216 replies to this topic

[ReWind]

Of course, no & no.

[Rob Ryder]

Was "Harald Ertl" a made up name? I was wondering if there was a connection to the toy makers of the same name?

On the Vienna Technical Museum website (http://www.technisch...veranstaltungen) there are some photos of Harald in his FVee & FFord days.
The name on the car is 'E.ERTL'
Rob

Edited by Rob Ryder, 11 September 2012 - 18:09.

[Vitesse2]

Probably asking the impossible here, but would anyone happen to know the real name of a lady driver who competed in Irish trials and hillclimbs in the late 1930s as "AN Other", driving a Morgan 4/4? I supect she was from the six counties.

[richie]

There was a F5000 competitor around 1969-70-ish in the UK who raced under the name ''Ippocastano''. I believe his real name was reported as Peter Hawton or Hawtin (or something). Anyone know the story behind that one?

Posted elsewhere:At last we have an explanation for Peter Hawtin using Ippo Castano from fellow Cooper driver Fred Place, who said recently "I seem to remember Peter saying (he was a good friend and lived quite close to Bampton at that time,and was always calling in) he had picked the name Ippo Castano ( he entered it as two names originally) from a book he had read,it had stuck in his memory and he used it to enter race meetings in case his father ever spotted his real name in a motoring magazine or newspaper,and tried to stop him from motor racing,which he very strongly disapproved of".

[Allan Lupton]

Was "Harald Ertl" a made up name? I was wondering if there was a connection to the toy makers of the same name?

I can't see why that should be. Is/was there a toymaker Harald Ertl?
The only Ertl toymaker that I've found was a US Ertl Company is founded by Fred Ertl in 1945 and Harald Ertl was born in Austria in 1948.
Ertl, like many surnames, derives from a placename I expect and there is a small town of that name in Lower Austria.

[Rob Ryder]

Can no-one shed any light on why it was 'E.Ertl' on the side of his early cars?
Rob

[D-Type]

Can no-one shed any light on why it was 'E.Ertl' on the side of his early cars?
Rob

Could it be that his father is "E. Ertl"? Or maybe his grandfather? And it's a simple case of family funding.

[wolf sun]

I can't see why that should be. Is/was there a toymaker Harald Ertl?
The only Ertl toymaker that I've found was a US Ertl Company is founded by Fred Ertl in 1945 and Harald Ertl was born in Austria in 1948.
Ertl, like many surnames, derives from a placename I expect and there is a small town of that name in Lower Austria.

Ertl is a common surname in Bavaria and Austria, and in fact derives itself from the medieval (first) names Ortolf, Ortwin, Ortlieb. 'Ort' is german for 'place' or 'town' and meant 'tip of the spear/sword' in the middle ages. Sorry for straying off-topic.

[Allan Lupton]

I can't see why that should be. Is/was there a toymaker Harald Ertl?
The only Ertl toymaker that I've found was a US Ertl Company is founded by Fred Ertl in 1945 and Harald Ertl was born in Austria in 1948.
Ertl, like many surnames, derives from a placename I expect and there is a small town of that name in Lower Austria.

Ertl is a common surname in Bavaria and Austria, and in fact derives itself from the medieval (first) names Ortolf, Ortwin, Ortlieb. 'Ort' is german for 'place' or 'town' and meant 'tip of the spear/sword' in the middle ages. Sorry for straying off-topic.

Thanks for that - I couldn't see any logic in the original suggestion as the name seems normal to me, which was why I posted what I did.

[BRG]

Can no-one shed any light on why it was 'E.Ertl' on the side of his early cars?
Rob

The real mystery was how he managed to get that amazing moustache into a Nomex balaclava...

[GMACKIE]

Alastair Clubb drove a fast Austin A-30 in the early '60s. I think his real name was Barry Thew?

[Stephen W]

Was "Harald Ertl" a made up name? I was wondering if there was a connection to the toy makers of the same name?

On the Vienna Technical Museum website (http://www.technisch...veranstaltungen) there are some photos of Harald in his FVee & FFord days.
The name on the car is 'E.ERTL'
Rob

Ertl is a common surname in Bavaria and Austria, and in fact derives itself from the medieval (first) names Ortolf, Ortwin, Ortlieb. 'Ort' is german for 'place' or 'town' and meant 'tip of the spear/sword' in the middle ages. Sorry for straying off-topic.

The reason for my original query is that at Thruxton one year I approached Harald for a chat and then asked for his autograph. He started to sign and then suddenly stopped and started again on the opposite page. When he handed the book back his 'original' attempt certainly didn't start off with "Har"!

[ReWind]

AFAIK his son Sebastian Ertl - meanwhile 34 years old - still lives in Mannheim.
Maybe you should try to ask him.

These could be his address & phone number.
It seems he just starts to work at the Stadtwerke Heidelberg GmbH. Maybe you can reach him there.

Or is it him?

[Doc Janos]

In the late 70s/early 80s there was an all Porsche class in UK club racing. One of the top runners had an impressive (genuine) double barreled name.
At one meeting, as I vaguely recall, as a mark of 'respect' all the other drivers entered & had their names in the program as double barrelled pseudonyms.
The most memorable one I can recall went under the name something like - 'Charles Fartington-Piper'....

There should always be humour in motor racing - otherwise you'll end up in Formula 1....

Mr. John of B = Jean-Francois Guittard. The John comes from his name and "B" is the first letter of his home village, the name of which I don't recall.

[Graham Clayton]

"Depnic" was a shortened and rearranged form of Jean-Claude Depince's surname.

[wildman]

Here's one I've wondered about: the sports car racer (who I think did both world championship and IMSA events) "Fomfor", who is listed under that psuedonym over at Racingsportscars.com.

What was his real name?

DriverDB.com has him listed as Francisco Miguel Reinhearth.

[GMACKIE]

The late Paul Samuels once told me he had trouble getting an entry accepted, when he first started Historic Racing in England.

 

He had an idea....he added his [real] middle name to the entry form. He became Paul Montagu Samuels, and never had any more trouble.