DRIVERS (W)
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Even with lots of work still do be done this list have reached a state
where it must be considered one of the most complete and accurate ever assembled on
the subject. This has only been possible due to the tremendous help from people
all over the world, each of them experts of their local drivers and events.
Short biographies of drivers with BLUE background, will come up in due time.
If you have any information about any driver with GREEN background, please
contact me!
Louis Auguste Wagner (F) |
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* 5 Feb 1882
† 13 Mar 1960 |
Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, Seine-Saint-Denis
Montlhéry, Île-de-France |
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Born in 1882 Wagner joined Darracq in 1901 and became a team driver in 1903 winning the Circuit of Bastogne, Belgium and lying third in the voiturette class in the infamous Paris-Madrid
race before it was stopped. He won the the voiturette class of Circuit des Ardennes in 1903 and 1905. He failed to qualify for the 1904 Gordon Bennet race (retired after 1 lap) as well
as in 1905 (fourth in thee French Eliminating trials) but won the 1906 Gordon Bennet race (and spent 48 hours in a New York jail for for speeding at Broadway.)
After unfairly being blaimed by Darracq for the team's 1907 Targa Florio failure he moved to Fiat finishing 7th in the 1907 Kaiserpreis in Germany, winning the American Grand Prize as Savannah and
third at the St. Petersburg-Moscow race. In 1909 he temporary switched his attention to flying.
He finshed second at the 1912 French GP and sportingly allowed by Fiat to race for Mercedes he finished second in the 1914 French GP. He raced a Ballot at the 1919 Indianapolis 500
driving a Ballot but retired. In 1921 he finished third with Fiat in the Italian GP. He drove for Ballot, then Rolland- Pilain and in 1924 for Alfa Romeo. In 1925 he finished second with a
Peugeot at the Targa Florio and second in a Delage with Torchy at the French Grand Prix. In 1926 with Peugeot he was sixth in the Targa Florio, and with Delage he shared fourth place in
the European GP and shared third place in the Spanish GP. He won the 1926 British Grand Prix in a 1.5-Liter Delage with Robert Sénéchal.
After World War II one leg had to be amputated due to tubercolosis. He became supervisor for the Montlhéry circuit before having to retire as the disease worsened. He died in 1960.
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1921: 7 French GP /
3 Italian GP
1922: DNF French GP /
DNA Italian GP
1924: 9 Targa Florio (3000cc) /
4 European GP /
2 Italian GP
1925: 2 Targa Florio /
2* French GP
1926: 6 Targa Florio /
DNC* European GP /
3* Spanish GP /
1* British GP
1927: DNF ACF Free For All /
DNF French GP /
DNA San Sebastian GP /
DNA Spanish GP
1928: ? (heat) Grand Prix Bugatti
1929: DNF Targa Florio
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Arthur Cyril Roy Waite (AUS/GB) |
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* 9 Apr 1894
† 25 Jan 1991
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Adelaide, South Australia
Kingswood, Surrey |
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| (Info supplied by Adam Ferrington) |
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1926: DNF JCC 200 (750cc)
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Willy Walb (D) |
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* 12 Mar 1890
† 27 Jun 1962
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Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg
Stuttgart |
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Auto Union team manager
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1923: DNF European GP
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Franz Waldhier (D) |
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From München. A pure amateur who took part in hill climbs in 1925/1926 in a Bugatti Type 23 and finished in the top places in his class in several smaller events.
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| (Info supplied by Hugo Boecker) |
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1925: 3 Solitude GP (1500cc
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Karl Baron Horst von Waldthausen (CH) |
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* 25 Mar 1907
† 27 Aug 1933 |
Essen, Germany
Salon-de-Provence, France |
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Baron Horst von Waldthausen was born in Essen, Germany. At a later time in his life the 26-year old driver supposedly
became Swiss citizen. According to AUTOMOBIL-REVUE, Baron von Waldthausen was a native of Liechtenstein, but lived already for many years at Lake Geneva.
He established himself as a young, rather wealthy man in the Villa Barholoni in Versoix near Geneva. Already at that time his whole passion was directed
towards motor sport. To pursue this obsession, he had his own autodrom built inside his park for his own pleasure. His neighbors had very
little understanding for that and the city council had to interrogate.
Waldthausen decided for that reason to move to Villa Tatiana near Nyon, canton de Vaud, where he again had an autodrom of his own built inside his park.
Baron von Waldthausen became better known through his financial support of the Swiss Grand Prix at the Meyrin circuit in 1931. Not only automobile
races but also motorcycle races were financed with his help. He started his racing career in 1932 only after he and Julio Villars had formed the
Swiss Racing Equipe Villars-Waldthausen. At Grand Saconnex near Geneva, Waldthausen drove a 1750 Alfa sports car.
