Klaus Niedzwiedz
Encyclopedia
Klaus Niedzwiedz is a former professional race driver and motoring journalist.
His greatest success came in the 1980s, as a driver for Ford
.
Niedzwiedz rose to prominence when driving a Ford Capri
for Zakspeed
in the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft
. The turbocharged
1.4 L engine from the Zakspeed Ford Capri was later enlarged for the 1.7 L "Super Capri". With this 500+ hp car, Niedzwiedz established in 1982 the "eternal lap record" for Group 5
touring car racing
at the old 22.8 km Nürburgring
with 7:08.59, just 10 seconds slower than the F1 record of 6:58.60 set by Niki Lauda
in 1975 (see: Nürburgring lap times).
The enlarged engine was also used in the World Endurance Championship from 1982 onwards, in the a modified Ford C100. The Zakspeed-prepared Group C
machine was run by the works Ford Germany team with Klaus Ludwig
, Manfred Winkelhock
and Marc Surer
at the wheel, but the car was a midfielder at best, although Jonathan Palmer
and Desiré Wilson
scored a 4th place overall the 1,000km of Brands Hatch
in 1982. Ford Germany retracted their support and one car was sold to privateers, while the other chassis was evolved by Zakspeed into the C1/4 and the C1/8, making few appearances in international racing, but becoming a front-runner in the German Interserie
, where it won the European championship in 1984 with Klaus Niedzwiedz.
In 1982 and 1987, he was the winner at the 24 Hours Nürburgring
, in both events with Klaus Ludwig. With a Ford Sierra
he was runner-up in the World Touring Car Championship
of 1987 and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft
of 1989.
Between 1987 and 1996 Niedzwiedz drove six times in the annual Bathurst 1000
race in Australia
driving a Ford Sierra in all but the his last race where he drove a Ford EB Falcon
and apart from 1987 when he drove for Eggenberger Motorsport as part of the WTCC, he drove for Allan Moffat
Racing. While he never won the race, he came close with two 2nd placings. His results were 2nd before DQ in 1987
, DNF in 1988
, officially 2nd in 1989
teamed with Frank Biela
, 10th in 1990
(after claiming pole on the 6.213km circuit with a time of 2:13.94, some 2.23 seconds faster than 2nd fastest man Dick Johnson), 19th in 1992
and 10th again in his last race on the mountain in 1996
. Niedzwiedz is generally regarded as one of the better European drivers to have raced at Bathurst.
In 1998, he won the privateer title in the ADAC German Supertouring
car championship (Super Tourenwagen Cup
) with a Opel Vectra
.
In 2003, he won a VLN
race with Porsche 911 GT3
at the Nürburgring
Others events:
magazine Treibstoff. Since 1997, he moderates n-tv
Motor.
of the 1979 Ford Capri
Zakspeed
(model 24014) is represented as the D&W Klaus Niedzwiedz car, and actually comes complete with Niedzwiedz in team uniform.
Driver
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
.
Niedzwiedz rose to prominence when driving a Ford Capri
Ford Capri
Ford Capri was a name used by the Ford Motor Company for three different automobile models. The Ford Consul Capri coupé was produced by Ford of Britain between 1961 and 1964. The Ford Capri coupé was produced by Ford of Europe from 1969 to 1986...
for Zakspeed
Zakspeed
Zakspeed is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and nowadays run by his son Peter Zakowski. Their home town of Niederzissen is located not far away from the Nürburgring race track.-1973 to 1981: Saloon and sports car racing:...
in the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft
Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft
Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft or simply DRM as it was known, was a touring car and Sportscar racing series...
. The turbocharged
Turbocharger
A turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...
1.4 L engine from the Zakspeed Ford Capri was later enlarged for the 1.7 L "Super Capri". With this 500+ hp car, Niedzwiedz established in 1982 the "eternal lap record" for Group 5
Group 5 (racing)
Group 5 was an FIA motor racing classification which was applied to four distinct categories during the years 1966 to 1982. Initially Group 5 regulations defined a Special Touring Car category and from 1970 to 1971 the classification was applied to limited production Sports Cars restricted to 5...
touring car racing
Touring car racing
Touring car racing is a general term for a number of distinct auto racing competitions in heavily-modified street cars. It is notably popular in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Scandinavia and Britain.-Characteristics of a touring car:...
at the old 22.8 km Nürburgring
Nürburgring
The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...
with 7:08.59, just 10 seconds slower than the F1 record of 6:58.60 set by Niki Lauda
Niki Lauda
Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion. More recently an aviation entrepreneur, he has founded and run two airlines and was manager of the Jaguar Formula One racing team for two years.- Early years in racing :Born in Vienna,...
in 1975 (see: Nürburgring lap times).
