Rudi Fischer

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

Rudi Fischer

Born	(1912-04-19)19 April 1912 Stuttgart, Württemberg, Germany
Died	30 December 1976(1976-12-30) (aged 64) Lucerne, Switzerland
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Swiss
Active years	1951–1952
Teams	non-works Ferrari
Entries	8 (7 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	2
Career points	10
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1951 Swiss Grand Prix
Last entry	1952 Italian Grand Prix

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:

• Rudolf Fischer: a successful restaurant owner.
• Rudolf Schoeller
• Peter Hirt: a wealthy businessman from Küssnacht, near Zürich, involved in precision tool manufacturing.
• Peter (Pierre) Staechelin from Basel.
• Max de Terra
• Paul Glauser

Racing record

Post WWII Grandes Épreuves results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5
1949	Écurie Espadon	Simca Gordini T11	Simca-Gordini 1.4 L4	GBR	BEL	SUI 15	FRA	ITA
Source:[5][6]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	WDC	Pts
1950	Écurie Espadon	SVA 1500	Fiat 1.5 L4s	GBR	MON	500	SUI DNA	BEL	FRA	ITA		NC	0
1951	Écurie Espadon	Ferrari 212	Ferrari 212 2.5 V12	SUI 11	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER 6	ITA DNS	ESP	NC	0
1952	Écurie Espadon	Ferrari 500	Ferrari 500 2.0 L4	SUI 2	500	BEL	FRA DNS	GBR 13	GER 3	NED	ITA Ret	4th	10
		Ferrari 212	Ferrari 166 2.0 V12				FRA 11†
Source:[7]

^† Entered and practiced in his Ferrari 500, but engine failure meant that he reverted to the previous season's 212 model for the race.^[8] 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. "Presentation document Ecurie Espadon". Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
4. "Scuderia Espadon and its background". forums.autosport.com. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
5. "Rudolf Fischer – Biography". MotorSportMagazine. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
6. "Grosser Preis der Schweiz - Bremgarten, 3 Jul 1949". OldRacingCars. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
7. "Rudi Fischer - Involvement". StatsF1. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
8. Diepraam, M (June 2001). "German F2 specials taking on Ferrari". 8W. Retrieved 30 April 2008.