Clay Regazzoni: New home for memorial collection 🎥

HONOR ROOM OPENING The autobau erlebniswelt in Romanshorn has one more attraction. A separate pavilion houses vehicles, trophies and memorabilia from Clay Regazzoni.

Peter Wyss - 17 October 2021

Swiss television SRF dedicated an elaborate documentary to Clay Regazzoni on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death in December 2016. It is worth watching it again to learn more about him.

Two have found each other. Clay Regazzoni's widow Maria Pia and daughter Alessia were looking for a more suitable place for the small but fine memorial collection in honor of the great Ticino racing driver. And the team around Fredy Lienhard, the founder of autobau erlebniswelt in Romanshorn, was in the process of designing a new building a few years ago.

The right moment for both
Thus, the request of the Regazzoni family, who have come to know and appreciate each other well since joint events in the past years, fell on fertile ground with the Thurgau patron and motorsport promoter.

Fredy Lienhard: "They asked me at the right moment and I was able to accept at the right moment."

And so the new building in Romanhorn was expanded to include a cube-like, light-flooded pavilion purely in honor of the most successful Swiss GP driver of all time (five victories, four of them on Ferrari and the first ever for Williams).

The previous Memorial Room in Lugano was rather hidden and something for insiders. In Romanshorn, where a cross-section of the history of national and international Swiss motorsport has been on display for years, this memorial collection now receives a fitting and dignified setting as a permanent exhibition open to the general public.

There would be more than these three race cars from Clay Regazzoni's career. Perhaps more will find their way into the Honor Room one day.

Affair of the heart
For the Regazzoni family, the move away from Clay's home to Romanshorn was a decision of reason - and also of the heart.

Alessia Regazzoni: "We have been thinking about the future for a long time. We were looking for a place where racing drivers' hearts beat faster. Where my father's legacy is taken up with passion. And where the whole of racing-mad Switzerland can be proud. The wealth of Dad's memories is perfectly housed in Autobau. Here, it is brought to new life."

A fighter even after the blow of fate
Lienhard's Honor Room is not only about the athlete who died in 2006, but also about Clay Regazzoni as a person. Especially in his time after the serious accident in Long Beach in 1980, which almost cost him his life and confined him to a wheelchair.

Fredy Lienhard: "Clay never resigned. With a strong will and dedication, he also achieved a lot in his second life. We want to show that you can always go new ways."

For this reason, reference is also made to Regazzoni's successes as a paraplegic and founder of a foundation for research into paraplegia. At the ceremonial opening in front of over 200 invited guests, the Lienhard family therefore immediately presented a donation to the "Club Clay Regazzoni - Aiutami la Paraplegia".

The Lienhard and Regazzoni families (with Maria Pia in the center) continue to support Clay's foundation.

Variety of exhibits
Among the exhibits from Clay's career before that fateful day are a Ferrari 312 B3 F1 from 1974, the Tecno F2 in which he captured the 1970 European Championship title, and that March-BMW 782 in which the Ticino native thrilled the crowd at the 1979 St. Peterzell-Hemberg hill climb (second).

From the period thereafter are also some sports cars on display. Plus lots of trophies and memorabilia from around the world.

Every Sunday comes the memory
From now on, the Clay Regazzoni Honor Room can be visited every Sunday from 11 am to 3:30 pm. All other exhibitions within the world of experience are open every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as currently during the fall vacations from October 19 to 21.