Jump to content


Photo

Walter Wolf


  • Please log in to reply
9 replies to this topic

#1 byrkus

byrkus
  • Member

  • 1,011 posts
  • Joined: October 01

Posted 30 December 2001 - 08:18

I'm looking for info of Walter Wolf. All I know of him (as a person), is that he was born in Maribor (or Marburg), Slovenia (like me :cool: ) around 1944, which at the time was in Yugoslavia, but under German occupation. His father was Austrian, his mother was Slovene. However, that's just about everything I know about him. Can somebody enlighten me with some new facts??

Advertisement

#2 fines

fines
  • Member

  • 9,647 posts
  • Joined: September 00

Posted 30 December 2001 - 11:27

He's the one person probably most continually rumoured to plan an F1 comeback :lol:

Seriously, he went to Canada to make a batch of millions in the oil business, then began sponsoring racing in the mid-seventies, bought the Hesketh and Williams F1 teams, lost interest and sold off to the Fittipaldi brothers. Then seen again as sponsor for a very small Swiss F3 team, then Japanese F2. After that, iirc, no more involvement in racing except the occasional comeback threats... :)

#3 pc13

pc13
  • Member

  • 101 posts
  • Joined: November 01

Posted 30 December 2001 - 18:27

Originally posted by fines
He's the one person probably most continually rumoured to plan an F1 comeback :lol:

Seriously, he went to Canada to make a batch of millions in the oil business, then began sponsoring racing in the mid-seventies, bought the Hesketh and Williams F1 teams, lost interest and sold off to the Fittipaldi brothers. Then seen again as sponsor for a very small Swiss F3 team, then Japanese F2. After that, iirc, no more involvement in racing except the occasional comeback threats... :)


Not quite, he bought the Williams team and Hesketh cars for the 1976 teams. The Hesketh team continued to race until the beginning of '78, but I don't think Lord Hesketh was running the team anymore.

Walter Wolf Racing ran one of the Ford Mondeo teams in the German Supertourisme Championship in 1994, I believe, fielding a car for Markus Oesterreich.

pc13

#4 fines

fines
  • Member

  • 9,647 posts
  • Joined: September 00

Posted 30 December 2001 - 18:42

Well, I think it's fair to say the Hesketh team was split between Wolf and Horsley, but "Bubbles" did not get much besides the old cars and the name. At this rate, you'd have to say that Ertl also bought "a stake". Effectively, the team was bought by Wolf.

#5 dmj

dmj
  • Member

  • 2,250 posts
  • Joined: August 01

Posted 31 December 2001 - 10:58

Byrkus, you should know that Wolf also sponsored a Slovenian driver, Matjaz Tomlje in late 80s and so on. And that is an interesting story. Tomlje supposedly approached Wolf (in his villa in Cannes, I believe) and managed to get sponsorship just because he was a Slovene! However, later they became friends and Tomlje developed WW's tobacco and cosmetics business in Slovenia and Croatia - but never become a good driver, even if he was the first in former Yugoslavia to race a BMW M3...
WW was also well known for his road cars, like special Countach and M1, both black, tuned and with discreet Wolf insignia...

#6 Frank de Jong

Frank de Jong
  • Member

  • 1,830 posts
  • Joined: February 01

Posted 31 December 2001 - 11:01

Originally posted by pc13


Walter Wolf Racing ran one of the Ford Mondeo teams in the German Supertourisme Championship in 1994, I believe, fielding a car for Markus Oesterreich.

pc13


I'm sorry but the German Wolf racing team has nothing to do with Walter Wolf. This Wolf racing is still active in the German DTC http://www.wolf-racing.de/main.html.

#7 byrkus

byrkus
  • Member

  • 1,011 posts
  • Joined: October 01

Posted 31 December 2001 - 16:09

dmj: I knew about Wolf -Tomlje connection, but MT has a sort of 'privilege driver' status here in Slovenia. Yes, you can say he is nothing special of a driver; but still, he was the first Slovenian to race at Le Mans (1994, I think), and he finished 3rd in class and 10th overall.

Lately, MT is an owner of Slovenia's only racetrack, Mobikrog at Cerklje, and organizer of many (for our terms) 'great' races. :rolleyes:

#8 pc13

pc13
  • Member

  • 101 posts
  • Joined: November 01

Posted 31 December 2001 - 20:30

Originally posted by Frank de Jong


I'm sorry but the German Wolf racing team has nothing to do with Walter Wolf. This Wolf racing is still active in the German DTC http://www.wolf-racing.de/main.html.


Ah! Thanks.

But with a team chief also called Walter Wolf, I can see how some people were fooled. The Portuguese Autosport and even Eurosport reported that it was "ex-F1 team boss Walter Wolf" running the team.

pc13

#9 fines

fines
  • Member

  • 9,647 posts
  • Joined: September 00

Posted 31 December 2001 - 21:23

I'm not an expert at TCs, but I think his name is Wolfgang Wolf.

#10 anjakub

anjakub
  • Member

  • 612 posts
  • Joined: October 01

Posted 01 January 2002 - 14:21

Walter Wolf has very good connection with Andrzej Jaroszewicz, son of the former polish prime minister. Jaroszewicz was the race and, above all, rally driver. He was two times third in European Rally Championship in 1975 and 1976.
On 17 June 1979 Wolf WR1, which was driven by Jody Scheckter, was been presented in Poland (Poznan track). Ten demonstration circles in Wolf were made by Andrzej Jaroszewicz. For the first time Formula 1 car was in Poland.
In Monte Carlo Rally 1979 we saw two polish cars, Polonez 2000, with logo Wolf team. Walter Wolf imported Polonez’s to Canada.