Florian Camathias

Florian Camathias (23 March 1924 – 10 October 1965) was a Swiss professional Grand Prix motorcycle and sidecar racer.

Born in Wittenbach, St. Gallen in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland, Camathias owned a garage Veytaux, near Montreux.

Camathias won his first Grand Prix victory in the 1958 Dutch TT at Assen. a race won by English racer Chris Vincent with a BSA-engined outfit. Camathias won his one and only TT at the 1963 races. whilst Camathias finished 15th in the same race using a Gilera engine.

Death Camathias died after crashing during a race at Brands Hatch, Kent, England, on 10 October 1965. His passenger, Franz Ducret, was injured but recovered in West Hill Hospital, Dartford, Kent.

An inquest, presided over by Coroner for North Kent, Col. W.H. Harris, found that the crash was caused by welding failure where a front-fork tube had broken-away, and recorded a verdict of misadventure. Around 1,000 people attended the funeral with many from the motorcycle and car racing fraternity.

Legacy A European sidecar classic racing series was established named Camathias Cup Championship with classes for two engine capacities, under 750 cc and over 750 cc, with winners decided on the overall highest points score in each class. In 2015, 45 teams participated achieving full grids in five countries, including a 2-race short road-course event on the Billown Circuit at the Pre-TT races, part the Isle of Man race festival.

Family connections Camathias was the uncle to Romeo Camathias, a car racer born in 1947, whose son Joël Camathias is also a car racer.