Happy birthday dear Heini Mader!
Today, on February 14, 2026, he will be 90 years young and the engine is still running as it always has! Heini Mader started as a mechanic on Jo Siffert's Filipinetti-Lotus in 1962 and ended his official F1 motorsport career with the 4-cylinder BMW Turbo engine, which raced under the Megatron label, in the Arrows and Ligier from 1986-1988 under the direction of Heini Mader. Eddie Cheever achieved the last podium finish for Megatron with the Arrows and Heini's engine at the 1988 Italian GP in Monza. Turbos were then banned from F1 in 1989.
Heini started at the bottom and worked his way to the top with great skill and dedication.
However, he never lost his down-to-earth attitude and, like so many in motorsport, often struggled with unpaid bills. One of his best statements was, to exaggerate, of course: "If I could get all the money I'm owed in one go, I could use it to buy a yacht that I couldn't turn around on Lake Geneva."
He certainly received one of his greatest endorsements in 1980, when Jean Rondeau's Rondeau, together with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, won the overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a 3-liter Cosworth engine prepared by Heini Mader (and ahead of Porsche)!
Heini Mader together with Max Heidegger (left)
Just as memorable for Heini was October 1986, when Gerhard Berger won the Mexican Grand Prix in Formula 1 with the Benetton - of course with a BMW turbo engine that had been prepared in Heini's workshops in Gland! And in 1988, at the Portuguese GP in Estoril, almost half of all the cars on the grid had an engine prepared in Gland!
Although Heini Mader officially retired from the business in 2003, he still has a stock of Cosworth spare parts that is unique on the whole continent. He continues to put his knowledge and experience at the service of numerous customers, today of course mainly for those who drive historic racing cars.
Dear Heini, together with the whole "zwischengas team", I wish you a very happy birthday!
The picture above shows Heini Mader 2021, pictures: © Daniel Reinhard
