One of the longest-serving members of the Grand Prix Drivers Club, Helmut Zwickl died on February 9 at the age of 85.
Helmut was the doyen of Formula 1 motoring journalists and in the course of his career attended 560 grands prix.
To most members, he was best known, however, as the organiser of the Ennstal Classic rally in Austria held near the picturesque Ennstal valley and the Tauen mountains.
The Classic attracted many grand prix drivers for a busy weekend. He also persuaded many owners of historic racing sports cars to bring them along to be driven by some of our members. It was a particular favourite of our former President Maria-Teresa de Fillipis who enjoyed getting back into some of the Maserati sports cars she raced in period.
Helmut was born in Vienna on October 23 1939, originally trained as a chemist and joined a paint factory but he was keen on motorsport and in 1961 joined the Kurier newspaper in Vienna as their motor racing correspondent. He even confessed, after driving to Monaco in 1961 to cover his first Grand Prix , that his specific pass did not allow him to get into the actual paddock so he and a colleague forged their passes by adding “Paddock” to them.
The ruse worked until the police arrived and turfed him out.
In 1962 he was drafted into the Austrian army for his national Service but he returned to continue with Kurier and also later wrote for Autorevue. Motor Aktuell and Ales Auto.
Some years later Jochen Rindt, his close friend whose career he had helped develop, was killed. As Rindt was a national motor racing hero Helmut thought that Austria’s role in grand prix racing would be over but then along came Niki Lauda, Helmut Marco and Dieter Quester with Lauda becoming the next Austrian grand prix driver hero.
Helmut was the biographer of both Rindt and Lauda and his books reflected the close friendship he had with them both.
He was invited by Porsche to travel with the team during the 1969 World Sports Car Championship which saw Porsche and the new 9o8 flat six give Porsche the World Championship and wrote a book about his experiences.
His idea of the Ennstal Classic was a great success bringing some fine cars to the and his writing contributed to the rise in the number of Austrians who turned to motor sport.
The Grand Prix Drivers Club are proud to have had Helmut as a member and the Club sends condolences to his family at their great loss
GG.