Born: April 28 1937
Deceased: February 6 2006
Biography Karl Freiherr von Wendt
Karl Baron von Wendt was a German nobleman born to Carl Freiherr von Wendt Papenhausen and Anna Therese von Alvensleben. At the age of 5, von Wendt lost his father, while serving as a Captain for the German Army in Russia, during World War II. Karl von Wendt married Maria Laach Hilke Heineman in August 1960, and the couple had three children: Karl Ludwig, born in 1960; Thomas, born in 1962 and Benita Caroline, born in 1965. In 1961, In 1961, Karl von Wendt inherited the extensive estates of his father in Gevelinghausen, Wiggeringhausen in and around Lemgo
In 1959, von Wendt set the first steps of his motorsports career on a 2-wheeler. Later he switched to racing go-karts and moved on racing touring-car races when he joined the Jochen Neerpasch Racing team. In 1965 he debuted in the World Sportscar Championship, sharing a Lotus Elan with Joachim Springer in the 1000 Km of the Nürburgring. The duou finished in 26th position. Later von Wendt achieved a 6th overall in the Preis von Tirol at Innsbruck, and 5th at Aspern. During the season he also shared a Mini Cooper S with Hans Höftmann, finishing 21st in the 500 Km of the Nürburgring.
In 1966 he raced a powerful Shelby Mustang GT350, finishing second at the Norisring, close behind the winner Brian Muir. Von Wendt did not finish the 1000 Km of the Nürburgring sharing the car with Günther Selbach, eventually finishing second in his class, in the German Championship.
Formula 3 and the foundation of the German-BG racing team
At the age of 28 Karl von Wendt moved to single-seater racing. He competed in the 1966 German Formula 3 Championship at the wheel of a Lotus 35–Ford. He scored a third and a fourth place at Hockenheim, then a fine second place at Mainz-Finthen, behind the winner Kurt Ahrens, Jr. in a Brabham BT18–Ford. In 1967, von Wendt decided to start his own team and founded the German-BG Racing Team. During its existence, the team housed drivers like Rolf Stommelen, Helmut Marko, his old friend Jochen Neerpasch, and Willi Kauhsen to name just a few.
Karl von Wendt and Porsche
In the 1967 European Touring Car Championship, Karl von Wendt shared a factory-supported Porsche 911 with Gerhard Mitter, a member of the works team. To everyone’s surprise, they won which was the 1st race of the season. While leading the 6 Hours of the Nürburgring, his co-driver Mitter had a huge crash at Kallenhard ending up in the trees, after setting the fastest lap of the race. This was the first and last DNF of the car during the season. In the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, von Wendt shared the Porsche 911 with Dieter Fröhlich. Among von Wendt’s best results, were the class wins at Aspern, Oulton Park, and Saint-Ursanne, and 2 second places at Belgrade and at the Nepligét Park in Budapest.
von Wendt eventually took the European championship – Division 3 honours. Andrea de Adamich in an Alfa Romeo GTA and Willi Kauhsen in a Fiat-Abarth 1000TC were declared the champions of Division 2 and Division 1. Von Wendt raced the winning Porsche 911 also in 1968 this time partnered with Dieter Glemser, setting the fastest lap in the 4 Hours of Monza before crashing. At the end of the season, the car returned to von Wendt’s castle in Gevelinghausen, where it remained untouched for decades.
For the 1968, which von Wendt competed in the World Sportscar Championship, he switched to a Porsche 907. At that moment, the German-BG Racing Team had already a Porsche 906, a Porsche 910 and a number of 911s. With Willi Kauhsen, who became his regular teammate, he scored a seventh place in the Targa Florio and in the 1000 Km de Paris at Linas-Montlhéry. During the season he was invited by Rudy Van der Straten to drive one of the Racing Team VDS-entered Alfa Romeo 33/2 sportscars. Von Wendt made his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing the car with Belgian Serge Trosch, but he did not drive in the race because the car had a mechanical failure during the early hours.
By the end of 1968 Kauhsen and von Wendt were hired by Porsche System Engineering to drive a works 3-litre Porsche 908/2 in the 1969 World Sportscar Championship. They finished fourth in the Targa Florio, fifth in the 1000 Km of the Nürburgring, and sixth in the 1000 Km of Zeltweg. In May of 1969, the von Wendt and Kauhsen raced at the 1000 Km of Spa-Francorchamps with the old 2.2-litre Porsche 907 of the German-BG Racing Team. After 20 laps, von Wendt collided with Pedro Rodríguez‘s works Ferrari 312P at the Raidillon bend. The car crashed and von Wendt left the crash scene with only minor injuries. The car was repaired and von Wendt continued to race it that same season in races in Germany and Switzerland.
In 1969, Porsche presented the new 4.5-liter Porsche 917 sportscar. Rumors are that Karl von Wendt wanted to buy one for his German-BG Racing Team for the 1970 season. That would have made him the second customer, after John Woolfe. However, von Wendt canceled his order after Woolfe’s fatal accident in a Porsche 917 at the Le Mans 24H
In 1970 the German-BG Racing Team purchased a Porsche 908/2 in which von Wendt teamed up with Gerhard Koch and finished seventh in the 1000 Km of the Nürburgring. Later he was second in class, 18th place overall in the 1000 Km of Spa-Francorchamps with Erwin Kremer in a Kremer’s Porsche 911S.
Racetrack in Sauerland
His most ambitious project was a racetrack in the Sauerland, similar to the Nürburgring, in the vicinity of Gevelinghausen. He presented the model of the circuit at the Dortmund racing car show. In the planning, von Wendt had already invested vast sums of money and when in 1971 the Sauerland-ring project was not approved for political reasons, he decided to close his motorsport activities. That was the end of the German-BG racing team. Apart from motorsport, Karl von Wendt was also a passionate sailor. In the mid-1980s he emigrated to Canada and started a new business.
Karl had various projects in Germany and Canada ranging from theme parks and organizing horse-drawn carriage rides to a campsite in Feriendorf. He turned his castle into a hotel, which he opened in 1973, and founded the Tourism Association of Sauerland that year. Unfortunately, many of his business ventures failed and he ended up having to sell large portions of his property, the leisure park, and his castle.
After a serious illness, Karl Josef Freiherr von Wendt passed away on February 6, 2006, at the age of 68.
Pictures courtesy of Werner Ullrich and unknown.
