bialbero | Jacques Féret | failure | malfunction |
1962 | Abarth Corse & Cie | Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero | Henri Oreiller | failure | Engine failure |
Sebring results
year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1963 | Abarth Corse | Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero | Teddy Pilette | Rank 21 and class win |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1960 | Abarth | Fiat-Abarth 850 | BUA | SEB | TAR | ONLY | LEM | |||||||||||||||||
DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
1961 | Porsche | Porsche 718 | SEB | TAR | ONLY | LEM | PES | |||||||||||||||||
DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
1962 | Scuderia Sant 'Ambroeus Abarth |
Porsche 718 Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero Fiat-Abarth 700 Bialbero |
DAY | SEB | SEB | MAY | TAR | BER | ONLY | LEM | TAV | CCA | RTT | ONLY | BRI | BRI | PAR | |||||||
DNF | DNF | 13 | 2 | 19th | ||||||||||||||||||||
1963 | Abarth |
Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero Abarth 1300S Fiat-Abarth 1000 Abarth 2000 Sport Fiat-Abarth 1000SP |
DAY | SEB | SEB | TAR | SPA | MAY | ONLY | CON | ROS | LEM | MON | WIS | TAV | FRE | CCE | RTT | OVI | ONLY | MON | MON | TDF | BRI |
21st | DNF | 7th | 58 | 7th | 12 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
1964 | Abarth |
Abarth-Simca 2000 Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero Fiat-Abarth 1000 Fiat-Abarth 850 |
DAY | SEB | TAR | MON | SPA | CON | ONLY | ROS | LEM | REI | FRE | CCE | RTT | SIM | ONLY | MON | TDF | BRI | BRI | PAR | ||
DNF | 3 | 22nd | 24 | DNF | ||||||||||||||||||||
1965 | Scuderia Filipinetti | Ferrari 365P2 | DAY | SEB | BOL | MON | MON | RTT | TAR | SPA | ONLY | MUG | ROS | LEM | REI | BOZ | FRE | CCE | OVI | ONLY | BRI | BRI | ||
DNF |
Web links
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Spychiger, Tommy |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Spychiger, Thomas (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss motor sportsman |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 29, 1934 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Langenthal |
DATE OF DEATH | April 25, 1965 |
Place of death | Monza |