Horst Kwech

[khyndart in CA]

When I read about early Trans Am stories and then DeKon Engineering I kept seeing the name of Horst Kwech.
As one quote said"If you mention Horst Kwech to most Australian race fans you'll get a blank stare. But to American Trans Am and IMSA fans, he's an Aussie legend."

[khyndart in CA]

Horst was actually born in Austria in 1937 and some of his family had to emigrate to Australia during WW 11. He grew up in Cooma, NSW and studied mechanical engineering and raced a A/H 100/4 and then built a custom sports car the RM Spyder powered by a Holden straight 6 motor with a Buchanan body.
Horst Kwech RM Spyder Bathurst Easter 1960.
35816




( Ken Hyndman )

[Ray Bell]

He also raced against Frank Matich, I'm not sure if it was in the Healey or the TC...

John Medley's Bathurst book has more detail.

[bry3500]

Horst Kwech Monza and Lola T332

[Roger Dowding]

When I read about early Trans Am stories and then DeKon Engineering I kept seeing the name of Horst Kwech.
As one quote said"If you mention Horst Kwech to most Australian race fans you'll get a blank stare. But to American Trans Am and IMSA fans, he's an Aussie legend."

Ken, there was a good article on Kwech in Australian Muscle Car a year or two back, and yes well known in IMSA, and Trans-Am, racing mainly for Ford teams. Must dig it out and re-read !!

[Steve Holmes]

Awesome thread!

[khyndart in CA]

Horst sold the RM Spyder to pay for his move to the US in 1961. He became a lead mechanic at the Knauz Continental Motors, a Alfa Romeo dealership in Lake Forest, Illinois. He began racing in a sports car he designed using Alfa Romeo engines called the AUSCA Mark 2. 1963.
35831
Horst's logo showed how proud he was of his Aussie heritage.35832
In 1966 his Alfa Romeo GTA also showed his pride in Australia.
(Check the door and the helmet )
35833



(Ken Hyndman )

[Terry S]

A later connection with Australia was that he won the 1968 Riverside Trans Am event in a Shelby Mustang.
This car was subsequently bought and raced by Bob Jane.

There was a great article on Kwech in issue 61 of Australian Muscle Car (April 2012). Also covered Moffat's and Firth's involvement in those early Trans Am races.

This site has details of most of the cars Kwech raced in US:
http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/photo/Horst-Kwech-AUS.html

See also this forum thread:
http://forums.autosport.com/topic/1194-horst-kwech/page-3?hl=%2Bhorst+%2Bkwech#entry4049766

Suggest you Google:
"Horst Kwech"
"Horst Kwech Mustang"
"Horst Kwech Alfa GTV"
In each case click on images for great photos.

If you have gone through all of that you should know all about the guy.

PS. I'm not sure why the poster of post#3 raises a question he appears to have answered over 10 years ago......

[khyndart in CA]

So I now ask the question, do we continue this thread or leave it to the previous mentioned sites which were described as ;
" If you have gone through all of that you should know all about the guy." ?




(Ken Hyndman )

[Steve Holmes]

Continue with the thread Ken. Well worth talking about.

[Oldfart]

As the photo above shows the Ausca Mk 2, was he involved with the Ausca styled from Maserati?

[khyndart in CA]

In 1966 the SCCA started a national manufacturer's sedan championship called the Trans American Challenge (Trans Am ) both for over 2 liter and under 2 liter (U2) cars. With Alfa Romeo providing works GTAs from Italy and supporting privateers such as Horst's team they proved a winning combination that year. (Horst at speed in his winning Alfa Romeo GTA.)
35837

The final race at Riverside between a young Alan Moffat in a Lotus Cortina and Horst in his Alfa where they changed positions 25 times was considered an instant classic at the time. Horst Kwech clinched the first Under 2 Liter Trans-Am Manufacturers' Championship with this drive.
Here is the field that day and you will note that the under 2 liter field is where the excitement is.
No factory teams yet in the over 2 liter field.
Frank Gardner drove in place of Ray Parsons that day so Australia was well represented.
35834

Host Kwech preparing to race.
35835

The best racing of the day.
35836

A 1966 poster by the late George Bartell depicting the 1966 U2 SCCA season.
35839




( Ken Hyndman )
p.s. Thanks Steve.

