30 replies to this topic

[jpm2]

Hello all members and Season Greetings from Lisbon.

This is my first message and it deals with the practically unknown (at least for me) Swiss driver Hans Stuber. As far as I know he was a Grand Prix regular in the beginning of the 1930s and he performed well with his Bugatti in 1932-33. Then he disappeared (as far as I know) only to reappear briefly with Scuderia Maremanna in Bremgarten in 1936 (as can be seen in the photo that I took from Daniele Cantini's book, Jacques de Rham, il signorino e la sua Scuderia Maremmana ).



For me Stuber, like others in the thirties is not much more than a name. Does anyone know more about him and what he became? When was he born and if he's still alive. Is there a photo somewhere that shows his face face?

Thanks

[Vitesse2]

He did race at least once more after his outing in a Monza in the 1936 Prix de Bremgarten: in the 1937 edition of the same event he ran a BMW 328 in the sports car class, but retired.

[uechtel]

Stuber or Studer?

Some months ago I worked myself through the issues of the Swiss magazine "Automobil Revue" from 1946 to 1953. Alas I did not take a shot of that , but from the issue of 13.6.1946 I noted that Auslandsschweizer (means Swiss living abroad) Giovanni Studer had won the Peru GP of 1940 in a Ford chassis with Linocln engine. The race over 750 km in two days from Chiclays to Lima, Studer´s average speed was 140 km/h.

After the war Studer seems to have returned to Switzerland and took part quite regularly and also quite successfully in the local events, mainly hillclimbs, with a 2.9 litre suprecharged Alfa Romeo sportscar.

Here is an interview where the Swiss top drivers are asked for their plans into 1947 and for their opinions about the newly intorduced Swiss championship. Among them also Studer:





Here they give his first name as Jean, the French version of Giovanni (Italian) or Hans (German), but I don´t knwo which of them was the "official" one.

At Maloja in 1947 he won the amateur class at the sports cars above 1.5 litres from which I found this picture of him in the car (alas only poor quality)




At Develier - Les Rangiers he was again fastest in the sports car class, but he even topped this shortly afterwards when at the Dornach - Gempen hillclimb he was able to set fastest time of the day even against all the race cars for a surprising overall victory:




But his success was not only limited to the hillclimbs, also at Lausanne he achieved a respectable victory in the big sports car category. Of course they had also a picture of this:




In 1948 he was able to continue his success with another win in the sports car class at the Vue des Alpes with his car slightly revised and rebodied




Same 1949 at Erlen...




and Rheineck- Walzenhausen...




After that Glauser and Daetwyler began to dominate the races with their newer and more powerful Alfa Romeos, so for Studer there were only second and third places to earn. At Erlen in 1951 he finally had an accident in which the car was completely destroyed.

But still willing to carry on Studer built up a new "Eigenbau" from that wreck, which the "AR" presented to the public in a "state nearing its completion" ten days before the race at Berne:




It seems, that in spite of that the car was not ready at Berne, but later that season he had indeed a comeback to finsih second at Mitholz - Kandersteg.

This was also the final appearance which I found of him in the covered period of the Automobil Revue, but I can not tell you what happened to him and whether he was still active after 1953.

[Michael Müller]

Markus, Studer in fact had three Alfas in that period, all of course with the same registration BE-2340 as usual in Switerland.
1947 - 8C2900A - #412006
1948 - 8C2900B - #412013
1949 - 8C2900B - #412032

And es early as 1936 a 8C2300 Monza (#2111045) with BE-2027.

[Vitesse2]

So, Michael, are you saying it was Studer, not Stuber, who ran a Monza in the 1936 Prix de Bremgarten? Any thoughts from either of you on the BMW in 1937, assuming we're taking about two different drivers of course ....

[jpm2]

Thank you Vitesse 2, uechtel and Michael Müller

A lot has come out of oblivion, including an unsuspected name change. Incredible!!!
Could it be the same person? Can anyone add a face to the name, or, even, some photos of Studer (or Stuber) with hi Bugatti in 1932-33, i. e., in his previous pre-War life?

Regards

[uechtel]

Originally posted by jpm2
Thank you Vitesse 2, uechtel and Michael Müller

A lot has come out of oblivion, including an unsuspected name change. Incredible!!!
Could it be the same person? Can anyone add a face to the name, or, even, some photos of Studer (or Stuber) with hi Bugatti in 1932-33, i. e., in his previous pre-War life?

Regards

Unfortunately not even Leif has something about him on his website.

I think for this all we have to do is to find somebody, who works himself through the pre-war Automobil Revue issues, if not anybody has that already done.

To me it sounds very likely, that it is always the same person. The "post-war" Studer was obviously not a newcomer, neither in age nor in experience. So his career maust have begun pre-war, and also the similarity of the two names, differing by only one letter (and it is very easy to mismatch a handwritten "d" with a "b") would be indeed a case of almost to great coincidence.