The enlarged engine was also used in the World Endurance Championship from 1982 onwards, in the a modified Ford C100. The Zakspeed-prepared Group C
Group C
Group C was a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in 1982 for sports car racing, along with Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs....
machine was run by the works Ford Germany team with Klaus Ludwig
Klaus Ludwig
Klaus Ludwig is a German race driver.- Biography :Unlike Hans-Joachim Stuck, Rolf Stommelen, Harald Ertl, Hans Heyer and Jochen Mass, he has never raced in single seaters...
, Manfred Winkelhock
Manfred Winkelhock
Manfred Winkelhock was a German racing driver. Born in Waiblingen, he was the brother of Joachim Winkelhock and father of Markus Winkelhock, also both racing drivers....
and Marc Surer
Marc Surer
Marc Surer is a former racing driver from Switzerland. He participated in 88 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1979. He scored a total of 17 championship points....
at the wheel, but the car was a midfielder at best, although Jonathan Palmer
Jonathan Palmer
Dr. Jonathan Charles Palmer is an entrepreneur and former racing driver from England. Educated at Brighton College, he won the 1981 British Formula Three Championship and the 1983 European Formula Two Championship. He participated in 87 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on September 25, 1983...
and Desiré Wilson
Desiré Wilson
Desiré Randall Wilson is a former racing driver from South Africa, one of only five women to have competed in Formula One. She entered one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix in 1980 with a non-works Williams FW07 prepared by Brands Hatch Racing, but failed to qualify...
scored a 4th place overall the 1,000km of Brands Hatch
Brands Hatch
Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit near West Kingsdown in Kent, England. First used as a dirt track motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently holds many British and international racing events...
in 1982. Ford Germany retracted their support and one car was sold to privateers, while the other chassis was evolved by Zakspeed into the C1/4 and the C1/8, making few appearances in international racing, but becoming a front-runner in the German Interserie
Interserie
Interserie is the name of a European-based motorsport series started in 1970 that allows for a wide variety of racing cars from various eras and series to compete with less limited rules than in other series....
, where it won the European championship in 1984 with Klaus Niedzwiedz.
In 1982 and 1987, he was the winner at the 24 Hours Nürburgring
24 Hours Nürburgring
The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a touring car and GT endurance racing event on the Nürburgring Nordschleife . With a lap length of over , it allows the participation of more than 200 cars, and over 700 drivers.-Overview:...
, in both events with Klaus Ludwig. With a Ford Sierra
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
The Ford Sierra RS Cosworth was a high-performance version of the Ford Sierra. It was the result of a Ford Motorsport project with the purpose of producing an outright winner for Group A racing in Europe.- Development :...
he was runner-up in the World Touring Car Championship
World Touring Car Championship
For the video game, known as World Touring Car Championship in Japan, see TOCA World Touring CarsThe FIA World Touring Car Championship is an international Touring Car championship sanctioned by the FIA.-History:...
of 1987 and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft
Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft was a touring car racing series held from 1984 to 1996. Originally based in Germany, it held additional rounds elsewhere in Europe and later worldwide....
of 1989.
Between 1987 and 1996 Niedzwiedz drove six times in the annual Bathurst 1000
Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 is a touring car race held annually at Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia...
race in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
driving a Ford Sierra in all but the his last race where he drove a Ford EB Falcon
Ford EB Falcon
The Ford EB Falcon is a car which was produced by the Ford Motor Company in Australia between 1991 and 1993.Visually the 1991 EB remained nearly identical to its predecessor. The most noticeable change was the transfer of the Ford emblem from the tip of the bonnet to the grille...
and apart from 1987 when he drove for Eggenberger Motorsport as part of the WTCC, he drove for Allan Moffat
Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat, OBE is an Australian racing driver known for his four wins in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four wins in the Bathurst 1000...
Racing. While he never won the race, he came close with two 2nd placings. His results were 2nd before DQ in 1987
1987 James Hardie 1000
The 1987 James Hardie 1000 was the eighth round of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship, the first round to be held in the southern hemisphere. The race was held for cars eligible for Group A touring car regulations. It was the 25th anniversary of the original touring car endurance race...
, DNF in 1988
1988 Tooheys 1000
The 1988 Tooheys 1000 was the 29th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 2 October 1988 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst...
, officially 2nd in 1989
1989 Tooheys 1000
The 1989 Tooheys 1000 was the 30th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 1 October 1989 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, Australia. The race was held for cars eligible under International Group A touring car regulations with three engine capacity...
teamed with Frank Biela
Frank Biela
Frank Biela is an auto racing driver, mainly competing in touring cars and sportscar racing. He has raced exclusively in cars manufactured by the Audi marque since 1990....
, 10th in 1990
1990 Tooheys 1000
The 1990 Tooheys 1000 was the 31st running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 30 September 1990 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. The event was open to cars eligible under CAMS Group 3A regulations, commonly known as Group A Touring...
(after claiming pole on the 6.213km circuit with a time of 2:13.94, some 2.23 seconds faster than 2nd fastest man Dick Johnson), 19th in 1992
1992 Tooheys 1000
The 1992 Tooheys 1000 was the 33rd running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on October 4, 1992 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst...
and 10th again in his last race on the mountain in 1996
1996 AMP Bathurst 1000
The 1996 AMP Bathurst 1000 was the 37th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on October 6, 1996 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst...
. Niedzwiedz is generally regarded as one of the better European drivers to have raced at Bathurst.
In 1998, he won the privateer title in the ADAC German Supertouring
Supertouring
Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a motor racing Touring Cars category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Formula" created for the British Touring Car Championship in 1990...
car championship (Super Tourenwagen Cup
Super Tourenwagen Cup
The Super Tourenwagen Cup, or German Supertouring Championship, was a touring car racing series held between 1994 and 1999 in Germany.The championship was established when BMW and Audi both left the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft in 1992, after the series had adopted the more expensive Class 1...
) with a Opel Vectra
Opel Vectra
The Opel Vectra is a large family car that was engineered and produced by Opel. In the United Kingdom, the car was sold under the Vauxhall marque as the Vauxhall Cavalier and later as the Vauxhall Vectra, from 1995 onwards...
.
In 2003, he won a VLN
VLN
The VLN, properly the Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring is an organisation of motorsport clubs of which each hosts one event of a ten-race series held on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the "VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring"...
race with Porsche 911 GT3
Porsche 911 GT3
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a higher performance version of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is the latest in a line of high performance models, beginning with the 1973 911 RS...
at the Nürburgring
Nürburgring
The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...
Others events:
- Sauber Mercedes C9Sauber Mercedes C9The Sauber C9 was a Group C prototype race car introduced in 1987 as a continuation of the partnership between Sauber as a constructor and Mercedes-Benz as an engine builder for the World Sportscar Championship...
- 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans1988 24 Hours of Le MansThe 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 56th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 11 and 12 1988. It was also the fifth round of the World Sports-Prototype Championship season.-Race:...
- 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans1982 24 Hours of Le MansThe 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 50th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 19 and 20 1982. It was also the fourth round of the World Endurance Championship.-Race:For 1982, the new FIA Group C rules were in effect...
- 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans1981 24 Hours of Le MansThe 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 49th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 13 and 14 1981. It was also the eighth round of the World Championship for Makes.-Pre-race:...
Journalist
Since 1984, he also works as a journalist and TV host in Germany, starting with moderation of Sat.1Sat.1
Sat.1 is a privately owned German television broadcasting station. Sat.1 was the first privately owned television broadcasting station in Germany, having started one day before RTL Television....
magazine Treibstoff. Since 1997, he moderates n-tv
N-tv
n-tv is a German television news channel owned by the Bertelsmann AG Media's RTL Group and an affiliate network of CNN since the networks creation in 1992....
Motor.
Tamiya Model
A 1/24 scale modelScale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...
of the 1979 Ford Capri
Ford Capri
Ford Capri was a name used by the Ford Motor Company for three different automobile models. The Ford Consul Capri coupé was produced by Ford of Britain between 1961 and 1964. The Ford Capri coupé was produced by Ford of Europe from 1969 to 1986...
Zakspeed
Zakspeed
Zakspeed is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and nowadays run by his son Peter Zakowski. Their home town of Niederzissen is located not far away from the Nürburgring race track.-1973 to 1981: Saloon and sports car racing:...
(model 24014) is represented as the D&W Klaus Niedzwiedz car, and actually comes complete with Niedzwiedz in team uniform.
External links
- bio at n-tv (for his appearance in Treibstoff)
- Zakspeed Website
- Profile of the highly successful Zakspeed-built Group 5 racing Capri