[Terry S]

So I now ask the question, do we continue this thread or leave it to the previous mentioned sites which were described as ;
" If you have gone through all of that you should know all about the guy." ?

(Ken Hyndman )

Sorry Ken, badly worded.

iInstead of "know all about" should have been "will tell you a lot about the guy"

Keep up the photos please Ken.

[Steve Holmes]

Well said Terry.

[Spgeti]

Great stuff Ken. Keep it going.

Cheers
Bruce

[Ray Bell]

Well, Terry, the poster of post 3 wasn't aware he'd asked or answered any questions about Horst ten years ago...

He's currently embroiled in some very hot US desert weather and maybe he's not thinking too well.

All the same, he sees that the Alfa is RHD and wonders how this came about.

[seaqnmac27]

Can you two PLEASE find another venue!!

[khyndart in CA]

Ray,
That is an interesting point regarding the RHD Alfa Romeo here in the US races. I can understand the Lotus Cortinas.
Perhaps Horst felt more comfortable driving like he did in Australia.
The artist's poster has it as LHD.
All opinions are welcome on this.


( Ken Hyndman )

[Steve Holmes]

Vintage Motorsport did an incredible multi-part series on the Trans-Am series back in the mid-1990s. They covered the series from its inception in 1966, through to circa 1974, by which time it had all but fallen to bits. If someone has a copies, it gives a breakdown of each main car that raced in the series, including the small bore cars which were the backbone for the first couple of years. My copies are in storage, but I thought these might provide details on why the Alfa ran RHD.

[Spgeti]

I don't have the accurate figures of production but Alfa built approximately 500 GTA 1600/1300 cars between 1965 to 1969 so one would presume it was you take what was avaliable.

[Terry S]

Ray,
That is an interesting point regarding the RHD Alfa Romeo here in the US races. I can understand the Lotus Cortinas.
Perhaps Horst felt more comfortable driving like he did in Australia.
The artist's poster has it as LHD.
All opinions are welcome on this.


( Ken Hyndman )

If you look at the photos of the Alfas in the attached you will see a mixture of left and right hand drive cars.

Perhaps they changed according to the circuit i.e. clockwise or anti clockwise.

In Australia this is what Peter Manton did with his Mini for a time.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=horst+kwech+alfa+gtv&biw=1920&bih=988&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwifmOzj3O_NAhUEm5QKHXQ3D2EQsAQIJw&dpr=1

[khyndart in CA]

Alec Midren had one each LHD and RHD.

Mildren GTA’s…
There were two, first a LHD and later a RHD car, Bartlett drove both in their competitive ‘heyday’ and both ended up racing in WA…
35883
Superb shot (Autopics) of Kevin Bartlett at Warwick Farm in RHD Alfa Romeo GTA.1966

35884
Kevin Bartlett, Lakeside. 1966. Alfa Romeo GTA. LHD.
(john Stanley photo )



(Ken Hyndman )

[garry simkin]

Horst Kwech Monza and Lola T332

I attended all F5000 races in USA and Canada in 1975-1976, and centre seat Can Am races from !977 to the end of 1981 and, whilst encountering Horst Kweck on odd occasions I have no recollection of him ever racing in those series.Maybe I'm suffering from CRAFT, however I would suggest that given its a yellow Can Am car based on a Lola that the car depicted is in fact owned by Horst Kroll from Canada.
Garry Simkin

[Terry S]

I attended all F5000 races in USA and Canada in 1975-1976, and centre seat Can Am races from !977 to the end of 1981 and, whilst encountering Horst Kweck on odd occasions I have no recollection of him ever racing in those series.Maybe I'm suffering from CRAFT, however I would suggest that given its a yellow Can Am car based on a Lola that the car depicted is in fact owned by Horst Kroll from Canada.
Garry Simkin

Apparently Horst competed in 12 heats of the 1972 L & M F5000 Championship in a Lola T300

[khyndart in CA]

Horst's 1966 GTA can still scoot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfqH9XxzT9I



(Ken Hyndman )

[seaqnmac27]

Apparently Horst competed in 12 rounds of the 1972 L & M F5000 Championship in a Lola T300

Terry there wee only 8 rounds each round was split into 2 heats, of which both from oldracingcars.com (http://www.oldracingcars.com/results/racelist/?CategoryID=FA) and my copy ofAutocourse 72/73 have him at 6 rounds, (12 heats) and of the said 12 heats, he finished in 4 6th and 7th in round 6 at Road Atlanta and 8th and 12th in round 7 at Lime Rock.

