| Career Summary | Picture Index |
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| Last updated: 1-October-2008 | |
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Background
Swiss middle distance running champion! |
These days, motor racing is just like any other sport in how it has become professionalised. In order to climb up the ladder and hopefully one day make it into F1, or any other top-flight championship, youngsters make the decision early to pursue racing as their chosen career. Enthusiastic amateurs are consigned to a plethora of local series; gone are the days where they could, with a bit of money and backing and lots of willpower, dare to mix it with the professional big guns on the world stage.
Swiss driver Jo Vonlanthen is an example of that bygone era. Hailing from St Ursen in Fribourg canton, Vonlanthen was the son of a farmer and, initially, a competitive middle-distance runner. Indeed, he was Swiss champion over 5,000m in 1963. Being interested in cars, he established a motor trading business, but it was not until 1966 at the age of 24 that he had any inkling towards racing. That year he was named on the entry list for the Swiss Mountain GP sports car event at Siere-Montana-Crans in an Abarth DKW-600. |
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1968-70
Starts in FVee before making the move to F3 |
As it turned out he did not make an appearance, and it was only in 1968 that he began racing for real when he competed in Formula Vee, before moving up to Formula 3 in 1969. Of course, like all other Swiss drivers, the difficulty Vonlanthen faced was that he could not race domestically and had to go abroad, with Switzerland having maintained a ban on motorsport since the 1955 Le Mans tragedy. And so Jo found himself having to do the majority of his racing in neighbouring Germany.
At first he raced in a Brabham BT15 Ford for the Formel Rennsport Club team, which he continued to campaign at the beginning of 1970, coming 9th at Hockenheim and 4th at Bremgarten airfield. In the second half of the year he acquired a Tecno with a Ford 1000cc engine, and although he entered several circuit events at Niederstetten and Neubiberg (but in the end did not appear), he found success in hillclimbs, taking victory at Triesen in October. |
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1971-72
Two busy years as Jo races often around the fringes of the top 10 |
In 1971 he continued to do well at hillclimbs, coming 3rd in his Tecno at Ollon-Villars, but he also began making his mark on racetracks, coming 4th at Bremgarten in a close-fought battle against Hannelore Werner and Willi Sommer who came 2nd and 3rd, and taking his first circuit victory in a non-title race at Hockenheim in May. It is worth noting that that, whilst competing in the German F3 title races, some events also counted towards the Swiss F3 championship, and others were non-championship altogether.
1972 saw Vonlanthen's busiest racing year to date as he switched over to a GRD 372, still with a Ford engine, run sometimes under the Formel Rennsport Club banner, sometimes under the name Horag Hotz Racing, and at other times entered in his own name. Although he was 5th in the Freiburg-Schauinsland hillclimb, he hung around the fringes of the top 10 in his circuit outings at the Nurburgring and Hockenheim, and at the European Cup event at Magny-Cours. |
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1972-73
Becomes Swiss F3 Champion - moves up to F2 the next year |
That was an event where drivers competed as part of three-man national teams. Vonlanthen had the honour of representing Switzerland alongside Rolf Risen and Hans-Peter Hoffmann, courtesy of the fact that Jo's results had made him Swiss F3 champion in 1972. Towards the end of the year, Vonlanthen also took part in two British Shell Super Oil F3 championship events, qualifying an excellent 6th at Snetterton before finishing 11th and 15th in the two heats, and also at Brands Hatch the following round.
Although his results had by no means been spectacular, and his experience and ability might best be described as middling, as an amateur enthusiast out to enjoy his motor racing rather than make a living out of it, that was never going to delay his progression. And so, having found the sponsorship money, in 1973 he made the jump up to Formula 2 in a self-entered GRD 273 Ford. But reliability proved a constant problem, and with rounds run over two heats, more often than not he was not classified on aggregate. |
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1973-74
Second in Swiss F2, but suffers regular reliability issues |
Vonlanthen's GRD was afflicted by all manner of mechanical failures as well as the odd crash, but notable results included 8th at the Nurburgring and Salzburgring, and 3rd on aggregate in the season finale at Vallelunga, mainly thanks to a high rate of attrition, which eventually placed him 20th in the European championship with 4 points. However, there was also a separate Swiss F2 championship, and here he enjoyed much greater success, coming 2nd at the Hockenheim short track, and winning at Ulm-Laupheim.
For 1974, Vonlanthen upgraded to a March 742 with a BMW M12 engine prepared by GS Tuning and sponsorship from Brissago, but accidents early on at Montjuich Park and Hockenheim, plus more mechanical gremlins, proved to be early setbacks. However, he found more race-finishing consistency towards the end of the year, including 5th in the second heat at Enna, and he came 2nd in the Swiss rounds at Hockenheim and Ulm-Mengen, placing 2nd in the Swiss title behind Roland Salomon who won every race. |
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1975
Season starts in style with super second behind Jacque Laffite |
Jo plugged on into 1975, and his season got off to a dream start at Estoril when attrition depleted the field, and he managed to hold off Lamberto Leoni for 2nd place behind Jacques Laffite. He had one more meeting at Thruxton in the 742 before moving up into a March 752. Things did not begin auspiciously in the new car as Vonlanthen failed to qualify at Hockenheim and did not start at the Nurburgring, but he followed it up with a 6th on aggregate at Hockenheim and 9th at the Salzburgring.
