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René Herzog - Tamer of the dinosaurs

Name: Porsche 962 C 1989
Brand: Porsche

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Created on August 11, 2017

Text:

Thomas Suter

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

Archiv René Herzog

Klaus D. Lehmann-Gräve

Marc Le Beller

Rob de la Rive Box

Archiv

Daniel Reinhard

Archiv René Herzog

Klaus D. Lehmann-Gräve

Marc Le Beller

Rob de la Rive Box

Archiv

Ferrari 250 GTO (1962) - participation in the historic Targa Florio

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René Herzog with his road-legal Ford GT40 Mk II

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René Herzog shows a picture in a book that shows him in conversation with Hans Joachim Stuck at the European Touring Car Championship race in Monza on March 14, 1971

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René Herzog in an interview with Thomas Suter

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René Herzog remembers the many racing adventures as if it were yesterday

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René Herzog during his early motorsport trials in a go-kart

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Shelby Mustang GT 350 (1967) - René Herzog in a Mustang

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BMW 1602 (1970) - Grand Prix of Touring Cars at the Nürburgring 1970 - Swiss René Herzog and Formula 1 racing driver Niki Lauda on the road for the BMW Alpina team

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BMW 2002 Alpina (1967) - René Herzog at Hockenheim

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BMW 1602 Alpina (1970) - René Herzog on August 30, 1970 in Zandvoort, pursued by a pack of Alfa Romeo GTAs

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BMW 1602 Alpina (1970) - René Herzog shared the cockpit of the Alpina BMW with Niki Lauda (at the wheel) on July 12, 1970

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René Herzog with a model of the Ferrari 512 M "Rolanaflor", which he drove together with Herbert Müller in various races in 1971

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Ferrari 512 M (1970) - Herbert Müller and René Herzog drove the Ferrari to fourth place at Brands Hatch on April 4, 1971

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Ferrari 512 M (1970) - Herbert Müller and René Herzog drive the "rolanaflor" Ferrari prototype to fourth place at Brands Hatch 1971

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In 1971, René Herzog was team manager in the Herbert Müller team

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Team Schnitzer competed in Le Mans for the newly founded company BMW Motorsport GmbH (BMW M) with a BMW 2800CS (1972). The drivers were the Swiss René Herzog and the German Hans Heyer.

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Letter from Hans Joachim Stuck to René Herzog regarding joint racing assignment

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Letter from Jürgen Barth confirms Herzog's fitness to drive

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Letter from Hans Joachim Stuck to René Herzog

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Porsche 962 (1987) - René Herzog climbs into the Group C Porsche for a test drive at the Nürburgring in 1989 under the watchful eye of Hans Joachimg Stuck

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Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo Group C (1991) - René Herzog contested two Interseries races with this car in 1991 (Zeltweg and Brands Hatch)

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Ford Mustang Probe (1990) - René Herzog drove together with Harald Grohs in the 24 Hours of Daytona race

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Ferrari 500 Monza (1956) - participation in the historic Targa Florio

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René Herzog shows the Ferrari 250 GTO that he drove in historic racing

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Ferrari 250 GTO (1962) - René Herzog fast on the road at the Targa Florio

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OGP 1989 - The Swiss Rene Herzog with the Ferrari 250 GTO

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Ferrari 250 GT SWB (1963) - René Herzog at the Tour de France

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Shelby Mustang GT 350 (1967) - in 2007 René Herzog started with Hans Hugenholtz and David Hart at the 6 Hours of Spa and won

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He never really let go of the boat business completely

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A giant icebreaker that Herzog bought as a wreck and amazed

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René Herzog at the helm of one of his boats

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René Herzog won the "Best of Show" prize at Villa d'Este in 2003 with the 1932 Rolls-Royce Continental P2

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Summary

René Herzog is not one of those racing drivers that everyone can immediately name. Yet he has certainly left his mark on motorsport history, having raced alongside Niki Lauda, Herbert Müller, Harald Grohs and other greats of past decades. He was also at the forefront of historic racing and built super-strong boats. This racing driver portrait looks back to the beginnings and tells the story of the career of the Swiss René Herzog, who always felt drawn to speed.

This article contains the following chapters

The racing bug is contagious
Touring car races for Alpina
Signs of replacement
From touring cars to prototype racing
Success together with Herbert Müller
Years of change
From racing car to sports boat
Re-entry into Group C
Continuation in historic racing
"Historic" victory at Spa
From racing to concours

Estimated reading time: 10min

Preview (beginning of the article)

The late sixties and early seventies of the last century were probably the craziest time in motor racing with the most amazing racing cars. Formula 1 was flourishing and drivers had the time and inclination to drive a Formula 2 race. BMW and Ford regularly hired Formula 1 cracks for touring car races and it was a matter of honor and also a matter of contract to sit in the cockpit of an endurance racing car as a Formula 1 driver for Ferrari, Porsche and Alfa Romeo. And it was precisely in this melting pot of intrepid endurance drivers, who raced for hours at 250 km/h in the rain, in the fog and at night at Le Mans, that René Herzog, a Swiss racing driver, found himself - and how!

Welcome to Zwischengas!