In order to finance his participation in the rally, Schimpf reached out to his cousin Günter Mast – the CEO of Jägermeister – and asked him for a 500 mark contribution towards his adventure. "In return, the Jägermeister lettering was to be applied to the car,” says Schimpf. Günter replied: "500 marks is such a measly sum. You'll get 1,000. And when you're back from Monte Carlo, get in touch".

This conversation launched the Jägermeister Racing Team, which would go on to finance many top-class racing cars and drivers over the coming decades. To this day, the orange racing cars with their stag logo remain among the most popular in the world.

Racing fever had gripped Schimpf, and so in 1972 he purchased a 914/6 GT from the car dealer Max Moritz. For two years, the car – painted in orange, of course – delivered victories and good rankings. The 914/6 GT was followed in 1974 by a 3.0 RSR, which was driven in 84 races from 1974 to 1977 and resulted in 39 victories.

While Schimpf moved over to racing cars built by a brand from Munich, the Jägermeister team remained faithful to Porsche: various 934 and 935 cars were used by Max Moritz and later by the Kremer team – then came the racers, the 956 and 962, which were driven by professionals including Keke Rosberg, Jan Lammers, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Gerhard Berger, Thierry Boutsen, Roland Ratzenberger and Oscar Larrauri.

All of these cars, in addition to hundreds of Porsche posters and magazines – not to mention thousands of photographs – today make up Schimpf’s collection, together with walls full of books, laurel wreaths, trophies and crash helmets.





Text first published in the Porsche Klassik magazine, issue 17.
Text by Jürgen Lewandowski
Photographer: Theodor Barth
Copyright by Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG