24 replies to this topic

[VDP]

I know that this guy entered a F1 or Flibre race in Italia
with a jaguar XK 120 in Italy, I think Bari GP or Pescara
a cooper in Argentina and some races in SA with a
Sport Gordini and that's it
Nationality ? Carreer ? and why starting a race with
a stripped down jaguar ? In the same race there was a
second jaguar .

Robert

[quintin cloud]

You would not have the name to this person

[Vitesse2]

Surely we're looking at Adolfo Schwelm here - I have also seen him described as Schwelm Cruz. He ran a Jaguar XK120 in the 1950 Circuit of Pescara, a Simca 15 in the 1950 Naples GP and a Maserati A6 in the 1951 Rome GP and Naples GP.

I think he was Argentinian.

[anjakub]

Look

http://www.forix.com...z=0&k=0&l=0&c=0

[anjakub]

Ooops

and write "Schwelm", and click OK

[Vitesse2]

Damn! Forgot he'd done that race - Sheldon has him listed as Cruz for that one!!!

[David McKinney]

His surname was Schwelm Cruz. He was one of the first Argentinians to race in Europe after the war, IIRC in 1948, but is largely forgotten because he preferred Italian sportscar races to open-wheeler events. At home he was for many years a leading contender in sportscar races with a 2.3 Alfa Romeo, even after the first Ferraris started arriving.

[David McKinney]

Expanding on my previous post (now that I have my records to hand):
It was in 1949, not 1948, that the name of Adolfo Schwelm Cruz first appears in the results of an Italian race, when he was second in the Giro dell'Umbria at the wheel of a 2.6-litre Alfa Romeo. Whether this was the pre-war 8C he would race in Argentina, or a more modern 6C-2500, I do not know. It was however a 6C-2500 he raced in the 1950 Targa Florio (eighth overall) and Mille Miglia (first in class, 10th overall). He also raced an XK120 in the 1hr production race at Silverstone that year, but was unplaced. For his third (and apparently last) European visit, in 1951, he raced a Maserati A6GCS in the Italian F2 races, and won a minor Italian hillclimb.
He was best known in Argentina for his successes in his 8C Alfa, apparently a Monza model. He raced this from 1949 to at least 1953, winning races at Mar del Plata and Mendoza in 1951, and at Buenos Aires in 1952. He also won a sportscar race at Córdoba with a BMW in 1950, and raced his XK120 at Rafaela the same year.
His last races seem to have been in the Buenos Aires 1000km in 1954 (Ecurie Ecosse C-Type Jaguar) and 1955 (works Gordini), in which he retired both times.

[Marcor]

The other Jaguar at the 1950 Pescara race was driven by Clemente Biondetti.

He ran a Jaguar XK120 in the 1950 Circuit of Pescara (DNF), a Simca 15 in the 1950 Naples GP (DNF) and a Maserati A6 in the 1951 Rome GP (6th) and Naples GP (DNF).

Adolfo J. Schwelm-Cruz took part in one WC GP: the 1953 Argentine GP where he rent a Mark 1 (T20) Cooper Bristol (chassis n°: CB-5-52). He retired before the first 1/4 of the race, having broken a stub axle and lost a wheel. With the same car he also took part in the Buenos-Aires City libre GP (and another retirement followed).

[quintin cloud]

Oooopps, sorry guys my internet connection went down, so PLEASE Des-guard my first comment , As I was GOING orginally say that Schwelm Cruz was from Argentina.

[Stefan Ornerdal]

Mr Schwelm did the long trip to Helskinki in Finland in may 1950!

Results of Djurgårdsloppet, "Nordic Special Cars Class", 20 laps:
1. Gunnar Karlsson, S, Ford, 23:45.7
2. Seppo Keinänen, SF, Jaguar, 24:05.3
3. Erik Lundgren, S, Ford, 24:18.6
4. John Kvarnström, S, Hudson, 24:30.2
5. Michael Head, GB, Jaguar, 24:43.9
6. Adolfo Schwelm, RA, Jaguar, 25:27.8
7. Gunnar Olsson, S, Go-On - Ford, 25:52.7
8. Leo Mattila, SF, BMW, -
9. Norppo, SF, Ford, -
10. A. Wallenius, SF, Ford, -

Stefan

[Barry Lake]

Michael Head (GB, Jaguar) was, of course, the father of current BMW Williams F1's Patric Head.

[Stefan Ornerdal]

Michael Head (GB, Jaguar) was, of course, the father of current BMW Williams F1's Patric Head.

Oh, really? Michael Head was a big shot at the British Embassy in Stockholm (or was it in Helsinki, Finland?), "attaché militaire". Also a friend of Prince Bertil of Sweden. Head was a honorary member of the Swedish Motor Federation and the head (!) behind the international races at Hedemora and Kristianstad in the 50's.

I wonder if little Patrick was raised in Scandinavia?