[khyndart in CA]

The 1967 Trans Am season was not a success for Horst and the Alfa Romeos as the FIA had homologated the Porsche 911 as a sedan and they blew the opposition away that year. But Horst Kwech's driving skills had been noticed by Ford Motor Company and Horst was asked to drive the Shelby Mustangs for the 1968 Trans Am season and he did not hesitate at the opportunity.
The Mustangs battled engine issues all season and they often blew in a big way. These were Tunnel-Port 302 engines that were built by FoMoCo in Detroit. The only races won by Shelby that year is when his team built the engines ! Shelby even pleaded with Ford to go back to the more reliable 289 engines but Ford would not agree to that.
Horst's only win came at the second to last race at Riverside while the Penske / Donohue team won the 1968 Trans Am Championship in their Camaro.
35889
(Horst Kwech on his way to a win at Riverside in 1968. He often had number 2 when he drove for Ford.))

Some more information at this site regarding the 1968 Trans Am Ford Tunnel-Port engine.

http://www.hotrod.com/features/history/stories/hrdp-1305-the-story-behind-fords-iii-fated-1968-tunnel-port-302/



(Ken Hyndman )

[Terry S]

The 1967 Trans Am season was not a success for Horst and the Alfa Romeos as the FIA had homologated the Porsche 911 as a sedan and they blew the opposition away that year. But Horst Kwech's driving skills had been noticed by Ford Motor Company and Horst was asked to drive the Shelby Mustangs for the 1968 Trans Am season and he did not hesitate at the opportunity.
The Mustangs battled engine issues all season and they often blew in a big way. These were Tunnel-Port 302 engines that were built by FoMoCo in Detroit. The only races won by Shelby that year is when his team built the engines ! Shelby even pleaded with Ford to go back to the more reliable 289 engines but Ford would not agree to that.
Horst's only win came at the second to last race at Riverside while the Penske / Donohue team won the 1968 Trans Am Championship in their Camaro.
35889
(Horst Kwech on his way to a win at Riverside in 1968. He often had number 2 when he drove for Ford.))

Some more information at this site regarding the 1968 Trans Am Ford Tunnel-Port engine.

http://www.hotrod.com/features/history/stories/hrdp-1305-the-story-behind-fords-iii-fated-1968-tunnel-port-302/



(Ken Hyndman )

That is the Mustang that Bob Jane bought and raced.

After many owners it eventually returned to US and was restored to original Trans An spec. It was on display in a museum in Florida run by a "dodgy" character. It was "stolen" from the museum and hasn't been seen since. It would be worth a fortune in the US these days as a car that actually raced in the original Trans Am series.

[Terry S]

Apparently Horst competed in 12 rounds of the 1972 L & M F5000 Championship in a Lola T300

Here is a photo of Horst's Lola T300 in 1972

https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisk48/9686281471

[Ray Bell]

Changing the GTA from LHD to RHD and vice versa was not nearly so easy as it was in the Mini...

They didn't do that. Mildren took on the LHD early car, possibly getting it that way because Businello was to drive it.

[Terry S]

Great story and photos here of the Alfa GTA as used by Kwech

http://www.autodelta.info/#!The-Lost-sister-of-Ferrari-Part-2/czjb/56976a170cf21038319156bd

[Steve Holmes]

That is the Mustang that Bob Jane bought and raced.

After many owners it eventually returned to US and was restored to original Trans An spec. It was on display in a museum in Florida run by a "dodgy" character. It was "stolen" from the museum and hasn't been seen since. It would be worth a fortune in the US these days as a car that actually raced in the original Trans Am series.

I didn't know about the Mustang being stolen. Thats a shame. The thieves couldn't ever do anything with it. The car was all hand-built. One of the Penske Camaros this car raced against in the '68 Trans-Am season came up at auction recently, and sold for a few dollars under US$1 million. That gives an indication of the value of the Shelby Mustang.

