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 la ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

) is a former professional race driver and motoring journalist.

Driver

His greatest success came in the 1980s as a driver for

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

. 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 Europe ...

for Zakspeed in the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft. 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 pr ...

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

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 mov ...

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 a ...

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 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 ...

). During the 1982 season, Niedzwiedz also drove in the

World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to: * FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012 * World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985 * Enduran ...

for Zakspeed, in a Ford C100. The Zakspeed-prepared Group C machine was run by the works Ford Germany team with

Klaus Ludwig Klaus Karl Ludwig (born 5 October 1949) is a German racing driver. Biography He also known as ''König Ludwig'' ("King Ludwig") for his success in touring cars and in sports car racing. In the 1970s, Ludwig drove for Ford in the Deutsche ...

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 f ...

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 Septemb ...

at the wheel, but the car was a midfielder at best, although

Jonathan Palmer Jonathan Charles Palmer (born 7 November 1956) is a British businessman and former Formula One racing driver. Before opting for a career in motor racing, Palmer trained as a physician at London's Guys Hospital. He also worked as a junior phys ...

and Desiré Wilson 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 smalle ...

, in both events with Klaus Ludwig. Driving an

Eggenberger Motorsport Eggenberger Motorsport was a Swiss motor racing team that competed in the European Touring Car Championship in the 1980s. History In 1982, Eggenberger Motorsport won the 1982 European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) with Umberto Grano and Helmu ...

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 coeff ...

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 rece ...

. 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 Allan Moffat Racing was an Australian motor racing team owned by multiple-championship winning Canadian-Australian racing driver Allan Moffat. The team was highly successful, winning races on three continents including three Australian Touring ...

in 1988 Bathurst 1000, 1988, 1989 Bathurst 1000, 1989, 1990 Bathurst 1000, 1990 and 1992 Bathurst 1000, 1992. He returned in 1996 AMP Bathurst 1000, 1996 to drive a Ford Falcon (EB), Ford Falcon EB. Niedzwiedz also drove for Allan Moffat Racing at the Fuji Speedway, 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. In 2003, he won a VLN race with Porsche 911 GT3 at the

Other events: *1981 24 Hours of Le Mans *1982 24 Hours of Le Mans *1988 24 Hours of Le Mans

Journalist

Since 1984, Niedzwiedz has worked as a journalist and television host in Germany, starting with moderation of Sat.1 magazine ''Treibstoff''. Since 1997, he moderates ''n-tv Motor''.

Tamiya Model

A 1/24 scale model of the 1979

Zakspeed (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

(:Template:Motorsport driver results legend, 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

(:Template:Motorsport driver results legend, key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

(:Template:Motorsport driver results legend, key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

(:Template:Motorsport driver results legend, key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results

(:Template:Motorsport driver results legend, 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