Kurt Thiim »
|
Kurt Thiim - DTC 2007
|
Kurt Thiim began his motorsport career in karting in 1974. He learnt all about racing in 4 years in karts until he was ready to change to cars.
He began racing Formula Ford in Denmark but after only one year he felt ready to go abroad. He was right - already in 1979 he won the Nordic Championship in Formula Super VW.
He then graduated to the European Formula 3 Championship but he never really made it in the European Championship and even if he became German Champion in Formula 3 in 1984, his career seemed to have stalled. In 1985 he did not race at all due to a lack of sponsorship.
But in 1986 something happened that turned his career upside down. Kurt Thiim drove a Rover Vitesse in the DTM - and he won! DTM was at the verge to something big and Kurt Thiim jumped at the wagon. Via an Alfa Romeo in 1987 and a BMW in the first half of 1988 he ended up in the car that every danish motosport fan remembers when the name, Kurt Thiim, is mentioned - A DTM-Mercedes!
During the following years Kurt Thiim quickly became a megastar in the DTM which just grew bigger and bigger. Lots of fans - lots of TV-coverage - and Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Alfa-Romeo and Opel spent millions of DeutschMarks to build increasingly sophisticated racecars. Kurt Thiim never won another championship, but he came second in 1992, 3rd in 1990 and 4th in 1989 and 1995 and was thus one of the leading drivers in what was - at that time - the leading touring car championship in the world.
In 1996 the DTM became an international championship but that was just too much. The cost spiralled out of control and the car manufactures quitted at the end of the year. Kurt Thiim - and a whole bunch of drivers - were without employment and even without a championship.
Since then Kurt Thiim has primarilly driven in Germany in all kinds of touringcar and GT championships. In 2000 he won the Special Tourenwagen Trophy.
In 2002 Kurt Thiim returned to the Danish racetracks and in his first season he came close to winning the Danish Touringcar Championship ending up a close second.
Number of models: 41
Number of kits: 4
|
