Curd Bardi-Barry

0/0/1939 - 7/2/1964

Record updated 02-May-08

Curd Bardi-Barry
Curd Bardi-Barry came form a wealthy family. He was born in Vienna, Austria and owned of a travel agency. He started racing in 1958 with an MG and an Abarth in reliability runs and rallies. The following year he raced a Porsche 1600s.

For 1960 he bought a Poggi Fiat Formula Junior. These were quite competetive in Italian national races but were no match for the Lotus and Coopers on the International stage.

After a spell with a Lola, in 1962 he aquired a Cooper T59 with a Ford Superspeed motor, he won the first round of the Italian FJ Championship, the Gran Premio Caltex, at Vallelunga. He then had a number of DNFs before finishing second in the Grosser Preis der Nationen at Avus. After a fine fourth in the Formula Junior support race in Monaco, he was involved in the German Formula Junior scandal that was exposed by German journalist and former driver, Richard von Frankenberg. von Frankenberg publicly charged a number of drivers with having employed 1450cc engines. This could be done by substituting the Ford Anglia crankshaft for that of the Ford Consul to achieve a longer stroke.

Bardi-Barry was a close friend of Jochen Rindt and togther they founded Ecurie Vienne in 1963 and contest several European Formual Junior races. While Rindt was the quicker, Bardi-Barry was more successful, taking a number of podium places during the season and also winning the opening round of the Italian championship again at Vallelunga. With Curt in a new Cooper T67, Rindt was driving Curt's old T59 on his single-seater debut. Rindt failed to qualify. In the second round at the Circuito di Cesenático, he beat Rindt into second in the first heat but then crashed in the final letting Rindt take the win. At the ADAC-Eifelrennen in April, Curt was third and at the begining of May he was second at Monza in round four of the Italian JF Championship. He didn't fair so well in the FJ support race a Monaco that year. Rindt finished fourth in heat one with Curt fifth in heat two but in the final he came home a dissapointing seventh and Rindt retired.

In August, Ecurie Vienne finished 1-2 in the Czechoslovakian Formula Junior Grand Prix at Brno, with Bardi-Barry first and Rindt second.

In September, he borrowed Carel Godin de Beaufort's second Porsche (718-202) for the non-championship Austrian Grand Prix at Zeltweg pulling off and withdrawing after three laps.

Recognised by the French newspaper 'L`Equipe', as one of the 10 best Formula Junior drivers, Curd had signed to race for Abarth in Formula 2 and GT racing in 1964. It was not to be and the tallented driver, destined for greater things was killed in a traffic accident on February 7th.

He had attended a Ball in Vienna the night before and was travelling on the Triesterstrasse, accompanied by another Austrian driver, Ehrenreiter, when he crashed his Mercedes Benz head-on into a parked lorry. According to medical reports, Curt suffered a heart attack shortly before the impact. Ehrenreiter also died in the crash.



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