[khyndart in CA]

Great story and photos here of the Alfa GTA as used by Kwech

http://www.autodelta.info/#!The-Lost-sister-of-Ferrari-Part-2/czjb/56976a170cf21038319156bd

Thanks Terry,
I have certainly learnt a lot about the Alfa Romeo GTA while doing this thread.
Cheers,
Ken H

[Terry S]

Terry there wee only 8 rounds each round was split into 2 heats, of which both from oldracingcars.com (http://www.oldracingcars.com/results/racelist/?CategoryID=FA) and my copy ofAutocourse 72/73 have him at 6 rounds, (12 heats) and of the said 12 heats, he finished in 4 6th and 7th in round 6 at Road Atlanta and 8th and 12th in round 7 at Lime Rock.

Apologies I should have said heats and not rounds

[khyndart in CA]

This is another Read & Weep site. (Mustang 360 ..Nov. 2004 )
For $ 500.00 less engine !

http://www.mustangandfords.com/featured-vehicles/mump-0411-trans-am-ford-mustang-coupe/

(Ken Hyndman )

[Parnelli]

This is another Read & Weep site. (Mustang 360 ..Nov. 2004 )
For $ 500.00 less engine !

http://www.mustangandfords.com/featured-vehicles/mump-0411-trans-am-ford-mustang-coupe/

(Ken Hyndman )

Relating to Horst Kwech Mustang, I have a shot somewhere of Horst and Shelby leaning on the side of the '69 blue Shelby stang with a stylized "Kiwi " on the driver's door. Can anyone explain the significance of the kiwi ?

[khyndart in CA]

1969 was a rough season in Trans Am for Horst Kwech. It began in May 1969 with the first race at Michigan in the new Shelby Mustang Boss 302. Chassis number # 9F02M148627. Car # 2.
The season held so much promise.
35917

The weather forecast for weekend was; cold, rain, fog and a chance of snow !
Horst qualified 3rd and conditions were improving but very tricky and the car left the track on the infield area and slammed into a spectator's car which probably saved the lives of others that were poorly protected by fencing that did little to stop a sliding race car.
One spectator died and several injured in what could have been much worse. This must have been devastating for Horst. The car was taken away and stored for several years before it was destroyed.
35913
Horst taking the Shelby Boss 302 # 2 out at the Michigan International Speedway. (M.IS.).

35914
Horst driving in stormy weather at Michigan.

35915
A view of the Michigan International Speedway infield showing the poor spectator protection when cars were sliding out of control.
(This is not the H.Kwech incident.)

35916
Horst Kwech driving at speed at the Michigan International Speedway. May 1969.



(Ken Hyndman )

[Terry S]

Relating to Horst Kwech Mustang, I have a shot somewhere of Horst and Shelby leaning on the side of the '69 blue Shelby stang with a stylized "Kiwi " on the driver's door. Can anyone explain the significance of the kiwi ?

Parnelli, was this the photo you were thinking of with kiwi on the door:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=horst+kwech+mustang&biw=1920&bih=988&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfsuDL4vTNAhVIj5QKHVqEAowQsAQIMg#imgrc=HKVA7Ze3I1jppM%3A

[Steve Holmes]

Parnelli, was this the photo you were thinking of with kiwi on the door:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=horst+kwech+mustang&biw=1920&bih=988&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfsuDL4vTNAhVIj5QKHVqEAowQsAQIMg#imgrc=HKVA7Ze3I1jppM%3A

Interesting! Hadn't spotted that one before. Here is the photo you linked to Terry. Kiwi Ron Butler worked for Shelby and I believe was chief mechanic. Maybe he was working the spanners on Horst's car?

It was Ron Butler who arranged for Paul Fahey to go through and clean out the Shelby workshop in 1970, many of the parts from which went onto his '70 Mustang race car.

35919

[Terry S]

It seems Horst had such deep regard for Alfas that in 1968 he bought a Chevron B10 formula 2 car and put an Alfa 2.7litre V8 in the back. This was to run in Formula A, the forerunner to Formula 5000.

[khyndart in CA]

The 1969 Michigan Speedway Trans Am weekend was described as a debacle from beginning to end.
Besides the weather, the toilets did not work, spectator cars got stuck, poor attendance, the proper race winner was not announced until the next day due to poor time keeping, track conditions not up to standard plus the Horst Kwech accident.
This photo shows how dangerously close spectators were to the track plus note the change in track surface which was also a contributing factor.
35926


Shortly after the Kwech accident and the helicopter is about to take the victim away to hospital.
Again note the lack of protection for the spectators !

