Zakspeed () is a

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and then run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen,

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, around from the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

circuit. The team was, together with the Rial Racing, one of the two last German

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 ...

teams based in Germany (with the Zakspeed's base in Niederzissen).

1973 to 1981: Saloon and sports car racing

Zakowski founded Zakspeed in 1973 with the ambition of competing in sports car racing. In the late 1970s, the team became the official Ford team in the German Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) series, a predecessor of the current DTM. Zakspeed constructed and entered an FIA

Group 2 The term Group 2 may refer to: * Alkaline earth metal The alkaline earth metals are six chemical elements in group (periodic table), group 2 of the periodic table. They are beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), barium (B ...

Escort and the

Group 5 Group 5 may refer to: * Group 5 element, chemical element classification * Group 5 (motorsport), FIA classification for cars in auto racing See also * G5 (disambiguation) {{Disambig ...

Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...

, based on the MKIII production model. During this period, the team achieved a number of victories including the overall championship in 1981 with driver

Klaus Ludwig Klaus Karl Ludwig (born 5 October 1949) is a German racing driver. He had a very successful career winning a total of 118 races. Biography He also known as ''König Ludwig'' (" King Ludwig") for his success in touring cars and in sports car r ...

. In the early 1980s, Zakspeed also prepared a

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...

for Ford USA's Special Vehicle Operations to race in the domestic

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

Camel GT series. The Mustang chassis was based on the Group 5 Capri.

1982 to 1989: Endurance cars and F1

In 1982, Zakspeed ran the works Ford C100

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for Touring car racing, touring cars and ''Group B'' for Grand tourer, GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 (motorspor ...

effort in conjunction with the factory. The Zakspeed-prepared machine was run by the works Ford Germany team with

, Manfred Winkelhock and Marc Surer at the wheel. The car was a midfielder at best, although Jonathan Palmer and Desiré Wilson scored a 4th place overall the 1000 km of

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 1982. Ford Germany retracted their support and one car was sold to privateers, while the other chassis was evolved by Zakspeed into the C1/4 and the C1/8, making few appearances in international racing, but becoming a front-runner in the German

Interserie Interserie is the name of a European-based motorsport series started in 1970 that allows for a wide variety of racing cars from various eras and series to compete with less limited rules than in other series. Created in 1970 by German Gerhard Här ...

, where it won the championship in 1984 with Klaus Niedzwiedz. The engine was the basis for their

entry from to . Zakspeed became notable for building their own chassis and

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

, something only

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 ...

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

and

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

did at that time. After a maiden season with Jonathan Palmer, the team hired the first

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championship ...

champion Christian Danner and ex- Tyrrell driver

Martin Brundle Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Brundle won the World Sportscar Champions ...

. The team's best result (and only points finish) was Brundle's 5th place in the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix. For their final season, in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, Zakspeed switched to Yamaha engines as turbos were banned. The Japanese engine was unreliable and drivers Bernd Schneider (former German

Formula 3 Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

champion),

Piercarlo Ghinzani Piercarlo Ghinzani (born 16 January 1952) is an Italian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Ghinzani participated in 111 Formula One Grands Prix for Osella, Toleman, Equipe Ligier, Ligier and Za ...

and the rookie

Aguri Suzuki is a Japanese former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Suzuki entered 88 Formula One Grands Prix, achieving a best result of third at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, becoming the first Asian driver t ...

struggled to pre-qualify the car. Schneider only qualified the car twice and retired both times, while Suzuki never got past pre-qualifying.