Stefan

[fines]

Originally posted by Simon Davis
I have a programme for the event...

Really??? Do you think you could scan it and mail it to me???

[David McKinney]

And me.
The entry-list, at least

[Hugo Boecker]

Schwelm is unusual name I think. Well he was Argentinian but were does he come from. Has his Family german origins?
Is there a connection to

SCHWELM small town in Germany
http://www.schwelm.de/schwelm.html (sorry only in German)

coats of arms

[Mattthecat]

From what I was able to gather his grandfather was indeed German-born and later founded the colony of El Dorado in Argentina. Oh, and Adolfo's nickname was Teddy :-)

And of course citing Mr. Jenkins: "Still alive & well, living in Buenos Aires. His real name is simply Adolfo Schwelm, but the Cruz was added after journalists complained they couldn't pronounce his surname!"

[Hugo Boecker]

Originally posted by Mattthecat
From what I was able to gather his grandfather was indeed German-born and later founded the colony of El Dorado in Argentina. Oh, and Adolfo's nickname was Teddy :-)

And of course citing Mr. Jenkins: "Still alive & well, living in Buenos Aires. His real name is simply Adolfo Schwelm, but the Cruz was added after journalists complained they couldn't pronounce his surname!"

Do you know about what time his grandfather come to argentina and even better his birthday or name ?

[Mattthecat]

Here are some sources that talk about Adolfo Julio Schwelm (there's even a Schwelm Park in El Dorado).
Unfortunately my Spanish is non-existing and net-translation are....well.....
Fact is that Schwelm founded El Dorado on September 29, 1919.

http://www.estancial...ing/history.htm
http://www.misioneso...d=20831&-search
http://www.argentina...isiones&citta=8
http://www.catamarca...nto/nota_07.htm
http://www.promocion...ID_UBPARTIDO=32
http://www.webtouris...-argentina.html (this one's in English)
www.eldorado.gov.ar (not reachable right now)

[Hugo Boecker]

Thanks Mattthecat!
Great now I#ve something to read

[uechtel]

From the report of the 1950 Mille Miglia in "Motorrundschau" magazine:



Caption: "Argentine Schwelm won the race in a curious way. He had himself been driven around the circuit in a saloon car and made notes about each corner. Later he handed these records to his co-driver and drove the race accdording to his advice. On his Alfa Romeo he became winner of the class production cars above 1.5 litres."

So is Schwelm the inventor of the "Gebetbuch"?

I see another Neubauer legend starting tumbling...

[Gabrci]

A minor update on Mr. Schwelm - he is still with us and living in Buenos Aires, but unfortunately his eyesight is very, very poor now.

[Richard Jenkins]

Adolfo Schwelm Cruz died on the 10th February this year, I'm sorry to say. RIP.

http://www.retrovisi...y-schwelm-cruz/

http://www.oldracing...fo_Schwelm_Cruz

[Graham Gauld]

Expanding on my previous post (now that I have my records to hand):
It was in 1949, not 1948, that the name of Adolfo Schwelm Cruz first appears in the results of an Italian race, when he was second in the Giro dell'Umbria at the wheel of a 2.6-litre Alfa Romeo. Whether this was the pre-war 8C he would race in Argentina, or a more modern 6C-2500, I do not know. It was however a 6C-2500 he raced in the 1950 Targa Florio (eighth overall) and Mille Miglia (first in class, 10th overall). He also raced an XK120 in the 1hr production race at Silverstone that year, but was unplaced. For his third (and apparently last) European visit, in 1951, he raced a Maserati A6GCS in the Italian F2 races, and won a minor Italian hillclimb.
He was best known in Argentina for his successes in his 8C Alfa, apparently a Monza model. He raced this from 1949 to at least 1953, winning races at Mar del Plata and Mendoza in 1951, and at Buenos Aires in 1952. He also won a sportscar race at Córdoba with a BMW in 1950, and raced his XK120 at Rafaela the same year.
His last races seem to have been in the Buenos Aires 1000km in 1954 (Ecurie Ecosse C-Type Jaguar) and 1955 (works Gordini), in which he retired both times.

David,
To add to your record and his drive with Ecurie Ecosse. The Argentine club agreed on an expenses paid trip by Ecurie Ecosse to Argentina in 1954 for the 1000 kms race.The cars were delivered to Buenos Aires by boat but when they arrived they were put in a shed and nobody could find them, eventually, however, they were found and taken to the circuit. They took three cars, their two new ex-factory C types, 052 and 053 for Jamie Scott Douglas/Ninian Sanderson and Jimmy Stewart/Ian Stewart. The third car was one of the earlier drum-braked Ecosse c types which was given to Adolfo Schwelm Cruz and Juan Schroeder . Under the terms of the contract David had to offer one car to two Argentinean drivers and so the old "mule" was taken along for them ! Of the three Scott-Douglas and Sanderson finished fourth behine two Ferraris and an Aston Martin but it was a lucky result as Sanderson in a battle with Louis Rosier's Ferrari "sports car" - a Formula 1 car with a new body - had outbraked himself and taken a short cut over the top of the grassy roundabout at the end of the straight. If you look at contemporary photos of the race you can see Sanderson's tyre marks. Ian Stewart was forced into a wall when trying to overtake Jarosalav Juhan and another Porsche who were too busy to notice the arrival of the C type.