35927
(Ron Lathrop photos )

(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

In 1969 Ford's Kar Kraft racing division's lead engineer was Lee Dykstra who redesigned the Mustang chassis and with the Boss 302 engine under the hood it was a vast improvement over the previous Trans Am model. It was very competitive and more reliable but the
Roger Penske and Mark Donohue in a Camaro combination was just too good and won the Trans -Am championship for that year.

One of the area where Penske gained ground was during refueling during these long races. The fuel fillers were often a work of art.

35950

35951


35948

35949
Trans Am action in 1969.



(Ken Hyndman ..scrapbook )

[khyndart in CA]

This is a 1969 AMC Javelin promotional movie with some interesting scenes of the Trans -Am racing.
Check the pit stop at Riverside !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDJ6BhUrsak


(Ken Hyndman )

[Terry S]

Whilst much of Horst's exposure was in Alfas and Mustang he also raced a Lola T300 F5000, chassis #HU 7.

The T300, of which only 18 were made by the factory, was probably one of Lola's lease successful cars. Certainly compared with the T332.

There seemed to be an inordinate number of crashes and wrecks with it, and to be a bad luck car. Some included:

Prototype: Written of by Frank Gardner in UK
HU 3: Written off by Graeme Lawrence in 1972 NZGP in accident that killed Bryan Faloon
HU 4: Wrecked by Niel Allen in private practice accident at Surfers. Later written off by Warwick Brown in practice.
HU 9: Written off by Terry Sanger in UK
HU 16: Raced by NZ's Reg Cook, after Bartlett. Burnt out when trailer crashed.

From Old Racing Cars, the story of Horst's HU 7:

"Invoice date 29 Dec 1971 (sold to 'Haas', colour 'Red'). Horst Kwech (Gurnee, IL) US 1972 ("badly damaged" (Autoweek) at the end of the second Road Atlanta heat when Motschenbacher's McLaren M18 hydroplaned into Kwech's Lola; at least retubbed or even written off and replaced with HU18). Advertised 17 Feb 1973 ("two races since new") and sold to Tuck Thomas (Edina, MN) and raced in SCCA Nationals 1973, and in the Pro race at Road America in July. To Norman Marx (Marblehead, Mass) and raced in NE Division SCCA Nationals 1975, and at the 1975 Runoffs; also raced in SCCA Nationals 1976 when he was 2nd in NEDiv with 9 pts. To Ted Wenz (Sloatsburg, NY) Fall 76 and raced in SCCA Nationals from 1976 to 1978.

To Dave Hoover (Columbus, OH/Ridgefield, CT), converted to ASR specification and raced in Can-Am 1979 (Trois Rivieres only), 1980 (Trois Rivieres only) and 1981 (2 races: Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen). Hoover was killed in flying accident and the Lola was sold to Mike Canan (Pomeroy, Ohio) 1982, and used in ASR over the next five seasons, appearing in Can-Am in 1982 and 1985, and at the Runoffs in 1987. Sold to Mary Shank 1990 (mother of Mike Shank who restored it in 1992 from Can-Am spec). Mike Shank won at HSR Mid-Ohio Aug 1993. Sold to Michael Scott March 2002 (Exeter, UK). Swapped to Neil Glover (Ansty, West Sussex) for his Brabham BT30. Part-exchanged against the ex-Johnnie Walker Lola T330/332 of Mike Wrigley (Ashbourne, Derbyshire) but not raced.

Sold to Mike Whatley (Holmfirth, West Yorkshire) March 2011. Shipped to New Zealand for the 2011/12 Tasman Revival series and raced by Whatley at Hampton Downs Jan 2012. Raced by Whatley at Brands Hatch July 2013. Sold to ex-F1 driver Ian Ashley (Bicester, Oxfordshire) late 2013 and raced by him in HSCC Derek Bell Trophy events in 2014. Raced by Ashley in the Derek Bell Trophy race at Silverstone 18 October 2014. At Thruxton April 2015. Very badly damaged in an accident at the Oulton Park Gold Cup in August 2015."

It certainly had an incredible lot of owners.

As noted it came to NZ for 2011/12 Tasman Revival. Some may have seen it at Hampton Downs in January 2012.