At Develier-Les Rangiers he was third fastest of all cars, now driving an Alfa Romeo Monza. He was eighth in
the 3-liter racing class at Klausen, third in the large racing car class at Stelvio and third in the 3000cc class at Mont Ventoux.
At the end of the season Waldthausen and Villars came fifth and sixth respectively in the sports
car class of the 1932 Swiss Championship.
The year 1933 became a much busier was the team took part in a full GP season.
Waldthausen finished fourth at Alessandria, la Bule and Comminges.
However at the Marseille Grand Prix von Waldthausen had a severe accident as on lap 20 he crashed in the south Turn of
the Miramas Autodrom. It is said that a tire of his Alfa Romeo racing car had burst at full speed, causing his car to tumble over several times.
The driver was thrown out of the car onto the concrete track, severely injured. He was immediately transported in a regular touring car to the next
medical depot, from where Waldthausen was instantly brought to the Salon-de-Provence Hôpital where he was admitted at 5:30 PM and already one hour
later he passed away on internal injuries. A double fracture of the right leg was diagnosed, also a double shoulder fracture and internal injuries.
Baron von Waldthausen had remained fully conscious until the last moment.
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| (Info supplied by Hans Etzrodt) |
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1932: DNA Comminges GP
1933: 4 Tunis GP /
DNF (heat) Bordino GP /
DNF Picardie GP /
DNA Eifel GP /
DNF French GP /
DNF Marne GP /
DNA Belgian GP /
DNA Coppa Ciano /
4 La Baule GP /
4 Comminges GP /
DNF Marseille GP
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Asser Rafael Wallenius (FIN) |
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* 23 Jul 1902
† 25 Feb 1971 |
Tampere
Nuutilanmäki, Juva, Savonia |
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Controller. One of Finland's top speed skaters
in the 20s. Finnish champion 1923 and 1926. Bronze at the European Championship 1922.
In the 1924 Olympics at Chamonix he finished 5th in the 500m skating, 10th in both 5000m and 10000m
and was on his way to a medal in the 1500 m race when he fell on the last lap.
Turned to racing and entered a Ford V8 Roadster in the Finnish GP from 1935-1950, taking a
class victory in 1947, and thereafter raced an Allard J2 until 1954.
On 25 February 1971 Wallenius was driving on trunk road 5 towards Mikkeli. Near Nuutilanmäki village, Juva parish, while passing a truck
he crashed into a truck coming in the other direction.
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1932: 5 Finnish GP /
3 Munkkiniemenajo
1933: DNF Finnish GP /
DNF Swedish Summer GP
1934: 4 Finnish GP
1935: 6 Finnish GP /
3 Estonian GP
1936: 4 Finnish GP
1939: DNA Finnish GP
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Cyril Ulrich Max Walther (GB) |
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* 21 Dec 1898
† 15 Aug 1972 |
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Earls Colne, Essex |
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| (Info supplied by Adam Ferrington) |
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1926: DNF JCC 200 (750cc)
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Max Wälti (CH/D) |
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A Swiss journalist who lived in Berlin from 1925-1932/33 and drove at some races Bugatti. He raced with a German licence.
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| (Info supplied by Hugo Boecker) |
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1926: 9 German GP (1500cc)
1931: DNF AVUS GP
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Edoardo Weber (I) |
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* 29? Nov 1889
† 17 May 1945 |
?
? |
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After studying mechanical engineering at Turin University he moved to Bologna to work for Fiat. He created his own design of carburettor and established the
Fabbrica Italiana Carburatori Weber company in 1923. He was a member of the Fascist party and in May 1945 after the end of WW2 he was abducted from his factory
by presumably the Italian resistance movement and never seen again.
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| (Info supplied by Simon Davis) |
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1923: DNA Mugello Circuit (1500cc)
1925: DNF Savio Circuit (1500cc) /
DNA Coppa Perugina (1500cc) /
8 Mugello Circuit (1500cc) /
2 Coppa Acerbo
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Christian Werner (D) |
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* 19 May 1892
† 17 Jun 1932 |
Stuttgart
Stuttgart |
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Werner was the oldest child of a shoemaker. Christian was 10 when his father died and he helped to take care of his four siblings. He finished his apprenteship at the Misol Firm in Cannstatt
and was employed by the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in 1911 as mechanic and driver. Later he became driving manager in the running-in and research department of DMG. Amongst his duties was
the preparation and finishing of the race cars for the contests after the war and he also had to test drive them. As it was known what an excellent driver Werner was, DMG entered him at the
1922 Targa Florio where he finished second in class and placed eighth overall. He later won at Klausenburg, which was part of the Romanian Touring Trial, with a Mercedes 28/95 hp.