1990s and beyond: Return to sports and touring cars

After withdrawing from F1, Zakspeed focused again exclusively on sport cars. The team ran Mercedes 190E and Opel Calibra cars in the 1990s

Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft The Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) was a touring car racing series held from 1984 to 1996. Originally based in Germany, it held additional rounds elsewhere in Europe and later worldwide. The original DTM had resumed racing with produc ...

and the short-lived ITC series. Around this time, Peter Zakowski, who had raced in

and endurance races (he had won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2002) took over from his father. In 1998, Zakspeed entered two

Porsche 911 GT1 The Porsche 911 GT1 is a car designed and developed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche AG to compete in the GT1 class of sportscar racing, which also required a street-legal version for homologation (motorsport), homologation purposes. The ...

in the FIA GT Championship, where French Team Oreca dominated the GT2-class with their heavily modified Chrysler Viper GTS-Rs. One of these Vipers was purchased by Zakspeed to be entered on the Nürburgring VLN series to take advantage of the new, less restrictive rules for the 1999 season. Zakowski and his teammate dominated the 1999 season, winning every race, before the rules were altered for 2000 and the Porsche 996 GT3 showed up. The team won the 24 Hours Nürburgring again in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, against factory competition, they were disqualified due to a dispute over fuel tank size. A company related to Zakspeed, Nitec, built the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

-like V8-powered tube frame prototype cars of the V8Star Series Championship series which ran from 2001 to 2003. These identical cars used bodies modelled after road cars from

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

and others. Zakspeed itself won in 2003 with Pedro Lamy in a Jaguar-bodied car. In 2001, Zakspeed made a brief return to single-seaters with a foray into

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

racing in the US in partnership with the long-established Forsythe Championship Racing. In 2006, Zakspeed returned to the FIA GT Championship with the Saleen S7-R. The team also runs a racing school operating at the Nürburgring circuit.

Superleague Formula

In 2008, Zakspeed managed the

Superleague Formula Superleague Formula was an Open wheel car, open wheel single seater Formula racing, motor racing formula, which started in 2008, at Donington Park in the United Kingdom. The league introduced team sponsorship by association football clubs. It u ...

cars of

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

and

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...

, with the latter taking the overall title from such clubs as

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

and A.C. Milan. Dortmund took one win in the season and Beijing took three on the way to the title with driver

Davide Rigon Davide Rigon (born 26 August 1986) is an Italian professional racing driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and other selected GT races for AF Corse. He is also currently part of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula ...

. In 2009, Zakspeed managed

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

(who won a race with Pedro Petiz) and R.S.C. Anderlecht.

Gallery

File:Kl81-01.jpg, 1981

Group 5 Group 5 may refer to: * Group 5 element, chemical element classification * Group 5 (motorsport), FIA classification for cars in auto racing See also * G5 (disambiguation) {{Disambig ...

Zakspeed Ford Capri at the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim, Germany File:SchancheZakowskiXtrac-GBRXGP1983.jpg, Company founder Erich Zakowski (right) and Martin Schanche pictured at the British

Rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

GP 1983 at

File:Zakspeed 841 Dr. Jonathan Palmer.jpg, The Zakspeed 841 being driven by Jonathan Palmer at the 1985 German Grand Prix. File:Dodge Viper Team Zakspeed.jpg, Zakspeed Dodge Viper GTS-R in the 24h, 2007

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position) * Points scored using 871 chassis

References

External links

*
Zakspeed Formula One History and Team Record
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140502220656/http://f1rejects.com/centrale/submitted/zakspeedyamaha/index.html Article on Zakspeed's partnership with Yamaha(archived fro
the original
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of Zakspeed , list1 = {{Superleague Formula Beijing Guoan {{Superleague Formula Borussia Dortmund {{Superleague Formula R.S.C. Anderlecht {{Superleague Formula Sporting Clube de Portugal {{Superleague Formula operating teams {{Superleague Formula champions German auto racing teams German racecar constructors 1968 establishments in West Germany Formula One entrants Formula One engine manufacturers 24 Hours of Le Mans teams FIA GT Championship teams Superleague Formula teams Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters teams ADAC GT Masters teams Engine manufacturers of Germany German Formula 3 teams GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup teams World Sportscar Championship teams Auto racing teams established in 1968 Companies based in Rhineland-Palatinate