[Ray Bell]

Wasn't Warwick Brown's T300 crash on the warm-up laps rather than in practice?

[khyndart in CA]

Horst Kwech in the F 5000 Lola at Riverside.

35965



(Ken Hyndman )

[Terry S]

Wasn't Warwick Brown's T300 crash on the warm-up laps rather than in practice?

Ray, please see post 17........

[seaqnmac27]

My post was aimed at you to Terry, especially as you seem to start most of these...discussions!!

[GD66]

Wasn't Warwick Brown's T300 crash on the warm-up laps rather than in practice?





Brown's crash was in the pre-race warmup according to sergent.com

[Steve Holmes]

In 1969 Ford's Kar Kraft racing division's lead engineer was Lee Dykstra who redesigned the Mustang chassis and with the Boss 302 engine under the hood it was a vast improvement over the previous Trans Am model. It was very competitive and more reliable but the
Roger Penske and Mark Donohue in a Camaro combination was just too good and won the Trans -Am championship for that year.

One of the area where Penske gained ground was during refueling during these long races. The fuel fillers were often a work of art.

35950

35951


35948

35949
Trans Am action in 1969.



(Ken Hyndman ..scrapbook )

1969 was a fascinating year in the Trans-Am, and one I've studied in detail over the years. Ford ran four factory Mustangs, two by Bud Moore Engineering, and two by Shelby. In later races, a fifth car was added! By contrast, Penske ran just two Camaros, for Mark Donohue and Ronnie Bucknum. In fact, Penske only had two cars! There were no backup cars. When things began to get heated as the season wore on, they were advised to get themselves a back-up car, in the event one of the Ford guys sacrificed their car to eliminate Donohue, so they purchased back one of their old 1968 cars.

Ford were very fast in the early rounds, particularly the Bud Moore cars. By now, Shelby was on the outer with Ford. The Moore cars ran Firestone tyres, the Shelby cars ran Goodyears. But the Firestones were faster.

It was the big shunts in a couple of the early races that really set Ford back though, because they had to switch their resources from developing their cars to go faster, to building completely new cars. This put them on the back foot and they never caught up. Penske went on to win the championship for Chevrolet. There was no Drivers championship in 1969, but if there was, Donohue would have been champion.

[Parnelli]

Interesting! Hadn't spotted that one before. Here is the photo you linked to Terry. Kiwi Ron Butler worked for Shelby and I believe was chief mechanic. Maybe he was working the spanners on Horst's car?

It was Ron Butler who arranged for Paul Fahey to go through and clean out the Shelby workshop in 1970, many of the parts from which went onto his '70 Mustang race car.

35919

Thanks Terry & Steve for finding the photos, and yes quite a few Kiwis were involved with the teams from the era. Fairly unusual for mechanics to be given recognition that way. Just another one of life's little mystery's. regards

[khyndart in CA]

Before I got too far ahead I wanted to show a little of the last race at Laguna Seca in 1971 between Horst Kwech in the Alfa Romeo and John Morton in his Datsun 510. The Under 2 Litre Trans Am Championship was on the line and they raced to the limit and beyond !
35993
(Pete Lyons photo )

35994
Pete Lyons photo )

35992
The infamous "tap at the Corkscrew". Horst was not known as a timid race driver !
(Bob Tronolone photo )


(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

Here is another of Horst Kwech in his Shelby Boss 302 Mustang with that Kiwi on the right door.
Lime Rock 1969 Trans-Am race.

35997

He was being fair as it looks like he had a Kangaroo on the driver's door.

35998


(Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

In 1973 Horst drove a RS 2600 Capri in Trans Am races without much success but during that time he worked with his former Ford engineer, Lee Dykstra.
36046

[khyndart in CA]

As Porsche was dominating the IMSA Camel series in 1974 Chevrolet came up with a proposal IMSA to provide domestic (USA) competition with their V8 Chevy Monza's. Horst Kwech and Lee Dykstra formed a company together called DeKon Engineering in July 1974.. The D was from Dykstra and the K was from Kwech and was short for Design and Construction. They contracted to Chevrolet to design and build the Monza's to race at the highest levels.They debuted part way through the 1975 season and over the next 3 years DeKon produced 17 race cars of which 14 were Chevrolet Monza's.
I was fortunate to see one of the first ones built, chassis 1005, driven by Allan Moffat at Baypark, December 1975.
36047
Allan Moffat in DeKon Chevrolet Monza # 7 coming up to the start at Baypark Raceway. Dec. 1975
( Ken Hyndman photo )

