Walter Schlüter, (1911 – November 1977), was a West German racing and rally driver, who won the 1954

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an rallying, automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The champion ...

Racing Driver

Walter was a fuel wholesale by trade, from

Velbert Velbert (, Low Rhenish: ''Vèlbed'') is a town in the district of Mettmann (district), Mettmann, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The town is renowned worldwide for the production of locks and fittings. Geography Velbert is located ...

. He became racing in the 1930, notably in a modified

BMW 328 The BMW 328 was a sports car produced by BMW from 1936 to 1940. Its body design is credited to Peter Szymanowski, who became BMW chief of design after World War II (although technically the car was designed by Fritz Fiedler). Specifications Aw ...

. After the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he played an instrumental in the re-establishing of the Automobilclub von Deutschland (AvD), and getting motor racing underway in Germany. In 1950, he entered the inaugural season of the Deutsche Meisterschaft Formel 3 where he raced a Monopoletta-BMW. During the season, he won F3 support race at the Großer Preis von Deutschland, on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. This result helped him to third overall in the championship. In return the following season, but without much success, although he became to first German driver to complete in England following the war, when he drove his Monopoletta-BMW at

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 hosts ...

in the August Bank Holiday meeting.

Rally Driver

Walter, now aged forty switched to rallying for the 1952 season. He scored his first international victory in the sport when he was finished in second on the Rallye Travemünde, as co-driver to

Helmut Polensky Helmut Polensky (10 October 1915, Berlin – 6 November 2011, Saint-Tropez) was a German people, German Motorcycle racing, moto racer, Auto racing, racing driver and racing car constructor. Life outside racing Polensky was the youngest of ...

. The pairing continuing into 1953, where they took two victories as Polensky won the European Rally Championship. Back on the track, Walter scored his greater result when he and Richard Trenkel took fourth place in the 1953 Internationales ADAC-1000 Kilometer Rennen Weltmeisterschaftslauf Nürburgring, a round of the World Sportscar Championship. When in the Autumn of 1953,

DKW DKW (''Dampfkraftwagen'', – the same initials later also used for ''Des Knaben Wunsch'', ; ''Das Kleine Wunder'', and ''Deutsche Kinderwagen'', ) was a German car- and motorcycle-marque. DKW was one of the four companies that formed Auto U ...

created their new motor sport department, and Walter was one of the trio of drivers signed to tackle the European Rally Championship. By now, Walter had moved across to the driver’s seat. After victory on the Rallye Wiesbaden and two further podium finishers, he had been enough to secure the championship title for himself, ahead of the other two DKW drivers.
/ref> He continues with DKW for the next couple seasons, when 1955 he scored his first outright victory outside of Germany, when he wins Norway’s Viking Rally. This would turn out to be his last international victory as well.

Racing record

Career highlights

* = he was a co-driver on the event

Complete Rallye de Monte Carlo results

Complete RAC Rally results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schluter, Walter World Sportscar Championship drivers European Rally Championship drivers 1977 deaths German racing drivers German rally drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers 1911 births People from Velbert Racing drivers from North Rhine-Westphalia