[Tim Murray]

Ian Stewart was forced into a wall when trying to overtake Jarosalav Juhan and another Porsche who were too busy to notice the arrival of the C type.

As told here in Ian's memorable description of the race:

Arturo, thank you for bringing back so many happy memories with your very comprehensive details of the Buenos Aires 1000km. I loved my visit to the city - an unforgettable atmosphere which made a vivid and lasting impression. The more so because we had a long history of selling pedigree Shorthorns in Argentina, and my father once judged at Palermo.

It was an extraordinary event in many ways, starting with the journey from New York. An aircraft was sent to ferry us all - free of charge (!) - and the flight was an adventure in itself, mainly due to the passengers on board. The ones who spring to mind immediately were Fon de Portago, Carrol Shelby, Masten Gregory and Boris Said - what a mixture we were! The aircraft ran into a violent electrical storm just before reaching Belem; we were playing Gin Rummy at the time, and I took a fortune off Masten by the simple subterfuge of flicking my cigarette lighter on and off behind the porthole curtain next to my seat. Masten was more than somewhat distracted by the 'lightning flashes' and completely lost track of the game over and over again.

Our landing at Rio to refuel should go down as one of the unwritten miracles of aviation history. Carrol and Boris were somewhat the worse for wear by that time - the Belem stopover didn't help - and they decided to attend to the landing themselves. There isn't really room for six people up front in any airliner. With two pilots trying to land the thing and Carrol and Boris trying to help them, plus Fon and yours truly attempting to haul Carrol and Boris back where they belonged, the touchdown was by God's grace and nothing else! Added to that the Rio runway ended rather abruptly with a sheer drop into the sea - we stopped with a car's length to spare.

We got there eventually, and before very long Le Patron David Murray disappeared from our hotel. This was one of the rare occasions when he took his wife Jenny with him, and suspecting the worst she sent Wilkie and I to find him - in a city we'd never even seen before. Wilkie was quite street-wise by nature, and with the help of the hotel staff he knew exactly where to search. Got him back in half an hour, but wouldn't like to have heard what Jenny had to say to him. Then there was a problem with offloading the cars and spares, and altogether the run-up to the race was a shambles.

Before that though there was the Grand Prix to enjoy, and again the atmosphere was electric. Eva Peron had just died and security was pretty tight, with an armed soldier at every pit, and very vigilant they were too. When Peron arrived the roar from the crowd matched the World Cup in intensity - I can hear it to this day - the repeated chant of Peron, Peron, Peron... I watched from the Ferrari pit as he walked down the line of drivers to shake them by the hand, and by and large I doubt if there have been many Grand Prix starts with such an aura anywhere in the world. It was a good race too, but that has been recounted often enough elsewhere.

Our own little affair took place a week later with all the usual suspects. Grand Prix drivers galore - they weren't shy of Sports Car racing in those days, so we had some quite formidable opposition, with Ferrari expected to dominate. I got off to a good start but was soon overtaken by Trintignant and Farina - we couldn't look at them on the long straight - and the only other car I remember was Boris Said's OSCA temporarily stranded on the roundabout at the end of the straight. Otherwise everything looked fine and the race seemed to settle down quite nicely.

This happy situation soon came to an abrupt end, alas, when I came up on two Porsches racing the boots off eachother on a fast right hander just after the pits. I had the car on full song nicely positioned for the corner when to my consternation one of the Porsches pulled out to overtake the other. Although I was 'on line' with nowhere to go I thought I would get away with a trip across the grass, and maybe slow the thing down enough to get back on the black bit, but it simply didn't work out. The C-Type slewed right, crossed the track, and ran slap into a high concrete wall at considerable velocity.

I was ejected like a cork out of a bottle and ended up crawling around the grass not quite knowing what had happened. I can remember being put in an ambulance, but nothing else until I woke up in hospital. I was lucky - the unfortunate Eric Greene died from his burns in the adjacent bed. He had inverted his Aston Martin and been trapped underneath it when it caught fire, and nothing could be done to save him. My stay in that hospital ended when the Minister of Agriculture arrived and had me transferred to the palatial American hospital - pretty nurses, but with some truly blunt hypodermic syringes!

David and the rest of Ecurie Ecosse simply went home - said they couldn't find me - but Boris Said stayed on for a week and shepherded me back to New York. What a good friend he was, and how proud he would have been if he had lived to see his son's recent successes in American racing.

Despite all this I left Argentina with a deep affection for the country, which I retain to this day.