There is much to be read at this excellent site regarding the DeKon cars and personnel.

http://www.scharch.org/Cars/Monza_Racecars/Monza-DeKon_Chassis.htm




( Ken Hyndman )

[khyndart in CA]

During 1976 Horst concentrated on developing and sorting out the early teething problems the Monza's had. Soon they were beating the Porsche's and BMW's and with Al Holbert driving they won the IMSA GT Championships in 1976 and 1977.
Horst slowed down his driving activities but he did some racing in the 1982 Can-Am series which was now basically converted open wheelers as can be seen with this Toleman TG 280 with a Hart 2 litre engine as part of the AUSCA Racing Team.
36056
(Norbet Vogel photo )

36057
Horst Kwech finished his driving career in fine style with a win in the under 2 litre class in the 1982 Can-Am final race at Laguna Seca.
( Dan Wildhirt photo )
Besides helping others into racing, Horst has turned his engineering skills into being awarded over a dozen US Patents for tools he has designed for the power generation industry. He has also won the best home built aircraft at the annual Oshkosh air show.
He has the distinction of being the only driver to win a Trans Am race in both the Over and Under 2 litre divisions.
He retired and is living in Lake Forrest, Illinois.
I have a lot of admiration for this man and a life well done.

36058



(Ken Hyndman )

[bry3500]

Good link
http://www.auslot.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13261-horst-kwech/

[gray chandler]

Good link
http://www.auslot.com/forums/index.php?/topic/13261-horst-kwech/

Brilliant ,informative article. Used to follow his career in Sports Car Graphic in the 60s. cheers.

[khyndart in CA]

Here is a short clip of a 1969 Trans-Am race.
It shows brief clips of Horst Kwech in the # 2 blue Shelby Mustang.
As it was for much of this season Horst did not finish as he crashed out a few laps from the end.
This clip also spends a lot of time on crowd shots which may be of interest to some !


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn0OOSQPXT8



( Ken Hyndman )

[aussiemonza]

As Porsche was dominating the IMSA Camel series in 1974 Chevrolet came up with a proposal IMSA to provide domestic (USA) competition with their V8 Chevy Monza's. Horst Kwech and Lee Dykstra formed a company together called DeKon Engineering in July 1974.. The D was from Dykstra and the K was from Kwech and was short for Design and Construction. They contracted to Chevrolet to design and build the Monza's to race at the highest levels.They debuted part way through the 1975 season and over the next 3 years DeKon produced 17 race cars of which 14 were Chevrolet Monza's.
I was fortunate to see one of the first ones built, chassis 1005, driven by Allan Moffat at Baypark, December 1975.
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Allan Moffat in DeKon Chevrolet Monza # 7 coming up to the start at Baypark Raceway. Dec. 1975
( Ken Hyndman photo )

There is much to be read at this excellent site regarding the DeKon cars and personnel.

http://www.scharch.org/Cars/Monza_Racecars/Monza-DeKon_Chassis.htm




( Ken Hyndman )

Hi Ken, obscured by the Moffat Monza is Red Dawson in DeKon 1001 (ex- Mo Carter / ex - Horst Kwech)

[khyndart in CA]

Aussiemonza,
You are absolutely correct and I should have noted that.
I might have better photos of this day soon, as the original negatives have been located.

Ken

[Steve Holmes]

Same day, different angle.

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[aussiemonza]

Aussiemonza,
You are absolutely correct and I should have noted that.
I might have better photos of this day soon, as the original negatives have been located.

Ken

Very keen to see any new images. Rowan.

[khyndart in CA]

Rowan,
They did not turn out as well as I had hoped. But this is the Baypark Meet in December 1975.(Redone)


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That is it for now.
(Ken Hyndman )

[prn31]

I interviewed Horst Kwech for Australian Muscle Car (AMC) magazine back in February 2012.

I should tell the back story as to how this all came about as it might interest a few people here.

