For Marc Surer, the friendship with the exciting German pilot is much more important than the results he achieved during his intermittent collaboration with Manfred Winkelhock between 1977 and 1985. The late older brother of the no less flamboyant “Smokin’ Jo » Winkelhock shared BMW, Ford and Porsche machines with Surer in endurance racing, notably beating the factory teams with their private Kremer Porsche 956 in the shortened Monza round of the World Endurance Championship. in 1985.
They were also teammates in European Formula 2 and rivals in Formula 1, but that made no difference to their friendly relationship. The choice of Winkelhock, who died in 1985, as Surer’s favorite teammate was therefore never in doubt for the Swiss.
Surer recalls that “we became friends very quickly” after they met when they joined the BMW Junior Team in 1977 with Eddie Cheever. Together Surer and Winkelhock won the 2.0 liter class at the Nürburgring 1000 km which was part of the World Championship for Makes. Rising star Surer was then based near Stuttgart, close to where Winkelhock grew up in Waiblingen, so they socialized frequently. This continued when racing against each other in F1 from 1982 onwards.
“We went out together in the evenings, so we spent time in private and also at the track, sometimes we had dinner when we didn’t have a contract with sponsors,” says Surer, who acknowledges that Winkelhock “was more of a family man “. after the birth of our son Markus in 1980. “Anyway,” he adds, “we had a lot in common. We had a lot of fun.”
Both drivers were promoted to F2 in 1978 with the March-BMW factory team. But unlike F3 graduate Surer, Winkelhock was new to single-seaters and did not enjoy a second full season in 1979, when Surer won the title before making his F1 debut at Ensign.
“He had no experience with formula cars and always drove the car excessively,” says Surer. But in passenger cars they complement each other well. Winkelhock was “less sensitive to car settings, he could drive a car that wasn’t perfect”, something Surer says he struggled to do.
Surer (left) was never teammates with Winkelhock in F1, but the two were great friends having raced together in F2, touring cars and Group C.
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“Even if I said ‘come on, we have too much oversteer, I can’t drive the car like that’, he would go out and set the time anyway,” notes Surer admiringly. “He was just driving too much [around] problems that I sometimes couldn’t solve. He just forced the car into the corners.
“We could always live with the same settings, we never had a problem saying ‘I can’t drive the way he wants’. We were very similar.
Surer’s F1 career had struggled to gain momentum after he broke both ankles during practice for the 1980 South African Grand Prix with ATS. He scored twice on his return to Ensign in 1981, joined Theodore mid-year, then landed at Arrows in 1982 when Winkelhock joined the grid at ATS. The same year, they collaborated on the Ford C100 program in WEC.
“Manfred had the idea and said: ‘if we ride side by side, no one can pass us’ and that’s what we did!
Marc Surer
The Zakspeed-run Fords were often unreliable, dropping out within four laps of each other due to overheating problems at Le Mans, but for the season finale at Brands Hatch they locked down the front row thanks to laps well timed in changing conditions. Surer took pole on the intermediate tires in the car he shared with Klaus Ludwig, while Winkelhock finished second on the Goodyear qualifying slicks with Klaus Niedzwiedz. But their participation in a race remembered for Jacky Ickx’s blistering run to win the title proved to be little more than a footnote after “we touched each other slightly” and Winkelhock was pulled into the barriers.
“Always, the driver who had the best time during practice was allowed to start,” Surer remembers. “Peter Ashcroft came from Ford and he said: ‘The BBC is showing the race live on TV, can you try to get back 1 and 2 on the first lap?’ Can you agree together on how to help each other? And we said, “Okay, with Manfred, I know it wasn’t a problem at all.”
“It started raining before the race and I said, ‘What are we going to do?’ In the rain, it’s unpredictable. And then Manfred had the idea and said: “if we ride side by side, no one can overtake us” and that’s what we did!
