Walter Brun: "You never forget how to drive fast" 🎥
TEST DRIVE In a Group C Porsche at Hockenheim, Walter Brun showed what he can still do as a racing driver at the age of 80. In an interview, the former team world champion describes his impressions.
He was one of the most enigmatic figures from Switzerland - and he was able to celebrate great successes as both a driver and a team boss. Walter Brun, who everyone simply calls "Walti," made headlines on and off the racetracks from the 1970s to the early 1990s.
Illustrious career as racing driver and team boss
In 1971, the businessman from Entlebuch in the canton of Lucerne was European mountain champion in a BMW 2800 CS from Team Schnitzer, after which he achieved podium finishes in the legendary DRM before turning to Group C with his own Team Brun Motorsport and causing a sensation there. The highlight was winning the Team World Championship in 1986. Famous racing drivers such as the unforgettable Stefan Bellof, Hans-Joachim Stuck and three-time GP winner Thierry Boutsen won with Brun's Porsche 962C.
From 1989 to 1991, Brun was also present in Formula 1 with his own team, which, however, ended in a sporting and financial disaster. By the way, the complete sporting history of Walter Brun and his team was recently published in a monumental work of almost 1000 pages. "Brun Motorsport 1966-1991"
Test drive at Hockenheim as a tribute
Thanks to his irrepressible will and sustained energy, Brun was able to pay off all his debts in the years following his ruin and some time later even competed again himself as a race driver on various GT cars at Le Mans and in the ADAC GT Masters. In 2009, Walti contested his last races - but even at 80 years of age, he has not lost the fun of driving fast cars, as he proved last week in Hockenheim.
On the occasion of two track days in Hockenheim, the Lucerne native was allowed to sit in a Porsche 962C owned by autobau founder Fredy Lienhard. This car was used in the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Trust Engineering team. The preparation for and the race at Hockenheim were in the capable hands of Horag Hotz Racing from Sulgen.
Fredy Lienhard: "The cars from autobau are there to be driven. That is part of our company's philosophy. I also enjoy it when Walti drives. For me, it's a tribute to him. He made history, never gave up and fulfilled his commitments in the most difficult times."
Reunion gives pleasure
A few weeks earlier, the tireless Swiss, who successfully runs the Allmendhuisli restaurant in Stans as a restaurateur, was allowed to get behind the wheel of a former Brun Porsche from private German ownership in Le Castellet. However, the irritating course did not suit him, and so Brun only really got going at the familiar Baden Motodrom. The fact that he also met people there like former Porsche race director Manfred Jantke and Indy driver and Porsche factory driver Simona de Silvestro (lower gallery, left) rounded off the experience for Brun.
Video with interview and driving scenes
What Walti felt during his fast laps, he tells in the video interview with the author. The film was shot and edited by former Audi factory driver and three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner, who nowadays celebrates successes with historic racing cars and is also a passionate video journalist. He has lived in Ermatingen on Lake Constance for more than 20 years and will soon become a Swiss citizen.
Photos: Peter Wyss
