Klaus Niedzwiedz (born February 24, 1951 in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the ...

, Germany) is a former professional race driver and motoring journalist.

Driver

His greatest success came in the 1980s as a driver for Ford. Niedzwiedz rose to prominence when driving a

Ford Capri The Ford Capri is a fastback coupé built by Ford of Europe, designed by Philip T. Clark, who was also involved in the design of the Ford Mustang. It used the mechanical components from the Mk2 Ford Cortina and was intended as the European ...

for

Zakspeed Zakspeed () is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and after that run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, around from the Nürburgring circuit. 1973 to 1981: Saloon and ...

in the

Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (translated as ''German Racing Championship'') or simply DRM as it was known, was a touring car and Sportscar racing series. It is regarded as a predecessor of the current DTM as Germany's top national series. His ...

. The

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

1.4 L engine from the Zakspeed Ford Capri was later enlarged for the 1.7 L "Super Capri". With this 500+ hp car, Niedzwiedz established in 1982 the "eternal lap record" for

Group 5 Group 5 may refer to: *Group 5 element, chemical element classification *Group 5 (racing) Group 5 was an FIA motor racing classification which was applied to four distinct categories during the years 1966 to 1982. Initially Group 5 regulations def ...

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move ...

at the old 22.8 km

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village ...

with 7:08.59, just 10 seconds slower than the F1 record of 6:58.60 set by

Niki Lauda Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (22 February 1949 – 20 May 2019) was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, winning in , and , and is the only driver in Formula ...

in 1975 (see: Nürburgring lap times). During the 1982 season, Niedzwiedz also drove in the World Endurance Championship for Zakspeed, in a

Ford C100 The Ford C100 is a sports racing car, initially built and run as a Group 6 car, but later as a Group C car. The C100 was built by Ford in 1981, and initially featured a 4-litre Cosworth DFL V8 engine, which was replaced by a 3.3-litre version of ...

. The Zakspeed-prepared

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and '' Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top tou ...

machine was run by the works Ford Germany team with Klaus Ludwig,

Manfred Winkelhock Manfred Winkelhock (6 October 1951 – 12 August 1985) was a German racing driver. He participated in 56 Formula One Grands Prix (with 47 starts) between 1980 and 1985, driving for Arrows, ATS, Brabham and RAM Racing, with a best finish of fif ...

and

Marc Surer Marc Surer (born 18 September 1951 in Arisdorf) is a former racing driver from Switzerland currently working as TV commentator and racing school instructor. He participated in 88 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 9 September ...

at the wheel, but the car was a midfielder at best, although Jonathan Palmer and

Desiré Wilson Desiré Randall Wilson (born 26 November 1953) is a former racing driver from South Africa and one of only five women to have competed in Formula One. Born in Brakpan, she entered one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix in 1980 with a no ...

scored a 4th place overall the 1,000 km of

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hos ...

in 1982. Ford Germany retracted their support and one car was sold to privateers, while the other chassis was evolved by Zakspeed into the C1/4 and the C1/8, making few appearances in international racing, but becoming a front-runner in the German

Interserie Interserie is the name of a European-based motorsport series started in 1970 that allows for a wide variety of racing cars from various eras and series to compete with less limited rules than in other series. Created in 1970 by German Gerhard Härl ...

, where it won the European championship in 1984 with Klaus Niedzwiedz. In 1982 and 1987, he was the winner at the

24 Hours Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smalles ...

, in both events with Klaus Ludwig. Driving an Eggenberger Motorsport

Ford Sierra The Ford Sierra is a mid-size car or large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford Europe from 1982-1993, designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément — and noted for its aerodynamic styling producing a drag coefficien ...

he was runner-up in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

of 1987 and the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) was a touring car racing series held from 1984 to 1996. Originally based in Germany, it held additional rounds elsewhere in Europe and later worldwide. The original DTM had resumed racing with producti ...

of 1989. Between 1987 and 1996, Niedzwiedz drove six times in the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most rec ...

. After driving for Eggenberger Motorsport in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, he drove Eggenberger built Sierra RS500s for Allan Moffat Racing in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicentenn ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. He returned in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

to drive a Ford Falcon EB. Niedzwiedz also drove for Allan Moffat Racing at the 1989 Fuji 500Fuji Inter-tec 500 km
Touring Car Racing.net and 1990 Sandown 500. In 1998, he won the privateer title in the ADAC German Supertouring car championship ( Super Tourenwagen Cup) with an

Opel Vectra The Opel Vectra is a mid-size car (large family car) that was engineered and produced by the German automaker Opel from 1988 until 2010. Available in saloon, hatchback and estate body styles, the Vectra was also sold by the Vauxhall marque i ...

. In 2003, he won a VLN race with

Porsche 911 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

at the

Other events: *

1981 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 49th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 13 and 14 June 1981. It was also the eighth round of the World Endurance Championship of Drivers, and the fifth round of the World Championship for Makes. D ...

1982 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 50th Grand Prix of Endurance, which took place on 19 and 20 June 1982. It was also the fourth round of the 1982 World Endurance Championship. As well as a significant anniversary, this was a watershed year for ...

1988 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 56th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 11 and 12 June 1988. It was also the fifth round of the World Sports-Prototype Championship season. Race The Porsches were able to turn up the turbo boost in q ...

Journalist

Since 1984, Niedzwiedz has worked as a journalist and television host in Germany, starting with moderation of

Sat.1 Sat.1 is a German free-to-air television channel that is a part of the ProSiebenSat.1 Media Group. It is considered the first privately owned television network in Germany, having been launched in January 1984 as ''PKS'' ''(Programmgesellscha ...

magazine ''Treibstoff''. Since 1997, he moderates ''

n-tv n-tv is a German free-to-air television news channel owned by the Bertelsmann Media's RTL Group. n-tv broadcasts news and weather every hour and half-hour in the morning. It also broadcasts magazine shows and documentaries. History n-tv b ...

Motor''.

Tamiya Model

A 1/24

scale model A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototypes ...

of the 1979

(model 24014) is represented as the D&W Klaus Niedzwiedz car, and is complete with Niedzwiedz in team uniform.

Racing record

Career summary

;Footnotes:

Complete World Sportscar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ;Footnotes:

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

External links

bio at n-tv
* (for his appearance in ''Treibstoff'')
Zakspeed WebsiteProfile of the highly successful Zakspeed-built Group 5 racing Capri

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niedzwiedz, Klaus British Touring Car Championship drivers Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters drivers European Touring Car Championship drivers German racing drivers Racing drivers from North Rhine-Westphalia Sportspeople from Dortmund World Sportscar Championship drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers 1951 births 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Living people Australian Endurance Championship drivers Team Joest drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers