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"My cars are not tortured" - about the patriarch Carlo Abarth and his racing team

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Created in 2007

Text:

Rainer Braun

Photos:

Hallo Fahrerlager / Archiv Rainer Braun

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Hallo Fahrerlager / Archiv Rainer Braun

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Raise your leg - Marsilio "PAM" Pasotti (No. 31) and Albertus "Ab" Goedemans (No. 46) in the Fiat-Abarth 1000 TC at the 1968 Zandvoort Trophy

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Two important people - technician Klaus Steinmetz (left) and Carlo Abarth

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Kurt Ahrens (right) reports to Carlo Abarth on the handling of his car

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Briefing - Carlo Abarth sits enthroned in the van, the mechanics listen attentively

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The star of the team - Hans Herrmann in the Abarth sports car, Carlo Abarth and the mechanics around him in Vienna-Aspen

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Convoy on the Ring - Furtmayr, Ahrens, Hezemans and Bitter on Abarth 1300 OT in 1967 at the 500 km race

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Johannes Ortner in the Abarth 2000 SP 1968 at the Nürburgring

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Newspaper clipping from the Rheinische Post, published in January 1966

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Summary

Carlo Abarth was one of the most dazzling personalities in motor racing in the fifties and sixties. His racing cars dominated their classes and his sports cars were also among the front runners. However, Commendatore Abarth was not an easy-going person, a fact that was felt by both drivers and reporters. Rainer Braun summarizes many anecdotes about the resourceful engineer and illustrates them with pictures from the time.

This article contains the following chapters

Criticism is not welcome
"There's no laughing here"
Ortner as a whipping boy
"I almost ran him over"
Hans Herrmann with special status

Estimated reading time: 12min

Preview (beginning of the article)

This report comes from the 1st volume of the popular book series "Hallo Fahrerlager" by Rainer Braun from 2007. Premiere of the Mainz-Finthen airfield race, May 1964. I am standing with photographer HP Seufert in the interior close to the fast right-hand bend before the hairpin bend. Every time an Abarth approaches, an elegantly dressed man throws himself to the ground. Hans Herrmann, Abarth contract driver, joins us. "That's our boss," he whispers to me with a grin, "he often lies down lengthways when he studies the driving behavior of his cars. And then he tells us that we're all crazy when we say the car isn't lying down. That's just the way he is."

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