It is not often in our life that we are successful in combining our passions with professional work. But Helmut Bannert succeeded in this feat.
In the past, motorsport drivers had to attain exceedingly elevated levels of technical and mechanical qualifications. Teams of mechanics and their assistants did not follow those taking part in rallies or car races (perhaps except for Formula 1). Nobody even thought of field repair services. The mobile workshops – equipped better than not just one of today’s authorised service stations were out of reach to them. In the 1980s, a driver and his co-driver had to be skilled enough to prepare and service the vehicles they drove in competitions. One can hardly imagine a better school than start a race driving a car that you had constructed and then serviced yourself. If it is accompanied with passion and talent, the result means the heights of mechanical competence. Unique and increasingly rare knowledge in the modern world!
The Bannert family originates from Rattiborn in Lower Silesia (today’s Racibórz in Poland). The wheels of history forced the Bannerts to leave their centuries-old nest and move to distant Bavaria, where Helmut was born, long after World War II, in 1959.
He got acquainted with motorsport thanks to his instructor while learning the profession of a car mechatronics technician at a renowned Renault (!) showroom.
He then moved to the famous rally workshop of Peter Mattig in Hauzenberg. There, as a noticeably young man, he was solely responsible for the complete reconstruction of Opel models adapting them for rally sports. These were the legendary models: Ascona 400i Manta 400. Engines, gearboxes, chassis, and bodies – after years of practice he knew them all like the back of his hand. So, no wonder that the Mattig’s rally cars, driven by internationally known stars, won so many victories. Their co-creator, Helmut Bannert was also behind the wheel.
Like other great drivers of that time, he himself achieved sporting successes, especially in rallies and mountain climbs. Beside the Opel cars mentioned, he was racing in a Renault Gordini, Alpine – this was his beginning and the first cars that enabled him to attain successes in motorsport. There were so many that listing them all exceeds the frame of this chapter and deserves a special study, but let us mention just a few:
It is also worth mentioning that also Helmut’s son, Patrick Bannert, continues the family tradition and has already won his first championships at local and all-German rally competitions.
But despite the brilliantly developing sporting career, Helmut kept working professionally as a mechanical engineer. Such were those times; one could not make a living from motorsport alone. It was then that he started working for ZF Zahnradfabrik Passau, where he also had a possibility of further expanding his technical knowledge. As if that was not enough, after the working hours at ZF he provided car services in his own garage and under his own brand banner HB-Motorsport.de. He already lived in Neukirchen vorm Wald, near the beautiful Bavarian renaissance town of Passau. Within the framework of his own garage services he dealt with tuning, improving performance by retrofitting turbocharger installations, preparing cars for motorsport races, but also, with the lapse of time – he got involved in automotive classics repair work. And this is how the history of co-operation and friendship with the owner of the Bonaventura Classic Collection began in 2010. This co-operation is based on their common passion and love for the beautiful classic car designs, especially those with the white and blue chessboard sign. They both have profound respect for BMW engineers and strive to restore the jewels of the Collection to their original factory condition.
So, willy-nilly, they compete with the quality of work of BMW Klassik Munich – and are at least equal to them. Anyway, BMW itself entrusted Helmut’s small garage workshop with production of cardan shafts made of light sinters used in BMW-Sauber Formula 1 racing cars… this proves the reputation of Helmut’s small workshop whose fame reached BMW AG itself.