“There was always one on the outside of the corner who had the best line, because on the inside it was slipperier and tighter, so the one on the outside had to lift up a bit to stay side by side and We both did it so well, we were still in the lead, so we did another lap and another lap and the rain got harder and harder…”
Surer and Winkelhock rode side by side in their Ford C100s during the opening laps of the 1982 Brands Hatch 1000km before making contact.
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But the Fords didn’t have everything their way, because Hans Stuck in the Sauber-BMW appeared largely in the rearview mirrors. Autosport’s Quentin Spurring wrote: “Stuck’s progression continued and by lap five he was alongside the Fords, who emerged from Surtees side by side and headed back towards Pilgrims Drop. On the turn just a little further down the straight, Surer spun his C100, his car kissed Winkelhock’s and Manfred suddenly found himself on the grass and heading towards the barrier.
Without his dance partner, Surer was unable to resist Stuck, who took the lead on the sixth lap. Amid increasing rain and damaged guardrail, the race was stopped after nine laps. Winkelhock was moved to the Surer/Ludwig car for the restart on a drying track, but it was never the same competitive proposition as Surer spun at Paddock Bend, then lost three minutes in the pits due to a misfire before finishing fifth.
“We hit each other because of aquaplaning,” says Surer. “It was really difficult to reduce power in those conditions and that’s what happened. But there was no reason to blame himself.
They had to wait until 1985 before racing together again as teammates, but Surer reveals that their collaboration continued informally in F1, notably during qualifying for the 1984 South African Grand Prix. ATS had BMW turbo power from 1983, but Arrows remained part of the dwindling group of teams using the long-in-the-tooth Cosworth DFV until the following season with Tyrrell.
At Kyalami’s high altitude, normally aspirated cars were “so lost without the turbo”, prompting Surer to look for an off-the-shelf solution. He contacted Winkelhock for a tow during qualifying, and the ATS man agreed.
“He told me, ‘You do one lap after I do my fast lap, and when I finish my fast lap, I do one more lap and tow you,’” Surer laughs. “And I was the fastest of these four drivers with [Tyrrell drivers Stefan] Bellof and [Martin] Brundle because I got this cable from Manfred!
After driving F1 in 1985, Surer joined Winkelhock in a Kremer Racing 956 for that year’s WEC. Second in the first race at Mugello, they took a famous victory at Monza when a tree felled by high winds blocked the track before the Lesmo caused the race to be stopped with 34 laps remaining. Kremer’s first Group C victory was somewhat fortunate, as his car was out of sync due to a second premature stop triggered by contact with Mauro Baldi’s Lancia.
Winkelhock agreed to tow Surer during qualifying for the 1984 South African Grand Prix, helping him take the lead in the DFV brigade.
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“It was a gift,” admits Surer, who had to make his last stop shortly before the shutdown. But he is adamant: “We would have also had a chance at the end” if the race had gone to the end. In light of what happened a few months later, it remains a bittersweet memory.
Fourth at Silverstone, Winkelhock and Surer missed Le Mans due to F1 commitment conflicts in Montreal. Winkelhock had joined RAM, while Surer landed a seat at Brabham in place of the disappointing François Hesnault. Reunited at Hockenheim, their 956 suffered a fuel leak which caused another dramatic fire, just hours after the Porsche factory team incident. But what followed at Mosport was much more serious.
“We could always live with the same settings, we never had a problem saying ‘I can’t drive the way he wants’. We were very similar”
Marc Surer
Winkelhock was seriously injured when a flat tire forced his car off the road and crashed heavily on the fast descent of Turn 2 on the left. Surer accompanied his co-pilot to the Toronto hospital, but nothing could be done. Winkelhock died from head injuries the next day. It fell to Surer to inform his wife and manager of the sad news.
“Even now, when I think about it, it’s horrible,” he said. But Surer has fond memories of Winkelhock, calling their friendship “unique.”
“Maybe other drivers had this,” he adds, “but it was very unusual. Even when fighting, it always went smoothly because we can trust the other.
Victory together behind the wheel of their Kremer Porsche at Monza in 1985 is a bittersweet memory for Surer
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