Born: January 18 1935
Deceased: June 13 1963
Biography Christian ‘Bino’ Heins
Christian Heins was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on 18 January 1935, the son of an Italian mother and a German father, who ran an industrial laundry business in Brazil. Heins was amongst the many Brazilian racers who in the 1950s benefitted from support and coaching from Victor Losacco to launch his career. He was often called by his nickname, “Bino” which was a shortened version of the Italian word “Bambino”, as he was nicknamed by his mother.
Christian Heins is considered one of the most skillful Brazilian drivers. He started racing at age 19 and quickly rose to the top of the local racing scene. He made his debut on 16 May 1954, and immediately took a class win in a Porsche 356 at Interlagos. Heins also acquired significant experience in international races, often in Europe. His first crossing of the Atlantic was in 1958, to take part in the Italian hillclimb Bolzano-Mendola. Heins, an unknown newcomer, surprised many, not only by winning the Hillclimb in his Porsche 550 but by setting a new record along the 14.4-kilometer course too.
In the following weeks, Heins scored other wins in Italy. He shared his car in the 10-hour race at Messina with Paul-Ernst Strähle and in the Giro delle Calabria. In 1959 he returned to Italy to take part in the Italian Formula Junior Championship. Both Brazilians scored an impressive 1-2 in the Messina Grand Prix held at the Lago di Ganzirri street course in their Stanguellini – Fiats. Later Heins was hired by the Italian car Moretti to drive a factory car. As soon as in October he scored 4th place in that Moretti- Fiat in the Gran Premio Shell at Vallelunga. In the World Sportscar Championship, Heins obtained a remarkable 4th place in the 1000 Km of Buenos Aires, paired with Celso Lara Barberis in a Maserati 300S.
In 1959 Heins shared a Porsche 718 with Carel Godin de Beaufort, but they did not finish the 24-hour race due to engine failure. He continued to race Porsche in 1959 but crashed out spectacularly in the Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in May. One year before the duo finished 2nd in class, 8th place overall in the Tourist Trophy at Goodwood in a works Porsche 550A RS 1500.
Next to a talented racer, showed Christian Heins skills as a manager too. Despite his young age, was appointed head of the racing department of Willys Overland – at the time the second largest car manufacturer in Brazil. In that position, Heins exerted significant impulse for the development of motorsport in Brazil.
Willys had acquired licenses for the manufacturing of several Renault vehicles in Brazil, including the Dauphine and a modified version of the Alpine, called Interlagos. Such a connection landed him a seat in the official Alpine team for the 1963 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In that event, he shared with José Rosinski a brand new Alpine-Renault M63 #48 equipped with a 996 cm3 engine. Unfortunately, Heins was killed in a fiery, multi-car accident on the Ligne Droite des Hunaudières in the sixth hour of the race. In the post-mortem autopsy discovered that Christian Heins was killed almost instantly from head injuries.
