Peter Sauber

Peter Sauber
Sauber at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2013
Born	(1943-10-13) 13 October 1943 (age 73) Zürich, Switzerland
Nationality	Swiss
Known for	Founder of Sauber F1

Peter Sauber (born 13 October 1943) is a retired Swiss motorsport executive. He was the team principal and owner of various motorsports teams, most visibly the eponymous Sauber Formula One team.

After being trained as an electrician Sauber became a car salesman in Hinwil, Switzerland. This was Sauber's first real association with automobiles and it proved to be the catalyst for his involvement in motor-racing.

Sauber's motorsport connection was somewhat paradoxical, given that racing in his native land had been banned after the Le Mans tragedy of 1955. However, he still managed to compete in hillclimbing events in the Volkswagen Beetle he had purchased and thus the foundations for his first project as a team owner were laid.

After opting not to run the family traffic light business, Peter built the Sauber C1 (the C stands for Christiane, the name of Peter Sauber's wife) in his parents' basement. It was a car of tubular frame, powered by a 1-litre Ford Cosworth engine. He subsequently drove it to the 1970 Swiss hillclimb championship. It also remained in racing for ten years in the hands of other drivers, notably Friedrich Hürzeler, who took the 1974 crown in the car.

In 1971, Sauber handed over the driver's seat to Hans Kunis, who drove the new Sauber C2 model in the same series, as Peter himself had done so the year before.

Sauber had started to gain a portfolio of customers and in 1973, Sauber built three C3 spec chassis for different customers. Designed by Guy Boisson, the car was used predominantly in the Swiss Sports Car Championship.

The C4 of 1975 heralded the first aluminium chassis developed by the team, and Boisson was joined by Edy Wiss in designing it. Only one C4 was ever produced.

The most successful of the early Sauber cars, the C5 was used to great effect in conjunction with its 2-litre BMW engine—taking the 1976 Interserie Championship in the hands of Herbert Muller.

Being a group six sports car, the car was allowed to take part in the legendary Le Mans 24 heures race, and Sauber entered the C5 in both 1977 and 1978. In '77 the car led its class before retiring; the same thing happened in '78.