Gerhard Mitter

45
Gerhard Mitter bigraphy, stories - German racing driver

Gerhard Mitter : biography

30 August 1935 – 1 August 1969

Gerhard Karl Mitter (30 August 1935 – 1 August 1969 ) was a German Formula One and sportscar driver.

Mitter was born in Schönlinde (Krásná Lípa) in Czechoslovakia, but his family was expelled from there, to Leonberg near Stuttgart.

After racing motorbikes, he switched to Formula Junior, becoming the best German driver with 40 victories. In addition, he sold Two-Stroke-Engines for FJ. In 1963, Gerhard Mitter won the Formula Junior Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring. Gerhard Mitter driving Lotus in 1965 at the Nürburgring Mitter also participated in seven Grands Prix, debuting on 23 June 1963. He scored a total of three championship points in his home 1963 German Grand Prix with an old Porsche 718 from 1961. Impressed by this, Team Lotus gave him a chance in the following years.

In sportscar racing and hillclimbing for Porsche, he scored many wins, e.g. the 1966-1968 European Hillclimb Championships against Ferrari, the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona (Porsche 907) and the 1969 Targa Florio (Porsche 908) as his final major win.

Due to the long Nürburgring track, it was possible to take part in the German Grand Prix with Formula 2 cars that were classified in their own contest. Mitter was killed there at Schwedenkreuz while practising for the 1969 German Grand Prix with BMW’s 269 F2 project. As a suspension or steering failure was suspected, the BMW team with Hubert Hahne and Dieter Quester withdrew from the race, as did Mitter’s teammate at Porsche, Hans Herrmann. Udo Schütz, his driving partner at Porsche in the 1969 World Sportscar Championship season which whom he had won the Targa three months earlier, had survived a bad crash at the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans, and retired.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 WDC Points
1963 Ecurie Maarsbergen Porsche 718 Porsche Flat-4 MON BEL NEDRet FRA GBR GER4 ITA USA MEX RSA 12th 3
1964 Team Lotus Lotus 25 Climax V8 MON NED BEL FRA GBR GER9 AUT ITA USA MEX NC 0
1965 Team Lotus Lotus 25 Climax V8 RSA MON BEL FRA GBR NED GERRet ITA USA MEX NC 0
1966 Ron Harris /Team Lotus Lotus 44 F2 CosworthStraight-4 MON BEL FRA GBR NED GERDNS ITA USA MEX NC 0
1967 Gerhard Mitter Brabham BT23 F2 CosworthStraight-4 RSA MON NED BEL FRA GBR GERRet CAN ITA USA MEX NC 0
1969 BMW BMW 269 F2 BMW Straight-4 RSA ESP MON NED FRA GBR GERDNS ITA CAN USA MEX NC 0