Vonlanthen was also entered at Le Mans but the entry did not materialise, before retiring at the F2 round at Rouen when Willi Deutsch spun in letting Michel Leclerc through, and Jo could not avoid collecting him. The Swiss driver then did not start at Mugello, and although he was entered at Enna he did not appear. The reason soon became apparent why he would not be making any more F2 appearances in 1975, as he had found the funds to take the next step. He ended up 17th in the 1975 championship with 6 points. |
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1975 Williams Can you pay? Yes? Well, Sir Frank has a seat for you! |
Long before his championship-winning heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, Sir Frank Williams had been a struggling F1 team boss in the early 1970s. For a while he had Marlboro sponsorship which allowed his cars to be badged as Iso Marlboros, but in 1975 that deal fell through. Williams ran Laffite in one of the FW03s powered by the Ford DFV V8, but throughout the season the second car was a rent-a-drive heaven for anyone willing to pay for the privilege.
Arturo Merzario, Tony Brise, Damien Magee, Ian Scheckter, Francois Migault and Ian Ashley had all taken turns in the car, Ashley having driven it at the Nurburgring where Laffite had scored a surprise 2nd. So Williams arrived at the next round in Austria on a high, and with yet another new pilot in the second car. Vonlanthen had found the backing to compete in the Austrian GP and the following non-championship Swiss GP at Dijon, fulfilling the ultimate enthusiast's dream by racing in F1 at the age of 33. |
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1975
Tragic events pre-race mean Jo gets the call up to the grid |
But with no testing, and a machine of both dubious pace and build quality, Vonlanthen was always going to struggle at the daunting Osterreichring. In qualifying he was only 29th fastest out of the field of 30, 7.95s off Niki Lauda's pole-setting pace, quicker only than Tony Trimmer in the lamentable Maki, and not fast enough to make the grid. By contrast, Laffite in the other Williams was 5.2s faster and 12th on the grid, Williams' second-best starting position all season.
However, the pre-race was marred by two major accidents. Wilson Fittipaldi crashed his eponymous car in qualifying and broke two bones in his hand. Then on race morning, Mark Donohue suffered a frightful crash in his Penske, which not only killed a marshal, but which claimed the life of the American star a few days later due to a brain injury. With Brian Henton's Lotus also not starting, organisers called the reserves into action, and Vonlanthen was granted his first Grand Prix start. |
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1975
Starts to pour with rain just before the race start! |
As if it was not challenging enough to be granted his first F1 start on race morning in tragic circumstances, having mentally resigned himself to watching the race from the sidelines, heavy rain began falling just before race start. In that situation, Vonlanthen did well to have moved up to 20th place on lap 15, when the likes of Mario Andretti and Hans-Joachim Stuck had crashed, when his engine failed. Vittorio Brambilla memorably went on to win the shortened race, crashing as he crossed the line!
A week later, 16 cars turned up for the 60-lap Swiss GP at Dijon-Prenois including both Williams. Vonlanthen qualified 15th, 3.56s behind Jean-Pierre Jarier's pole-winning Shadow, but only two places and 1.74s slower than Laffite, and well clear of Trimmer's Maki. But a problem-filled race meant that Jo only completed 51 laps by the end, not enough to be classified a finisher. It proved to be Vonlanthen's last drive for Williams and in F1, as Renzo Zorzi and later Lella Lombardi took the ride for the rest of the year. |
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1975
Jo's chapter of F1 history comes to a close... |
The reality was that, on merit, results and talent alone, Vonlanthen possibly would not have got a taste of Formula One. But these were the days when optimism and enthusiasm, plus some decent sponsorship, could take you much further in motor racing than it can these days. It allowed drivers like Vonlanthen, who were for all intents and purposes amateurs, to add to the rich tapestry of F1 history. It's an aspect of the sport which some would say has sadly gone missing in this professional and commercial era.
In the end, though, even Jo's backers and race promoters were not prepared to fund further drives in the mediocre Williams FW03. On a side note, various short profiles of Vonlanthen on the internet record that he also drove in the non-championship International Trophy in 1975 at the wheel of an Ensign. Results sheets of that race indicate that that was not the case. The man who drove the Ensign was another driver with a limited F1 career, who has been profiled on this site: Roelof Wunderink. |
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1976
Drops back to F2, but then turns his hobby into a business |
Having tasted the pinnacle, it is perhaps little surprise that Vonlanthen's racing career petered out. Throughout his time on the tracks he had still run his garage and trading business, and that continued after his brief sojourn in F1. But in 1976, he took his March 752 BMW F2 car out a few more times at Hockenheim (three times) and Mugello, and he also entered the Vallelunga and Enna rounds but did not appear. As late as 1977 he was entered in an F2 round at Hockenheim, but again that entry did not eventuate.
Since then, for the past 30 years, he has turned his love of motorsport into his business. Not only has he run driving training courses, but he has built up a large private historic F1 collection, and these days Jo Vonlanthen Race Car Promotion is one of the leading organisers of motorsport-related exhibitions and demonstrations in Europe. His company arranges shows of Ferraris, other F1 cars and sports cars, as well as motorsport accessory exhibitions, driver signings, and pit stop demonstrations. |
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Personal
Today he is a regular at historic festivals and Ferrari events! |
Vonlanthen also organises corporate drive days, photoshoots, and even F1 simulation displays using a Ferrari F1 showcar. The company has also gone into the VIP car transportation field. All of which has made Vonlanthen a regular at historic events, and in particular at Ferrari drive days and events, where he rubs shoulders with modern stars and demonstrates his pride and joy from his personal collection, a 1952 Ferrari 500 with which the legendary Alberto Ascari won that year's World Championship.
Highlights in the last decade have included driving an ex-Stefan Johansson 1986 Ferrari at historic festivals in mid-1998, and more recently demonstrating the Ferrari 500 at the historic Montreux and Mutschellen GPs, the Altburon and Walzenhausen hillclimbs, the historic Monaco GP, the Jim Clark revival meeting at Hockenheim in 2008, and any number of official Ferrari events in the last few years. Since 1988, Vonlanthen has lived in Brione, Locarno with his wife Christine, their dog Caro, and their cats. |
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