Hosrt Kwech - Austrian - Australian- American RIP December 2019 aged 82.

[Roger Dowding]

" Remembering Horst Kwech 1937-2019 "
From Vintage Motorsport Magazine - their online [ E-mail ] version.

" Horst Kwech, an especially versatile driver/engineer active in the 1960s and 1970s, best known for his pair of Under 2.5 Liter Trans-Am championships driving an Alfa Romeo, has died at age 82.

Proud of his Australian heritage (he moved there at a young age from his Austria birthplace), Kwech emigrated to the U.S. in 1961 at age 24. A mechanic’s job at Knauz Continental Motors in Lake Forest, IL., soon led to racing opportunities, first driving a tube frame sports racer of his own design, later in an Alfa Romeo Giulia with which he won the 1965 SCCA Central Division B Sedan championship.

The next year, Knauz Motors acquired a factory-prepared Alfa Romeo GTA with which Kwech and teammate Gaston Andrey claimed the Trans-Am Under 2.5 Liter Manufacturers Championship and Kwech used to win the SCCA Runoffs BS race at Riverside.

Over the next decade, Kwech would become one of America’s most celebrated GT drivers, forming (with Ron Neal and Bill Knauz) and racing for the Alfa Romeo performance parts company Ausca; testing and racing for Carroll Shelby (and winning the ’68 Riverside Trans-Am in a Shelby-prepared Mustang); winning the ’70 U2.5L Trans-Am Championship (driving Herb Wetanson’s Alfa GTA); racing a Lola T-300 in the ’72 L&M Continental Formula 5000 Championship; and, in ’74, co-founding DeKon Engineering with Lee Dykstra (which built the highly regarded Chevy Monza, successful in both IMSA Camel GT and Australian Supercar racing over the next several years).

Kwech was the only driver to win a Trans-Am race in both the Over and Under 2 liter divisions. He also held 17 patents as a design engineer. "

A Photo of Horst and an Alfa ; Vintage Motorsport archives;



Remember reading about him in those Alfa's around the time Alan Moffatt was in the USA racing Lotus Cortina's in that up to 2.5 litre class and later Mustangs which he brought to Australia and stayed there ..

** Apologies for the typo in the heading - the spelling of his name - have corrected on the first post.. my Bad fingers..

[khyndart in CA]

I am sorry to read about Horst's passing.
I enjoyed doing this thread about him a few years ago. A very talented driver and engineer.

http://www.theroaringseason.com/show...ht=horst+kwech

Horst was proud of his Australian heritage as seen on his 1966 his Alfa Romeo GTA
(Check the door and the helmet )


(Ken H.)

[Ray Bell]

Unfortunately he'd left Australia before I saw him race...

But I certainly remember reading of his giant-killing Trans-Am drives in the Alfas.

82... way too young.