Roy Winkelmann

Roy Winkelmann

Roy Winkelmann, who has died aged 81, had a big impact in his short career as a team owner. Roy Winkelmann Racing was the Formula 2 team in the late 1960s, winning more races than any

other either side of the ’67 European series and establishing Jochen Rindt as a star of the future. Winkelmann, who was born in the UK but grew up in the US, raced as an amateur before running Alan Rees in Formula Junior in 1963. The team, based under a bowling alley in Slough, graduated to F2 with Rees in ’64 and the next year brought in Rindt — already racing in Fl with Cooper. Winkelmann and Rindt won their first race together at Reims in 1965 and went on to notch up 23 victories using Brabham and then Lotus machinery during their five years together. The Austrian won more races than eventual champions Jacky Ickx and Jean-Pierre Beltoise in 1967 and ’68 respectively but was not eligible for points because he was a so-called graded driver.

The team shut in ’69 when its core, including Rees and mechanic Phil Kerr, joined the new March group. Winkelmann was due to reform his team in the mid-80s to run the still-born Lotus Indycar.