Willi Kauhsen
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Willibert "Willi" Kauhsen , also Willy Kauhsen , (born May 19, 1939 in Eschweiler ) is a former German car racing driver and racing team owner.
Racing career
Willi Kauhsen was working as a freight forwarder in Aachen when he started motorsport in 1964. The first outings were sporadic, typical for an amateur racing driver. He drove a second-hand Porsche 356 B Super 90 and an old Morris Minor . With the minor he was able to take part in the 500 km race on the Nürburgring in 1965 , a race of the sports car world championship . His first international start ended after driving four laps due to a vehicle defect.
From the 1967 season, the commitment to racing became more intense and the number of entries for various racing events increased rapidly. This commitment led to the abandonment of the haulage company and work as a professional racing driver. Success came quickly. On a Fiat Abarth 1000TC he won in 1967 the overall ranking of Division I of the European Touring Car Championship , with victories in Aspern . and Zolder
In 1968 the races began with vehicles from the Porsche brand , which also led to cooperation as drivers with the works team . A special racing event was the Marathon de la Route , which was held on the north and south loops of the Nürburgring . The race, which had special handicaps, lasted 84 hours. There was a uniform maximum driving time per lap for all cars. Every commenced minute that was spent in the pits resulted in the deduction of one lap. The stops for changing drivers were excluded. There was a parking lot in front of the sports hotel for repairs. Half an hour was allowed to be repaired on the vehicle every 12 hours without penalty. Along with Herbert Linge and Dieter Glemser, Willi Kauhsen was part of the team of three that in 1968 drove 356 laps in the victorious factory Porsche 911S in 84 hours. Another great success this year was the overall victory in the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race . Teammates in the Kremer Racing Porsche 911 S were Helmut Kelleners and team owner Erwin Kremer .
From 1968 he started regularly in the sports car world championship. It soon became apparent that Kauhsen's qualities lay primarily in his endurance and excellent performance as a test driver. Although he seldom came close to the fast lap times of the Porsche top drivers such as Jo Siffert , Pedro Rodríguez , Vic Elford , Brian Redman , Hans Herrmann , Gerhard Mitter , Rolf Stommelen and Kurt Ahrens , he was repeatedly given a factory cockpit. In Le Mans he became known for the special paintwork of the Porsche 917 he drove . In 1970 he finished second overall in Hans-Dieter Dechent's “Hippie-917” with partner Gérard Larrousse . In 1971 his 917 also had a special paint job. The car was very eye-catching because of its pink paintwork and the recorded portions of meat that Porsche designer Anatole Lapine came up with, and was nicknamed "The Pig" because of its design. In the race, the car crashed out in fifth position.
Willi Kauhsen Racing Team
In 1972, Willi Kauhsen made himself independent of works outings and founded his own racing team . He received support from the then Porsche race director Rico Steinemann . At Porsche, the Porsche 917 Spyder had been equipped with powerful turbo engines in autumn 1971. The 917/10 built for the North American Can-Am series should have been driven by Jo Siffert in 1972. After his death in Brands Hatch , Steinemann offered the car to Kauhsen, who gratefully accepted it. In 1972 he fought an exciting duel with Leo Kinnunen for overall victory in the Interseries . With the victory in Imola and six second places, he finished the season in second place overall. As a driver, he remained active until the end of the 1974 season, when he concentrated entirely on leading the racing team.
In 1975 he was able to take over the Alfa Romeo T33 / TT / 12 from Autodelta for use in the sports car world championship. With the riders Arturo Merzario , Jacques Laffite , Derek Bell , Henri Pescarolo and Jochen Mass , the team won seven of the nine world championship races and was able to contemplate the world championship.
At the beginning of 1976, Kauhsen relocated racing activities to monoposto sports . After racing in the Formula 2 European Championship , he tried to enter the Formula 1 World Championship in 1978 . The takeover of Kojima Engineering failed in 1978, as did the construction of their own racing car in 1979 . Before the commitment turned into a complete financial disaster, Kauhsen stopped all racing activities after the Belgian Grand Prix in 1979 .
statistics
Le Mans results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 |
 Porsche System Engineering
|
Porsche 908L |
Rudi Lins
|
failure | Clutch damage |
| 1970 |
Martini International Racing
|
Porsche 917L |
Gérard Larrousse
|
Rank 2 | |
| 1971 |
Martini Racing Team
|
Porsche 917/20 |
Reinhold Joest
|
failure | accident |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
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literature
- David Hodges: Racing Cars from A to Z after 1945 . 1st edition, Stuttgart 1993.
- Adriano Cimarosti: The Century of Racing, 1st edition, Stuttgart 1997.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Aspern, European Touring Car Championship 1967
- ^ Zolder, European Touring Car Championship 1967
- ↑ Marathon de la Route 1968
- ↑ Porsche 917 sow
- ↑ 300 km race in Imola in 1972
- ↑ Interseries 1972
- ↑ Kauhsen Formula 1 racing car
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kauhsen, Willi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kauhsen, Willibert (full name); Kauhsen, Willy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German car racing driver and racing team owner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 19, 1939 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Eschweiler |