Edi Wyss: A life with racing cars
READABLE AUTOBIOGRAPHY "The Swiss Wiz" tells the exciting life story of the renowned racing mechanic and technician Edi Wyss. Win a book in our raffle! The Zurich Oberland not only produced Peter Sauber in international racing, but also Edi Wyss. The Swiss, born on September 3, 1942, is probably less well known to the general public than the [...]
The Zurich Oberland not only produced Peter Sauber in international racing, but also Edi Wyss. The Swiss, who was born on September 3, 1942, is probably less well known to the general public than the names of the great racing drivers and teams for whom "The Swiss Wiz," as he was nicknamed in England, worked over the course of several decades.
Beginnings in the Swiss automotive sports scene
The autobiography, written in collaboration with Christoph Ditzler from Dornach, is very entertaining (I read it over Easter almost in one go) and lives from the authentic words and the numerous pictures, some published for the first time.
Anyone interested in the history of Swiss racing will learn many interesting incidents and anecdotes from the national scene of the 1960s and 1970s in the first of the four chapters. Edi's preference was - and still is - for the Abarth brand and its pilots, alongside which his career as a race mechanic began.
Designer of the Sauber C4
His relatively short time at PP Sauber AG is also described, where he designed the Sauber C4 in Hinwil in the winter of 1974/75, more or less on his own initiative. Against Peter Sauber's wishes, the C4 was built as a monocoque instead of a tubular chassis like the C1, C2 and C3.
Harry Blumer drove the car in the Swiss Sports Car Championship.The unique two-liter sports car in the legendary Artos colors still exists today and is driven by an American in historic races.
Successful and sad times with McLaren and Siffert
Edi Wyss earned recognition above all during his years abroad as a racing mechanic and technician. With personalities such as Joakim Bonnier, Denny Hulme, Andrea de Adamich, Peter Gethin, Alain de Cadenet, Gordon Johncock, Herbert Müller, Jo Marquart and Clay Regazzoni he went around the world and experienced adventurous and also sad times.
He was deeply affected by the fatal accidents involving Bruce McLaren and Jo Siffert. Wyss worked for McLaren in Formula 1, IndyCar and CanAm. He also experienced the legendary North American racing series for large-volume sports cars in 1971 as a mechanic on the privately entered Porsche 917/10 of the unforgotten Freiburg native.
Step into independence
After parting company with Sauber, a small specialist workshop was set up in 1975 in a converted farmhouse barn in Zurich-Witikon. There he looked after collectors' production and racing cars for almost 30 years before moving to a new building in his hometown of Hermatswil.
Since 2015, Edi Wyss Engineering AG has been owned by Thomas Schnitzler, a German graduate engineer, and his wife Lisa, to whom the company founder still provides advice and assistance today.
To order online in Switzerland and Germany
"The Swiss Wiz", by Edi Wyss and Christoph Ditzler, published by McKlein Publishing. 304 pages in 24.5 x 30 cm format with hardcover. Approx. 360 photos and documents in color and 185 in black and white. Price: 85 francs without shipping costs.
Source of supply in Switzerland under this Link, in Germany under this Link for 79,90 Euro incl. VAT and shipping within Germany.
Win a copy!
AutoSprintCH is giving away a copy of "The Swiss Wiz". Participating in the raffle is easy: Fill out and submit the form below. The closing date is Tuesday, April 21, 2020.
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There will be no correspondence about the raffle. The winner will be notified in writing. The legal process is excluded.
