Hart Ski racing team

[mikehump]

I am trying to find out more about the Hart Ski racing team. They seem to have run/sponsored quite a few Porsches in the late 1960's and early 1970's (including mine!) and had a strong Swiss flavour. Does anybody know anything more about them? The name Claude Haldi keeps popping up when I search but there does not seem to be much information out there.

Any help gratefully received !!

Cheers, Mike

[Strato 102]

Hart was a manufacturer in St. Paul, Minn. Some pictures of Jo Siffert show him with a "Hart Ski" patch. I recall seeing a Lotus 49 with the same written on it. Someone at the company must have been into motorsports and went for some Euro exposure. It was a very brave move interloping in the back yard of Rossignol, Kneissl, Dynamic,Kastle,etc.!

[Milou]

In 1968, The Hart ski racing team had, in the two liter class, two Porsche 910 which were driven by Steinemann and Spoerri. They also made a deal to hire Siffert to race whenever he was available in second-line events.

In 1969, Hart ski entered at Le Mans no less than a "works" 908 spyder in the prototype class driven by the factory drivers Siffert/Redman (n. 23).

Finally, Hart Ski sponsored/entered at Le Mans a 911S in 1970 driven by Claude Haldi and Blank in the GTS class (n. 65).

[CurtEgerer]

I think Hart was simply trying to increase brand awareness in Europe. They were the largest seller of skis in the USA in the late 60/early 70's and were probably trying to break into the Euro market.

[Bill Simmeth]

Looks like their marketing department went nuts with the graphics, huh?

[mikehump]

They certainly were pretty active for a ski manufacturer! Does anybody know who ran/was responsible for the team?

[Milou]

I think you should contact Dieter Landenberger at the Factory Archives. When I visited the Museum, I was very impressed to see that they had very complete files for every race and every car entered.

Since the factory 908/2 in 1969 was sponsored by Hart Ski at Le Mans, it should be easy for Dieter to provide you with scans of their correspondance. Clearly, someone at Hart Ski was a motorhead.... and a very good Porsche client....

[mikehump]

Thanks Thomas - someone else has just pointed me in his direction as well so I will give him a call.

Cheers, Mike

[CurtEgerer]

There was a fair amount of cross-over between motor racing and skiing, at least back then. Lange, Olin, and Atomic also come to mind. Of course, Killy actually raced. And look at the fans - lots of us Porsche owners are skiers.

When Hart first got started in the mid-60's they contracted with Swiss ski racer Art Furer (spelling?) who was later credited with starting the freestyle skiing movement (to the chagrin of racing enthusiasts like myself and the motoring equivalent of drifting ). So maybe the Swiss connection with Haldi is rooted there?