(1910-04-30)30 April 1910 Stettin, Pomerania, Germany
Died
8 February 1969(1969-02-08) (aged 58) Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality
German
Active years
1963
Teams
non-works "BKL" Lotus
Entries
1 (0 starts)
Championships
0
Wins
0
Podiums
0
Career points
0
Pole positions
0
Fastest laps
0
First entry
1963 German Grand Prix
Last entry
1963 German Grand Prix
Kurt Kuhnke (30 April 1910, Stettin – 8 February 1969, Braunschweig) was a racing driver from Germany, although he was more successful in motorcycle racing.
After racing motorcycles during the late 1940s Kurt moved into car racing with a Formula Three Cooper 500 which he raced regularly through the 1950s with a number of wins, and other good finishes. He also competed in a few Formula Junior and Formula Two races before he finally moved into Formula One, failing to qualify Wolfgang Seidel's Lotus 18 at the non-Championship 1962 Pau Grand Prix before retiring the same car from the Solitude Grand Prix that year with engine failure. The first appearance of his Borgward-engined Lotus was delayed through problems preparing the engine, and Kuhnke missed four races he had entered in the second half of 1962. This engine was an old Sports Car unit, equipped with twin cams and direct fuel injection.[1]
In 1963, Kuhnke failed to qualify his BKL Lotus at the Rome Grand Prix, along with team-mate Ernst Maring, and both cars suffered engine failures at the Solitude Grand Prix in July. His single World Championship Formula One entry was at the 1963 German Grand Prix where he failed to qualify by a considerable margin. The BKL Lotus was simply an ordinary Lotus, lightly modified by Kuhnke, the initials standing for Borgward Kuhnke Lotus.
After this, he retired from the Kanonloppet at the Karlskoga Circuit in Sweden with fuel injection problems, before moving away from Formula One as a driver. He subsequently entered two BKL Lotus cars in the 1964 Solitude Grand Prix for Maring and German helicopter pilot Joachim Diel. Diel's car was one of seven eliminated in wet-weather accidents on the first lap, but Maring managed to finish 10th, and last, four laps down on the leader – the only occasion in which one of Kuhnke's cars finished a Formula One race.
^Johansson, Lars-Erik (September 1962). "Kanonloppet". Illustrerad Motor Sport (in Swedish). No. 9. Lerum, Sweden. p. 11.
KurtKuhnke (30 April 1910, Stettin – 8 February 1969, Braunschweig) was a racing driver from Germany, although he was more successful in motorcycle racing...
tennis player Günter Kuhnke (1912–1990), German Konteradmiral Johannes Bah Kuhnke (born 1972), Swedish actor and singer KurtKuhnke (1910–1969), German...
Prix 4 Arthur Legat 54 years, 232 days Ret 1953 Belgian Grand Prix 5 KurtKuhnke 53 years, 96 days DNQ 1963 German Grand Prix 6 Luigi Fagioli 53 years...
Engine 23 Ret Ron Carter Tim Parnell Lotus-Climax Engine 26 Ret KurtKuhnkeKurtKuhnke BKL Lotus-Borgward Engine 24 WD Carlo Mario Abate Scuderia Centro...
Climax Straight-4 D Tim Parnell DNQ André Pilette DNQ KurtKuhnke 18 Borgward Straight-4 D KurtKuhnke DNQ Ted Lanfear 22 Ford Straight-4 D Brausch Niemann...
Jay Chamberlain Ecurie Excelsior Lotus-Climax Car in Sweden - WD KurtKuhnkeKurtKuhnke Lotus-Borgward Car not ready - WD Peter Arundell Team Lotus Lotus-BRM...
Ackerknecht (1906–1988), historian Dita Parlo (1906–1971) film actress KurtKuhnke (1910—1969), motorcyclist Ernst Bader (1914–1999) actor and songwriter...
qualified last and only lasted six laps of this, his only Formula One race. KurtKuhnke's interesting Borgward-engined Lotus only made a few practice laps before...
laps 13 13th / 12th Ret Ernst Maring KurtKuhnke BKL Lotus-Borgward Accident 10 10th / Ret Ret KurtKuhnkeKurtKuhnke BKL Lotus-Borgward Fuel injection...
Mike Hailwood Reg Parnell Racing Lotus-BRM 16 laps 5 10 Ernst Maring KurtKuhnke BKL Lotus-Borgward 16 laps 18 Ret Mike Spence Team Lotus Lotus-Climax...
Emeryson-Climax Oil leak 9 Ret Tony Marsh Tony Marsh BRM-Climax Clutch 6 Ret KurtKuhnke Autosport Team Wolfgang Seidel Lotus-Climax Engine 10 Ret Jo Siffert...
Kapitänleutnant Johannes Franz: North Atlantic U 28 - Kapitänleutnant Günter Kuhnke: North Atlantic U 29 - Kapitänleutnant Otto Schuhart: North Atlantic U 30...
it had been. Atmospheric diving suits built by German firm Neufeldt and Kuhnke were used during the salvage of gold and silver bullion from the wreck of...
Chicago, where she works with her childhood violin teacher, Betty Haag-Kuhnke. She is currently a faculty violin instructor at the Michael P. Hammond...
Win 1962 French Championships Clay Roy Emerson Wilhelm Bungert Christian Kuhnke 6–3, 6–4, 7–5 Loss 1973 Wimbledon Grass John Cooper Jimmy Connors Ilie Năstase...
Global Information
German