The race car driver Helmut Marko was quite famous in the 70s ... He forever connected his life with motorsport, remaining at work even at his venerable age.
Biography: brief information
Helmut Marko was born in wartime - in 1943, on April 27, in the small town of Graz. Marco's father is an imperious person, he insisted on getting a higher education and was dissatisfied with his son's passion for racing.
In 1967, Helmut received his doctorate in law. This day he remembered only due to the fact that two days earlier he came to the finish line second in Langebarna in the Formula V race.
Life on the track
Marco was brought into the race by his childhood friend Johan Rindt. First, young people engaged in motorcycle racing, and then switched to competitions in the mountains.
Johan helped Helmut in everything. Talking with sponsors, meeting the right people, and preparing for the races were invaluable to Marco.
In 1970, Rindt invited a friend to become a pilot of the team, where he was a co-owner. And Helmut immediately won third place in the Le Mans 24 Hours race. A year later, the Austrian improved his result to a victorious finish. At the same time, he set a record for the maximum distance traveled, which was broken only after 40 years.
In racing 2-liter sports cars, Marco was successful. First, the rider rises to the third step of the podium at Daytona competitions, then becomes the second in the famous Targa Florio race. Then again the third place on the 1000 km of the Nurburgring and the second in Zeltweg on the highway of the same length.
"Formula 1"
Helmut Marko made his debut in the "royal race" on a rented car "McLaren", although he officially played for the BRM team.
The rider decided to train a month before the first start, with a car he was helped by a friend of Johan Rindt - Bonnier. At the first training lap, the car stalled. The same thing happened the next day. At his first official start at the Austrian Grand Prix, Marco came out not entirely confident in his abilities.
In many ways, the unsuccessful career of a rider in the first Formula was facilitated by the leadership of the team. In BRM at that time, Marco was already the 5th pilot, and they took him to the team only because of sponsorship investments. Accordingly, he received the worst car, which did not allow him to fully reveal.
In the final race of the 1971 season, Helmut finally moved to a good car. But here he was not lucky - the mechanics were mistaken with the calculations and shortly before the finish line, Marco ran out of gas.
Shortly before the French Grand Prix, the Austrian still got a car, technically comparable to the auto team leader Beltoise. Under equal conditions, Helmut Marco showed the best time, and Beltoise crashed the car. Then the leadership decided that the first pilot would be Marco.
It was at that moment when the career of the rider began to gain momentum, an accident occurred that put an end to the future plans of Marco in the world of motorsport.
At the French stage of Formula 1, where the Austrian race car driver received the best race car and a team of mechanics, circumstances were not in favor of the talented pilot. In the Ronnie Peterson fireball, the fire extinguishing system falsely worked and flooded almost the entire car of the next behind Marco. For a better view, Helmut began to rise in his chair, then a stone flew out from under the wheels of Peterson's car. He pierced Marco's helmet and severely injured his left eye.
The pilot himself got out of the car and lost consciousness. The career of the Formula 1 driver was over, almost never starting ...
Still in motorsport
But the persistent Helmut Marko did not leave motorsport. Being an educated and legally savvy man, he did a lot for the development of motorsport in his homeland.
Marco led Gerhard Berger and Karl Wendlinger to the race. He was their manager for several years.
Then the Austrian created his team RSM Marko, which won the “Formula 3000”. In 1996, Helmut Marko in the Red Bull - at the head of the youth team training program.
Since 2005, he has been the permanent chief consultant for the main Red Bull racing team. Marco did a lot to ensure that Sebastian Vettel and the Austrian team successfully performed in prestigious races.
It is also noteworthy that Helmut Marko speaks positively of the Russian racer Daniil Kvyat. He stands for the Red Bull subsidiary Toro Rosso, and his partner is Carlos Sainz Jr.
Strong in spirit, the Austrian always quite toughly defends the interests of his team. That is why he won the recognition and respect of millions of motorsport fans.