Rudi Fischer Explained

Rudi Fischer
Nationality: Swiss
Birth Date:19 April 1912
Birth Place:Stuttgart, Württemberg, Germany
Death Place:Lucerne, Switzerland
Years:
Team(S):non-works Ferrari
Races:8 (7 starts)
Championships:0
Wins:0
Podiums:2
Points:10
Poles:0
Fastest Laps:0
First Race:1951 Swiss Grand Prix
Last Race:1952 Italian Grand Prix

Rudolf "Rudi" Fischer (19 April 1912 – 30 December 1976) was a racing driver from Switzerland.

Fischer participated in eight World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 27 May 1951. He achieved two podium finishes, and scored a total of 10 championship points. He also participated in numerous non-Championship Formula One and Formula Two races.

Career

Fischer finished third in a race which marked the reopening of the AVUS, a German motor racing circuit. It had been closed for a 14-year period and was damaged during World War II. A crowd of 350,000 watched Paul Greifzu of Suhl, Thuringia, win in a car he built himself. Fischer drove a Ferrari to third place over a distance of 207.5 kilometres. His time was 1 hour, 10 minutes, 27.5 seconds.[1] In the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix, in Bern, Fischer finished second to Piero Taruffi; both drivers were in Ferraris.[2]

Écurie Espadon/Scuderia Espadon

Fischer was the leader of the "Écurie Espadon",[3] the entrant name for most of his racing career.

Écurie Espadon was composed of a group of Swiss amateur gentleman racers. The word "Écurie" was used at the beginning as most of the team's cars were French, generally Gordinis. Later the team's equipment changed to Ferraris and other Italian vehicles, thus the name of the team changed to use the equivalent Italian word "Scuderia".

The team was involved in several races all over Europe, as the presentation document described.[4]

The team was composed of:

Racing record

Post WWII Grandes Épreuves results

(key)

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

YearEntrantChassisEngine12345678Pts
Écurie EspadonSVA 1500Fiat 1.5 L4sGBRMON500SUI
DNA
BELFRAITANC0
Écurie EspadonFerrari 212Ferrari 212 2.5 V12SUI
500BELFRAGBRGER
ITA
ESPNC0
1952Écurie EspadonFerrari 500Ferrari 500 2.0 L4SUI
500BELFRA
GBR
GER
NEDITA
4th10
Ferrari 212Ferrari 166 2.0 V12FRA
Entered and practiced in his Ferrari 500, but engine failure meant that he reverted to the previous season's 212 model for the race.[5] Drive shared with Peter Hirt.

References

  1. 350,000 See Reopening of Motor RaceWay In Berlin After an Interval of 14 Years, The New York Times, July 2, 1951, Page 31.
  2. Swiss Auto Race to Taruffi, Los Angeles Times, May 19, 1952, Page 24.
  3. Web site: Presentation document Ecurie Espadon . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080410120800/http://www.axos.nl/retrorace/temp/Scuderia-Espadon.doc . 10 April 2008 . 4 March 2016.
  4. Web site: Scuderia Espadon and its background . forums.autosport.com . 4 March 2016.
  5. Web site: Diepraam . M . German F2 specials taking on Ferrari . June 2001 . 8W . 30 April 2008 .