Willy Daetwyler
William Peter Daetwyler (born July 2, 1919 in Zurich ; † January 17, 2001 in Monte Carlo ) was a Swiss racing driver and entrepreneur.
Career
Willy Daetwyler was born into a wealthy Swiss family. His father was the owner and managing director of Zürcher Lagerhaus AG . Daetwyler's interest in motorsport led to long conflicts between son and father, who did not share the son's passion for fast sports cars.
Daetwyler drove his first race in 1948 on the Bremgarten circuit near Bern , where he finished eighth overall in a sports car race. A year later he won his first race on this racetrack when he won the Bremgarten Grand Prix in a 4.5-liter Alfa Romeo .
In 1950 he won his first Swiss sports car championship; a competition that he was able to win a total of six times. A career in monoposto sport did not materialize. On the one hand, this was due to the height of the Swiss, who at 1.92 meters was too tall for many vehicles of the formulas 1 and 2 . In 1953 his father died and he had to take over the management of the company.
However, Daetwyler continued to drive sports car races and in 1957 received a works contract with Maserati to compete for the Italian works team in the European Hill Climb Championship , which was revived by the FIA . With the Maserati 200SI he secured himself against the competition from Porsche , with the drivers Hans Herrmann , Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips and Richard von Frankenberg , the first title of a European mountain champion after the Second World War .
Daetwyler once also competed for Scuderia Ferrari . In 1957 he won on a Ferrari 750 Monza at the airfield race Vienna-Aspern . When Maserati withdrew from international motorsport at the end of 1957, Daetwyler’s motorsport career also ended, who retired from active sport in 1958 to focus exclusively on the family business. Daetwyler died in Monte Carlo in January 2001 .
literature
- Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Rainer Roßbach, Jost Neßhöver: Porsche Bergsport. European Hill Climb Championship 1957–1969. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-7688-3361-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Excerpts from the commercial register of Zürcher Lagerhaus AG
- ↑ Sports car race Bern 1948
- ↑ Bremgarten Grand Prize 1949
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Daetwyler, Willy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Daetwyler, William Peter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss racing driver and entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 2, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zurich |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 17, 2001 |
| Place of death | Monte Carlo |