Rudolf "Rudi" Fischer (19 April 1912 – 30 December 1976) was a Swiss

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

, who competed in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

at seven Grands Prix from to . Fischer debuted in Formula One at the in . He achieved two podium finishes, and scored a total of 10 championship points. He also participated in numerous non-championship Formula One and

Formula Two Formula Two (F2) is a type of Open-wheel car, open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season, 2009 to 2012 FIA Formula Two C ...

races.

Career

Fischer finished third in a race which marked the reopening of the AVUS, a German motor racing circuit. It had been closed for a 14-year period and was damaged during

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 ...

. A crowd of 350,000 watched Paul Greifzu of

Suhl Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

, win in a car he built himself. Fischer drove a

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

to third place over a distance of 207.5 kilometres. His time was 1 hour, 10 minutes, 27.5 seconds. In the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix, in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, Fischer finished second to Piero Taruffi; both drivers were in Ferraris.

Écurie Espadon/Scuderia Espadon

Fischer was the leader of the "Écurie Espadon", the entrant name for most of his racing career. Écurie Espadon was composed of a group of Swiss amateur gentleman racers. The word "Écurie" was used at the beginning as most of the team's cars were French, generally

Gordini Gordini () is a division of Renault Sport Technologies (Renault Sport). In the past, it was a sports car manufacturer and Car tuning, performance tuner, established in 1946 by Amédée Gordini (1899–1979), nicknamed "Le Sorcier" (The Sorcerer) ...

s. Later the team's equipment changed to Ferraris and other Italian vehicles, thus the name of the team changed to use the equivalent Italian word "Scuderia". The team was involved in several races all over Europe, as the presentation document described. The team was composed of: * Rudolf Fischer: a successful restaurant owner. * Rudolf Schoeller * Peter Hirt: a wealthy businessman from Küssnacht, near Zürich, involved in precision tool manufacturing. * Peter (Pierre) Staechelin from Basel. * Max de Terra * Paul Glauser

Racing record

Post WWII Grandes Épreuves results

( key)

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) Entered and practiced in his Ferrari 500, but engine failure meant that he reverted to the previous season's 212 model for the race. Drive shared with Peter Hirt.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Rudi 1912 births 1976 deaths Racing drivers from Stuttgart Swiss racing drivers Swiss Formula One drivers Écurie Espadon Formula One drivers Formula One team owners