In 1923 Werner joined the DMG works team to America and raced at the Indianapolis 500 finishing in 11th place. Werner became world famous after he won the 1924 Targa Florio and also
the Coppa Florio. Later he won the Semmering hill climb in Austria with the fastest time of the day. At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza his best position was fifth place behind the
leading four Alfa Romeos on lap 69, when DMG withdrew their cars after Zborowski, one of their drivers, had crashed to his death.
In 1928 he won the German Grand Prix (sports cars) in a Mercedes-Benz together with Caracciola. The same combination also took part in the 1930 Le Mans 24h but had to retire.
In 1932 he died in a heart attack in at an age of 40.
| | (Info supplied by Hans Etzrodt) |
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1922: 2 (8) Targa Florio (>4500cc)
1924: 1 Targa Florio (2000cc) /
DNF* Italian GP
1925: DNF Rome GP (2000cc)
1926: DNF Solitude GP
1927: 1 Nürburgring Opening (2000cc)
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Allan Ferdinand Vesterblom / Westerblom (S) |
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* 5 Mar 1893
† 11 Mar 1977 |
Västerås, Västmanland
Stockholm |
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A note about spelling: Swedish makes no distinction between "V" and "W". Allans's father and brother used Westerblom but Allan changed the spelling
of his name to Vesterblom. He is listed under "W" here next to his brother.
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| (Info supplied by Bengt Alsed & Håkan Gelin) |
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1933: DNS Swedish Winter GP (Ice race) /
DNA Svenska Isloppet (Ice race)
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Cyril Mervyn White (GB) |
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* 13 Aug 1907
† 24 May 1937 |
Spaxton, Somerset
Cork, Ireland |
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Died in hospital in Cork on 24th May 1937, after an accident on 20th May while practicing
for the Cork International Car Race.
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1936: DNF JCC 200 /
DNF Donington GP
1937: 8 Campbell Trophy
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Otto Wihlborg (S) |
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* 9 Apr 1896
† 8 Apr 1975 |
Reslöv, Skåne (Scania)
Västra Skrävlinge Skåne (Scania) |
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| (Info supplied by Håkan Gelin) |
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1933: DNF Swedish Summer GP
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Alessandro Wild - SEE: "Ventidue"
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Richard Sinclair "Dick" Wilkins (GB) |
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* 12 Dec 1913
† 10 Feb 1989 |
Weybridge, Surrey
Westminster, London |
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1935: 6 Mannin Moar
1938: DNA Campbell Trophy
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Walter Ernest "Wilkie" Wilkinson (GB) |
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* 7 Aug 1903
† 20 Aug 2001 |
Friern Barnet, Hertfordshire
Easenhall, Warwickshire |
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As an outstanding Racing mechanic Wilkinson was mostly known as on of the technical geniuses of the post war era. However
he also did some racing. Wilkinson was born in London in 1903, the fifth son of a printer. At an age of 14 he joined
Blakers Motor and Welding Company in East Finchley in 1917. In 1924 he moved to Dorset to work as a coach driver and
mechanic. In 1929 he joined the firm L. C. Rawlence in Landon, which imported Italian cars.
Through them he got the chance to race as riding mechanic to Giulio Ramponi on the Ards circuit in Ireland.
Later Wilkingson was riding mechanic to George Eyston at the 1931 Brooklands 12 h race.
Next he became chief mechanic to Kenneth Evans. He also prepared
Billy Cotton's cars In 1938 he shared the driving in Cotton's ERA at the Donington Grand Prix,
finishing 7th. During the war in charge of a test shop for aircraft propellers.
He worked for Reg Parnell between 1947 and 1950 before joining Ecurie Ecosse. The D type Jaguars prepared by Wilkinson
took victory at the 1956 and 1957 Le Mans.
Wilkinson did also some post war racing himself, his last season being 1952 in a Bristol-Cooper.
Wilkinson worked for BRM between 1961 and 1972 before retiring.
Wilkinson. spent his last years mostly in the Caribbean.
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1937: DNF Coronation Trophy (Voiturette) /
DNF* Campbell Trophy
1938: 7* Donington GP
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Humphrey John Percival Williams (GB) |
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* 24 Feb 1914
† 19 Oct 1983 |
Dunham Massey, Cheshire
Buxton, Derbyshire |
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| (Info supplied by Adam Ferrington) |
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1936: DNF Isle of Man (Voiturette)
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Roger Lloyd Owen Williams (GB) |
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* 13 Dec 1908
† 4 May 1963
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Camrose, Pembrokeshire, Wales
Midhurst, West Sussex |
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(Biographical data probably correct but needs confirmation)
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| (Info supplied by Adam Ferrington) |
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1931: DNA French GP
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Norman Gladswood Wilson (GB) |
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* 20 Jun 1911
† 18 Apr 1942
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Edinburgh, Scotland
Malmesbury, Wiltshire |
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Norman Wilson's father was manufacturer, his mother was from East London, South Africa. Started racing on motor cycles turning to car racing with a M.G. Then he bought Pat Fairfield's
1.1 litre ERA, racing it against larger engined cars. We raced in South Africa winter 1937-38. Back in England he finished third at the 1938 International Trophy.
