How Theo Gurzeler won the 1951 Bremgarten Prize on Jowett Javelin
Theo Gurzeler was a well-known Swiss racing driver in the 1950s. He was a three-time Bernese automobile champion, holder of the SAR gold performance badge and the gold ACS sports badge. His "racing career" came about rather by chance.
Just imagine, at the age of 25, Theo Gurzeler bought his first "real" car, a Jowett Javelin. And this is what Theo told us: "I read about the sporting successes of the Jowett Javelin brandin newspaper advertisements and thought that if these cars were doing so well, I might as well give it a try myself. My very first start was in 1949 in the Develier-Les Rangiers hill climb, where I took 3rd place. From then on, I was practically everywhere where it smelled like motor racing and where there was talk of petrol."
Coming third in your first race without any racing driver training and certainly without having sat in a go-kart at the age of 3 - yes, that was still possible in the old days.
Theo Gurzeler explained his greatest success, the victory in the 1951 Bremgarten Prize, in AR 16/1961 as follows:
"For me personally, the greatest success is definitely the victory on the Bern circuit, which incidentally didn't just fall into my lap. I had to fight hard with Dinichert's HRD, he kept popping up in my rear-view mirror. Towards the Eymatt I was always able to distance him slightly, but he closed the gap again through the forest. On the second-to-last lap, I let off the gas a little longer before the Forsthaus bend; my rear rider reacted promptly and his tete-a-tete followed just as promptly. From then on, he was out of my sight and I was able to cruise to victory unchallenged."
In addition to the Jowett Javelin, Gurzeler also drove cars from Jupiter, Glöckler, Fiat, Porsche, Abarth and Auto-Union. He won the Rallye des Neiges in 1950 and also won the National Jura Rally. At the International Geneva Rally, he finished 3rd overall and won his class.