So, Michael, are you saying it was Studer, not Stuber, who ran a Monza in the 1936 Prix de Bremgarten? Any thoughts from either of you on the BMW in 1937, assuming we're taking about two different drivers of course ....

Richard, I have to admit, the presence of him in a BMW at Berne in 1937 is news to me. So far I knew only of Riesen and Gübelin in that race.

[David McKinney]

All pre-war records I have seen are to Hans Stuber (or sometimes Hauptmann Stuber)
All postwar references are to Jean Studer
I have always assuemd they were two different people

[Hans Etzrodt]

Hans Stuber, born 1896, started racing 1924 in a Buick at the Zugerberg hill climb. Over the following 14 years he developed into one of the best known and most successful Swiss drivers until he retired in 1937. As David pointed out already, Stuber was Hauptman (captain) in the Swiss Army. During the racing season he drove almost every weekend not only in his country but also in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia and other countries but I never made an intense study of his racing record. During his time he was known as the international most popular Swiss driver who was liked everywhere. He died of a heart attack 1956 at the funeral of a friend.

Maybe someone can search the 1956 AUTOMOBIL-REVUE to find an OBITUARY about Hauptmann Hans Stuber.

[uechtel]

So indeed Hans Stuber and Hans Studer seem to be different people! And I never noticed that!

This opens the question about where does Studer come from? Hans, do you have found anything on the beginning of his career or the part of his life before 1945?

[David McKinney]

Who's Hans Studer?

[ReWind]

There was a Swiss composer of sacred music called Hans Studer (born 30 April 1911, died in 1984) who hailed from Berne (Bern) – just like the racing driver according to the Automobil-Revue article from 1947 (posted by uechtel). It may seem strange but why shouldn’t an artist be a racing driver?

Maybe there is a connection to Patrick Studer, Formula 3 driver of the late 1970s, too.

Where are the TNF'ers from the Berne region?

[jpm2]

It seems I have started a very interesting who's who? It's becoming more and more enlightning.

And thank you Hans, for your informations on the fellow. It's ironic that someone used to the tension and emotions of a race, finally died of heart atack at the funeral of a friend. It's not an uncommon cause of death as you know (Hulme, Hunt, among others).

It's a pitty we have no photos to go with what's been already digged on Hans Stuber. But you are right uechtel, it must be pretty hard to get one. Even Leif doesn't have any.

Regards

[ReWind]

Originally posted by jpm2
It's a pitty we have no photos to go with what's been already digged on Hans Stuber.

Who said that?

[Hans Etzrodt]

Jean Studer was from Bern and came second at the 1948 Preis von Bremgarten (for sports cars) in an Alfa Romeo 8C 2900. On October 4, 1947 he won the Lausanne sports car race with the same car but had starting number 62.


Hans Stuber won the Preis von Bremgarten (for sports cars) on August 22, 1936 in an Alfa Romeo 8C 2600 Monza.

[Marc Ceulemans]

According Paul Delrivière in "une année de sport mécanique" (1956), the day of death of Hans Stuber, former Swiss Champion, was 3 March 1956.

[jpm2]

Originally posted by ReWind
Who said that?

Fantastic ReWind, and thanks for the photo

The one I posted earlier was much too dark to see anything.

Regards

[alessandro silva]

Stuber and Studer were different persons.

Below a description of Stuber's racing activities:

[Michael Müller]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
So, Michael, are you saying it was Studer, not Stuber, who ran a Monza in the 1936 Prix de Bremgarten? Any thoughts from either of you on the BMW in 1937, assuming we're taking about two different drivers of course ....

Sorry, need new glasses...! The Monza in fact was Stuber, not Studer. Amazing that both had been from Berne, and both had been the same surname, Hans (German) resp. Jean (French).

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by uechtel
Richard, I have to admit, the presence of him in a BMW at Berne in 1937 is news to me. So far I knew only of Riesen and Gübelin in that race.

My info came from Alessandro. I assume he gleaned it from the text in the Cimarosti book, which lists only finishers in the results section.

Do you by any chance have a full finishing order for the 1937 Prix de Bremgarten? From the result in Cimarosti I can only be definite about 1st (Ruesch), 2nd (Futterknecht) and 19th (Vigier)!

[dmj]

If first mention of Studer was a win in Peru 1940 I presume there have to me more South American races he did attend before WWII. I know that here at TNF we did accumulate a lot of knowledge about racing in Brasil and Argentina already. But what do we know about races held in other part of Green continent?

[uechtel]

Richard, sorry, no informations about the sportscar results at Berne.

[Vitesse2]

Ooops! Just checked back to Alessandro's notes to me and Stuber was in a Monza in 1937 as well, not a 328: somehow I'd reversed the cars for him and Gubelin .... too many Hanses

IF you don't have the finishing order, do you happen to know who the other four DNFs apart from Stuber and Gubelin were?

[Hans Etzrodt]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
…Do you by any chance have a full finishing order for the 1937 Prix de Bremgarten? From the result in Cimarosti I can only be definite about 1st (Ruesch), 2nd (Futterknecht) and 19th (Vigier)!

