Hansi Bächtold

Hansi Bächtold (born 21 August 1956),[1] is a retired Swiss sidecarcross rider and four times Sidecarcross World Champion, having won the competition from 1984 to 1987, together with his passenger Fritz Fuß.[2] The duo became the first-ever combination to win the competition four times in a row, a feat later repeated by the Swiss team of Andreas Fuhrer and Adrian Käser and surpassed by Dutch rider Daniël Willemsen with six consecutive titles.[3]

Hansi Bächtold
NationalitySwitzerland Switzerland
Born (1956-08-21) August 21, 1956
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Sidecarcross World Championship
Active years1977 - 1987
ManufacturersYamaha-Wasp (1977)
Yamaha-EML (1978-82)
Jumbo-EML (1983-87)
Championships(4) 1984 – 1987
1987 championship position1st
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
167 42 74 1,656

Apart from his four World Championship triumphs he has also won the Swiss national sidecarcross championship on five occasions, in 1979, 1981, 1984, 1986 and 1987.[4]

Biography

Hansi Bächtold made his sidecarcross debut in the Swiss championship in 1977 with passenger Wolf Kieser, coming sixth overall. They also raced in one event in the European Championship, the predecessor of the World Championship and scored a ninth place in the second race of the German Grand Prix.[2][4]

The following season was not very successful for Bächtold, only finishing 15th in the Swiss championship and 14th in Europe and using three different passengers during the season. A highlight however was a second place at the second race of the Swiss GP.[2][4]

From 1979 he used Hugo Jung as his passenger, a partnership that would last for three seasons. The new combination was instantly successful in the Swiss championship, taking out the title in 1979 and 1981 and finishing runners-up in between. The two titles were achieved against the strong competition of Robert Grogg and Emil Bollhalder, two of Europe's best riders at the time.[4] In Europe the pair came tenth in 1979. The following season, in a competition now renamed World Championship, the pair finished runners-up to the first World Champions, Germans Reinhard Böhler and Siegfried Müller. The 1981 season was not as successful with the team only finishing seventh.[2]

The 1982 season saw Bächtold use three different passengers again, eventually settling on Fritz Fuß. Success during that season was limited with a fourth place overall in Switzerland and a seventh in the World Championship. The 1983 season, now with Fritz Fuß as permanent passenger, saw improvement with a runners-up finish in the national and a sixth place in the World Championship.[2][4]

From 1984 to 1987 the combination of Bächtold and Fuß dominated the World Championship and, almost equally, the Swiss championship. In 1984 they beat the 1981 World Champions Ton van Heugten and Frits Kiggen from the Netherlands by 58 points. The following three years August Muller and Henk van Heek, also from the Netherlands, came second each year. The closest the Dutch combination came to the Swiss World champions was in 1987 when they lost by 36 points.[2]

In Switzerland, at the same time, the pair won the national title three times in four seasons. Only in 1985 did they miss out, finishing runners-up to Thomas Graf and Markus von Rotz by six points. It was the only time between 1982 and 1988 that the Swiss champions were not also the World Champions.[3][4]

At the end of the 1987 season Hansi Bächtold retired from national and international sidecarcross racing, as did Fritz Fuß who had spent his entire career with Bächtold.[5] The main reason behind Bächtold's retirement was financial. He had to give up his job as a car mechanic to be able to race while not receiving any financial reward for racing.[1]

Racing record

Sidecarcross World Championship

The competition which was to become the Sidecarcross World Championship in 1980 originated as the FIM Cup in 1971 and was renamed to European championship in 1975. Hansi Bächtold's results in these competitions were:[2]

Season Passenger(s) Equipment Position Points Races Wins Second Third
1977 Wolf Kieser Yamaha-Wasp 32 2 2 — — —
1978 Hugo Jung
Johan Wenger		 Yamaha-EML 14 14 4 — 1 —
1979 Hugo Jung Yamaha-EML 10 56 18 — 1 —
1980 Hugo Jung Yamaha-EML 2 148 16 4 2 2
1981 Hugo Jung Yamaha-EML 7 57 12 — — 2
1982 Fritz Meyer
Sies Hurkmans
Fritz Fuß		 Yamaha-EML 7 56 12 — — 4
1983 Fritz Fuß Jumbo-EML 6 77 17 — 2 —
1984 Fritz Fuß Jumbo-EML 1 290 22 5 6 3
1985 Fritz Fuß Jumbo-EML 1 290 20 12 1 —
1986 Fritz Fuß Jumbo-EML 1 389 24 14 1 2
1987 Fritz Fuß Jumbo-EML 1 277 22 7 3 2
Overall 1977 - 1987 1,656 167 42 17 15

Honours

World Championship
  • Champions: (4) 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987
  • Runners-up: (1) 1980

National Championships

References
  1. Hansi Bächtold (in German) munzinger.de, accessed: 20 October 2013
  2. Hansi Bächtold Sidecarcross World championship results The John Davey Pages, accessed: 20 October 2013
  3. History - World Champions sidecarcross.com, accessed: 20 October 2013
  4. Swiss national championship results 1970 - 2005 The John Davey Pages, accessed: 20 October 2013
  5. Fritz Fuß Sidecarcross World championship results The John Davey Pages, accessed: 20 October 2013
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