He served with the RAF Volunteer Reserve and was posted to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment of the Royal Air Force (A & AEE). At the outbreak of the Second World War,
the unit was moved to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire. On 18 April 1942, F/Lt Wilson was part of a crew testing an Avro Lancaster Mk I (R5539). During diving with a simulated bomb load failure of some rivets made
a panel to come loose and hit the tailplane. The plane crashed at Charlton, 2 miles from Malmesbury, Wiltshire. All seven on board were killed.
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| (Info supplied by Anthony Taylor / Adam Ferrington) |
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1938: 4 Cork (Voiturette) /
4 Picardie (Voiturette) /
6 Swiss GP (Voiturette) /
? JCC 200 (Voiturette + GP) /
DNA Donington GP
1939: DNA/DNS Brooklands Road Championship /
DNF Nuffield Trophy (Voiturette)
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Wilton - SEE: Stuart Wilton
Herbert Wimmer (D) |
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Wimmer was from Kappelrodeck, a small town in Baden-Württemberg between Baden-Baden and Offenburg at the foot of the Schwarzwald.
For 1933 season he bought the Bugatti T35B #4948 (ex von Morgen) from Paul Pietsch, and used it mainly in hill climbs.
Together with Ernst von Delius and Borries Freiherr von Münchhausen Wimmer financed the voiturette project of Arnold Theodor Zoller
in return of a getting a race car for 1934. The results - or better non-results - are known. Wimmer rebodied his Zoller in 1935 with bodywork
similar to that of the Mercedes W25, and used it reportedly at some German hill climbs. However, as Zoller had died end of 1934, the project
lacked technical support and development, and Wimmer switched back to his faithful Bugatti.
In 1939 he finally sold the Bugatti on to Heinrich Herbster of Lörrach.
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| (Info supplied by Michael Müller) |
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1933: DNF Swedish Winter GP (Ice race) /
2 Svenska Isloppet (Ice race) /
DNF Eifel GP
1934: DNS AVUS (Voiturette) /
DNF Eifel (Voiturette)
1935: DNF Eifel (Voiturette)
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van Winkel (B) |
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Belgian amateur driver. Took part in the 1931 Frontieres Grand Prix.
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1931: 6 Frontieres GP
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Dr. Eugen Winter (D) |
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From Chemnitz. Also participated in "Zuverlässingkeitsfahrten" and won some Goldmedals. Emigrated to the United States in 1933.
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| (Info supplied by Hugo Boecker) |
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1931: 5 Eifel GP /
DNF AVUS GP
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Thomas Henry "Tommy" Wisdom, (GB) |
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* 16 Feb 1906
† 12 Nov 1972. |
Brighton, East Sussex
Edgbaston,Birmingham |
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Racing driver and motoring correspondent for the Daily Herald. Raced a Delahaye togetwer with Kaye Don at the 1936 Donington GP.
His wife Elsie "Bill" was also a racing driver mainly at brooklands but she also took part in the 1933 LeMans 24h.
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1936: DNC* Donington GP
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Tore Wistedt (S) |
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* 10 Sep 1903
† 18 Jan 1989 |
Stockholm
Fort Lauderdale |
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At an age of 10 Tore Wistedt persuaded his parents that he could join a sailing ship with a family friend as captain.
After having sailed around the world in a year he returned to school. He graduated at Chalmers Institute of Tecnology and then a degree in engineering and naval archtecture at the
Univerity of Berlin. Inspector and ship designer.
In the 1930s employed by the Stockholm General Motors agent Hans Osterman AB.
During WW2 he was in USA as a member of the American Standarization Committee.
Inspector. Moved to USA in the 1950s and was re-married to Betty who later was Mayor of Pompano Beach, Miami. Worked at Bradford Marine, Fort Lauderdale
Died at Imperial Point Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale 1989.
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| (Info supplied by Håkan Gelin) |
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1931: DNF Swedish Winter GP (Ice race)
1933: 11 Swedish Winter GP (Ice race) /
9 Svenska Isloppet (Ice race) /
DNF Swedish Summer GP
1937: DNF Flaten (Ice race)
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Woolley - SEE: Duke-Woolley
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© 2024 Leif Snellman - Last updated: 18.11.2024
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