Preis von Bremgarten on August 21, 1937
Racing cars, sports cars and touring cars, a total of 25 cars started.
14 laps x 7.280 km = 101.920 km
Racing cars over 1500 cc
1. Hans Rüesch (Alfa Romeo 8C35 – – – – – – – – 42m38.2s = 143.402 km/h
2. Curt Willy Futterknecht (A.R. Type B) – – – – – – 45m34.4s
3. Max Christen (Maserati 26B) – – – – – – – – – – 13 laps
4. Henri Simonot (A. R. 8C-2600 Monza) – – – – – – 12 laps
Racing cars under 1500 cc
1. Emanuel de Graffenried (Maserati 4CM 1500) – – 13 laps, in 43m11.3s
2. Théophile Bircher (Bugatti T 51A) – – – – – – – – 11 laps
Sports cars over 1500 cc
1. Bragadir Dimitri (Talbot T150) – – – – – – – – – – 12 laps, in 43m39.5s
DNF. Hans Stuber (Alfa Romeo 8C Monza) retired with engine trouble.
There were 6 finishers in the touring cars, 7 in the sports cars

[Vitesse2]

Thank you Hans, but I have the names of all nineteen finishers: what I can't be certain of is the exact order in which they finished, since I've only seen class results - as presumably so have you. I think it's a pretty safe bet that de Graffenried was ahead of Christen, but since there were several finishers credited with 13, 12, 11 and 10 laps it's impossible to determine an exact order within that. The only other certainty is Vigier in last place, since he only completed 9 laps.

I didn't have Stuber's retirement reason though

[humphries]

The finishing order I have for the "national" Preis von Bremgarten is as follows:-

5 Simonet
6 Bragadir
7 Riesen
8 Carazetti
9 Horning
10 Aichele
11 Portmann
12 Bircher
13 Becker
14 Hesse
15 Muller
16 "Hausi"
17 de Terra
18 Sandoz
19 de Vigier

Supplied by a German correspondent years ago.

[Vitesse2]

Wow!! Thank you John!!

[David McKinney]

I second that
(Having hitherto been in an identical position to Richard)

[Marc Ceulemans]

I've just read a little interview of Jean Studer after his race at Lausanne in 1947. I've not copied it but just noted that:

At that time (October 1947), Jean Studer was 49 years old.

He was Swiss Champion in 1934, Touring cars.

He was a real amateur, he owned the sportscar he drove in competition. He had no links with the Alfa Romeo factory. Before a race or a hillclimb he asked to the Berne Alfa Romeo dealer that he tuned the car, and he went to those races by the road with the car.

His car was a 2.9-litre MM Alfa Romeo.

*******************************************

I have checked in my notes and yes Jean Studer was Swiss Champion in 1934:

Touring cars

Serie A, Voiturettes 1500 cc
1- "Julon", from Fribourg, Ford, 295.66 points

Serie B, cars from 1501 to 3000 cc
1- Jean Studer, from Berne, Ansaldo, 291.44 points

Serie C, big cars (+ 3 L)
1- Oscar Zwimpfer, from Zürich, Chrysler, 300 points

Sportscars

Serie A, Voiturettes, 1500 cc
1- Ernst Schneider, from Zürich, Derby, 291.48 points

Serie B, cars 1501 - 3000 cc
No champion (minimum points not reached)

[Vitesse2]

Stuber was also superstitious. In "Das Autobuch" there is a picture of the grille of his Bugatti: 'imprisoned' between the stoneguard and the radiator is his mascot - a small teddybear, who looks understandably nervous! The road reg of the Bugatti is 12 27 S, flanked by a Swiss cross on a shield and what I assume is the cantonal arms on another shield. Just in case it helps anyone ....;)

[mprochotsky]

Hi,

I know this is an older post, but I just found it! It so happens that Hans Stuber is my great-grandfather! I thought I'd post some more details that we know about his life, in case they're of any interest to anyone here.

As far as we know, Hans was born in Bern in 1895 and was eventually trained as a mechanic. He then opened his own garage in Bern, and later got into racing. He was also married twice, first to Ida Niederhauser (son Hans Stuber, born 1927), then divorced, and later married to Marianne Schoenemann, with no children. Hans (Sr.) was also interested in sailing and won cups in some regattas in Switzerland.

As well, in September, 2006, the 4th International Klausen Race Memorial was held at the Klausenpass in Switzerland, and "...Carlo Vögele [drove] the historic Alfa Romeo 8C 2600 Monza, vintage year 1932. The Bernese pilot Hans Stuber drove the race car in the Klausen Race 1934 and ranked third with a time of 17:28,6." (from: http://www.klausenre...itteilung_E.pdf)

This is all I know right now, but if I can dig up any more info, I'll post it for anyone who's interested.

It's amazing to see that people are still talking about Hans Stuber!

Michelle Prochotsky