Karl Edward Tommy Borgudd, better known as Slim Borgudd (born 25 November 1946 – dead 23 February 2023) is a Swedish former Formula One driver who raced for the ATS and Tyrrell teams. Borgudd was born in Borgholm, Kalmar County.
His first career was as a drummer, mainly in jazz-rock, most notably for short-lived groups Lea Riders Group, Made In Sweden and Solar Plexus. He has also worked with Björn Ulvaeus’s group the Hootenanny Singers and ABBA, being sponsored as a Formula One driver by the latter. Info fromWiki
His first career was as a drummer, mainly in jazz-rock, most notably for short-lived groups Made In Sweden and Solar Plexus. He has also worked with Björn Ulvaeus’ group the Hootenanny Singers.
Borgudd began racing on and off in the mid 1960s with a Lotus Formula Ford car, but his racing career only became more serious in 1972, after taking five wins in five sports car racing club events. Borgudd raced a Hillman Imp and a Volvo 122 in the Swedish Touring Car Championship from 1972 to 1975, finishing runner-up in 1972, as well as racing in the Scandinavian Formula Ford series, which he won in 1973.
In 1976, Borgudd moved up Formula 3, racing sporadically until the end of the 1977 season. In 1978, he formed his own team and raced full-time in the Swedish and European series, in an old Ralt-Toyota, which he took to the Swedish championship title in 1979, also finishing third in the European series. Failing to move to Formula 2 in 1980, he raced only in the F3 Monaco Grand Prix, where he reached third place before the bodywork became loose, forcing Borgudd to finish the race holding the body together with one hand.
In 1981, Borgudd, now 34, finally entered Formula 1 in ATS, making his debut in the San Marino Grand Prix, placing ABBA logos (but no sponsorship money) in the car’s sidepods, a hopeful move to attract other investors. In spite of a run of non-qualifications, Borgudd managed to finish 6th in the British Grand Prix, scoring his first world championship point. In spite of the added morale boost, Borgudd failed to score any more points.
In 1982 Ken Tyrrell hired Borgudd to partner Michele Alboreto, as the Swede had out-qualified the Italian on several occasions in 1981. However, Borgudd did not adapt to his new team, and was unceremoniously dumped when his sponsorship money ran out early in the season.
From 1983 to 1985, Borgudd raced only on occasion, including his taking part in the 1984 and 1985 Macau Grand Prix. In 1985 he returned to race a Formula 1 car, an Arrows A6, in the new Formula 3000/F1 combined championship finishing 10th in the Vallelunga race. He entered 5 races that season, but the rebuilt F1 cars were not competitive compared to the specified F3000 cars. Although he took part in the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in 1989 had an outright win in the Willhire 24 Hour, a minor touring car race where he drove a Ford Sierra, the Swede made his mark in truck racing the following years. In 1986 and 1987, Borgudd was champion in Divisions 2 and 3 of the European Truck Racing Cup, respectively. The following years, success was more fleeting, although the Scandinavian driver managed to finish the 1992 Class B championship in third place.
It wouldn’t be until 1993 that Borgudd made his full-time return to automobiles, joining the works Mazda team and driving a Mazda Xedos 6 in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) with sparse results. However, a switch to the Nordic Touring Car Championship in 1994 saw him take the championship title. The Mazda team made plans to return to the BTCC the following year, but the plan was scrapped.
Also in 1994, Borgudd went back to top form in the Truck Racing Cup, where the Swede lost the race to the championship title to British driver Steve Parrish, after a dogfight that lasted the entire season. Borgudd responded in kind in 1995, beating Parrish and Markus Oestreich by a large margin. In 1996 and 1997, Borgudd finished 5th and 4th only, and announced his retirement after accusing Mercedes-Benz of favoring other drivers. Since then, he has made occasional returns to racing at amateur level, having settled down in Coventry.
Bio by Stephen Latham
Born on the 27th March, 1965, in Zurich, Switzerland, Gregor Foitek participated in 22 Grands Prix (with seven starts) between 1989–1990 for EuroBrun, Rial, Brabham and Onyx and later had two CART drives for Foyt Enterprises.
He won the Swiss F3 championship in 1986 with a Squadra Foitek Dallara F386 but despite its title the races were not held in Switzerland, due to the country having a ban on motorsports, and they took place in neighbouring countries. He also competed in Italian and German F3 championships, finishing fifth at Nurburgring, seventh at Norisring and Imola and took a win at Erding Airield. There was also an F3000 outing with Horag Hotz Racing’s Lola T86/50 but he did not finish.
The following year saw him move into F3000 with Genoa Racing’s March 87B but his only finishes were fifteenth and tenth at Vallelunga and Spa. However, after contesting eight races with the team, in September he appeared with GA Motorsport and in the three races with their Lola T87/50, he was twelfth at Autodromo Dino Ferrari, eighth at Le Mans and fourteenth at Jarama. In December he had his first taste of an F1 car, when he tested a Minardi at Estoril. He continued into 1988 with GA Motorsport and though he retired in the first round at Jerez, he took pole and won the second race at Vallelunga, ahead of Bertrand Gachot, Olivier Grouillard, Roberto Moreno and Mark Blundell. He did not qualify at Pau but was fourth in the next two rounds at Silverstone and Monza although he retired in the following five rounds. Unfortunately, his career will always be overshadowed by the major crash at Brands Hatch, in which Johnny Herbert sustained severe leg injuries that nearly ended his career.
In 1989 he made the leap into Formula 1 with the EuroBrun team but, having run two cars in the previous season (for Stefano Modena and Oscar Larrauri), the team ran a single car for Gregor, while the ER188 was modified slightly to take a Judd V8 engine. He made his debut in Brazil but, with the large number of entries, thirteen cars had to enter pre-qualifying. The team had performed poorly in 1988 and Gregor had to enter the session using the ER188B, which was an update of the previous season’s car. However, although he managed to get through pre-qualifying and into the main session, he failed to qualify for the race and this was the only time he got through pre-qualifying all season. By mid-season the team unveiled their new ER189 and for its debut at the German GP the car was presented in the orange Jägermeister livery but unfortunately Gregor failed to pre-qualify the car, both here at Hockenheim and at the Hungaroring. He was back in the ER188 for the next race at Spa but left the team after this and from Monza onwards Oscar Larrauri took over but he also never pre-qualified for any of the five remaining races. Gregor stepped in to replace Christian Danner at Rial for the Spanish GP, but his rear wing broke at high speed, causing him to crash heavily, and he immediately quit the team.
He started 1990 with Brabham but only contested two races, retiring at Phoenix due to an accident then a malfunctioning transmission ended his Brazilian GP. At the next race at San Marino, David Brabham was in the car and Gregor was with the Moneytron Onyx team, replacing Stefan Johansson. Onyx began life as Onyx Race Engineering in late 1978 as a partnership between Mike Earle and Greg Field. Earle had had extensive experience in open-wheel racing, running the successful Church Farm Racing team in F3, F2 and F5000, as well as previously working with David Purley in the LEC racing team in Formula Atlantic, F2, European F5000 and occasional F1 races. Prior to them entering Formula One, Paul Shakespeare had purchased the majority shares of the team in 1988 and this provided Onyx with the much needed injection of cash to make the step up. The team was further boosted by sponsorship from Marlboro and Moneytron, a company owned by Belgian Jean-Pierre Van Rossem and he later purchased all of Shakespeare’s shares and became the majority owner. The team became Onyx Grand Prix and respected engineer Alan Jenkins was commissioned to design the team’s first F1 car, which was built and run from the team’s base near Littlehampton in West Sussex. In 1990, Swiss car collector/manufacturer Peter Monteverdi purchased 50% of the shares, with Karl Foitek (Gregor’s father, who was the owner of Foitek Automobile) buying 25% and Brun Frei the remaining 25%. Mike Earle left and Onyx became a Swiss owned team and was based in the country and Gregor raced alongside JJ Lehto. Racing the ORE-1 at San Marino, engine issues ended his race though Letho had set fifteenth quickest time and finished in twelfth place. Then, at Monaco two weeks later, Gregor drove superbly, ahead of Lehto throughout the weekend and also recorded the fifteenth quickest time on the Saturday. He was involved in a race long battle for a sixth place points finish with Eric Bernard’s Lola Lamborghini, until they collided near the end of the race but despite retiring he was classified seventh as he had completed 90% of the race distance. At the next round in Canada, Gregor ran strongly in the top ten until lap 54, when an engine issue caused his retirement with only fourteen laps remaining and in Mexico he suffered a long brake pedal and finished fifteenth, while also nursing a damaged undertray. Unfortunately, the lack of resources began to tell on the team as the season wore on. After struggling to find grip in France, he and Lehto qualified twenty ninth and twenty seventh and failed to beat the twenty six car grid cut off. Both cars again did not qualify at Silverstone and during this time, the team’s name changed to Monteverdi Onyx Formula One. Although both drivers managed to qualify in Germany, Gregor retired after spinning off on lap nineteen and though Lehto finished he was unclassified. Matters would come to a head at the Hungarian GP in August and after both drivers failed to qualify, it proved the final straw and Gregor and his father left the team and the team ceased operations after this. It was said the car was then retired and kept by Peter Monteverdi in his private collection and maintained in full running order and used in occasional demonstration runs.
With no seats in Formula One available he moved to the World Sportcar Championship and in two outings in 1991 with Kremer Racing’s Porsche 962 he, Tiff Needell and Tomas Lopez retired at Le Mans though he and Lopez finished eighth in the 430 km Magny-Cours. He signed in the following year with Gilmore Racing in the Indy Car World Series but he suffered mechanical issues in the two races contested for them, at Surfers Paradise and Long Beach, and retired from both. He was team principal for a team in 1995’s Ferrari Challenge and drove in the European Ferrari Challenge himself in 2002. In 2007, Gregor and his brothers Reto and Frank purchased the family company, Foitek Automotive, after their father retired and they run the business, which is situated in Altendorf and is specialised in Maseratis and Ferraris.
