Niki Lauda was born in Vienna in 1949 into a wealthy industrial family that wanted nothing to do with his racing. He borrowed against his own life insurance to buy his way into Formula One, drove for March and BRM, and in 1974 joined Ferrari. The next year he won the world title.
On 1 August 1976, leading the championship, he crashed on the second lap of the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. His Ferrari burst into flames and he was pulled from it by other drivers. He had severe burns to his head and had inhaled toxic fumes; a priest gave him the last rites in hospital. Forty-two days later, with his wounds still bandaged, he raced at Monza and finished fourth.
The championship came down to the final round, in Japan, in torrential rain. After two laps Lauda drove into the pits and withdrew, saying it was too dangerous, and James Hunt took the title by one point. Lauda won it back in 1977, left Ferrari, then walked away from the sport in 1979 to build his own airline, Lauda Air.
The same year he won the BMW M1 Procar Championship, a one-make series run before Grands Prix — which is why the M1 in this catalogue belongs to his story. He came back to Formula One with McLaren in 1982 and in 1984 won his third title, by half a point over his teammate Alain Prost, the narrowest margin in the championship’s history.
He later ran Jaguar’s Formula One team and became non-executive chairman of Mercedes during its years of domination. Gordon Murray, who had designed the Brabham fan car Lauda won with in 1978, named his T.50s after him. Lauda died in May 2019, at seventy.
Foto: Wikimedia Commons · Wikipedia
The cars
Cars in the catalog he drove, won in, or that were named after him.