I first came across the name Horst Kwech when, as a keen Alfisti, I bought that fabulous book called Allegeritta, on the history of the Alfa Giulia GTA back in the 1990s (it helped that I worked for Motor Books in Sydney). There was quite a bit on Kwech and the fact that his car and helmet had the kangaroo insignia mystified me. Not long afterwards I bought John Medley’s book Bathurst: Cradle of Australian Motor Racing which mentioned Horst Kwech racing at the Mt Panorama between 1958 and 1960. It stated that Kwech was from Cooma, so I presumed he was an engineer on the Snowy Mountains Scheme. I was fascinated, but back in those pre-internet days, it was impossible to find out more.

It wasn’t until I joined The Nostalgia Forum (TNF) in late 2002 that I finally started to learn about the mysterious Horst Kwech. Problem was, even well-known Australian writers like Ray Bell and the late Barry Lake knew little about him. However a I guy called Brett (Beejay17) from Wollongong was helpful. However it was left to our American TNF friends to fill in the gaps. I learnt about the Allan Moffat connection and during an Alfa club night (in 2003?) when the great man was present, I asked him about Horst. To my surprise he wasn’t that complimentary, bringing up the Daytona 68 debacle.

It wasn’t until 2009 that I came across a guy called Bob Lee, also known as CanamBob (he used to own a McLaren M20 and M6B) who posted on TNF that he had constructed a Wikipedia page for Horst Kwech. At that time Bob had just finished restoring Horst’s 1966 Alfa GTA complete with green and yellow stripes. I made contact with Bob who confirmed that he was in contact with Horst and so began my quest to find out more about the great man.

Over the last five years I’ve written about 25 feature articles for AMC. But back in 2009 I was a green amateur who had only written for club magazines. At the time I was assisting contributor Luke West (now editor) with research and he got then-editor Mark Oastler to agree in principle for me to go ahead and interview Horst. Simple, really?

Bob Lee gave me an email address for Horst so I fired off an email. Months later after some encouragement from Bob I finally got a short response from Horst in May 2010. He didn’t want to do a phone interview! Problem was that Horst was in Chicago and I was in Sydney. Luke told me to abandon ship. Nevertheless Bob could see the merit of an Australian publication interviewing Horst and persisted. I got another email from Horst in August 2010 saying he was ready to chat, but not on the phone. Here we go again…

Another year went past and with Luke West now editor at AMC. A feature on Australian drivers competing at Trans Am reactivated the Horst Kwech story and so Bob Lee and I tried again. We still weren’t having much luck. Bob tried a couple of Horst’s contacts like Bill Knauz and James Weber. At one point, Bob even suggested I send him my questions for him to ask Horst.

We were all resigned to it not happening – I would have to write the article without any first hand quotes from Horst and then… Horst finally agreed to be interviewed!

So I found myself on early on a Sunday morning calling up Horst Kwech and for the next hour and forty five minutes we chatted. He was a lovely guy still with a broad Aussie accent who had a pretty good (though not infallible) recall of days gone by. Unfortunately I was up against it writing the story to Luke’s brief. My writing was still pretty green and I was getting ready to go to the Phillip Island Classic (my last race.) Nevertheless, I was happy with how it turned out.

I’m pretty sure that I’m the only Australian who has every interviewed Horst Kwech. The article surprised a lot of people, who knew the name but didn’t know he was Australian. As a bonus Paul Cross provided us with a great colour shot of the RM Spyder at Gnoo Blas too.

I’ve interviewed a lot of well-known Australian drivers since, but being able to interview Horst Kwech was a life’s ambition fulfilled.

Paul Newby

[khyndart in CA]

Thanks Paul for your Horst Kwech story.
I started this thread when I realized how he was known here in the States but there seemed to be little out there about his connections to Australia.
I have enjoyed all the inputs and your own of an ambition fulfilled is truly appreciated.

Ken Hyndman.

[ctduirf]

Going back to the F5000 car for a moment , The car in the photo with the Monza may have been the remnants of the Kwech car but it is not the car as/or while he raced it . If you look closely at the chassis you can see all kinds of odd shaped , light gauge , tubing structures sticking out off the tub . This is the type of attachments you see to adapt a single seater Can Am body . Ironically , (and I admit I didn't catch it myself at first glance) the large Item that looks like a shed that is shading the guy working on the car IS the whole rear body of the car standing on it's tail .

[Ray Bell]

Just to put the pic on P2 up the right way:

https://i.postimg.cc/W4Qqkk9P/0820fr-RSmichiganinfield.jpg