Reine Wisell (30 September 1941 – 20 March 2022) is a Swedish former racing driver.
He participated in 23 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 4 October 1970. He achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 13 championship points. He also participated in several non-Championship Formula One races.
He won the Swedish Formula 3 Championship in 1967 and three years later he made the big step and signed with Team Lotus who were the best team this year. In the 1970 United States Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, Wisell raced for Lotus who made their return in the championship after Jochen Rindt’s death at Monza.
Rindt’s death caused his teammate John Miles to retire and Wisell replaced him. His first grand prix was the best in his career as he achieved a third-place finish, trailing only his teammate and future champion Emerson Fittipaldi and Pedro Rodríguez and finishing ahead of title contender Jacky Ickx. This result was Wisell’s best, as the subsequent years were not so good for him, and he retired after his home grand prix in 1974. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Born in Motala, near lake Vättern in Sweden, Reine Wisell’s racing started in 1962 with a Mini Cooper then after competing in saloon races he turned to Formula 3 in 1966. He took some F3 victories in a Cooper at Roskilde and Bengtsfors and during this time was also an instructor at Karlskoga race track.
Racing a Team Baltzar Brabham BT18 the following year would see him take the Swedish F3 championship and in 1968 he raced an Italian Tecno in local races, with eleven victories.
1969 was a busy season, as he raced one of Derek Bennett’s Chevrons plus shared a Corvette (with Henri Greder) at Le Mans. He also drove in F3 and during an exciting race at Monaco he and Ronnie Peterson continually passed and re-passed each other, locking brakes and touching wheels.
In 1970 Reine continued in sportscars, co-driving a Scuderia Filipinetti Ferrari 512S with Jo Bonnier at Le Mans and he raced Sid Taylor’s McLaren M10B to victory in three European Formula 5000 races. There were two F1 drives for Lotus for the last two races of the season and in his first GP, at Watkins Glen, he took an impressive third place finish.
He raced full-time with Lotus for 1971 and during the year drove the Lotus 72, plus their Lotus 56B turbine car in two races (Oulton Park and Silverstone). This was adapted from the Lotus 56 Indycar and used a Ferguson 4WD system combined with a helicopter Pratt & Whitney turbine but the project was abandoned at the end of the season. He also raced F2 cars for Lotus and won his first F2 race at Pau but despite finishing fourth in South Africa and Austria his GP campaign was a disappointing one for him.
Reine didn’t stay with Lotus for 1972 though the team called on him to drive for them in the final two races of the season (retiring in Canada and finishing tenth in the USA). He had signed for BRM, who wanted to race five cars, though the effort would prove a massive drain on the team’s organisational skills.
1973 saw him in F2, taking a win at the Eifelrennen with a superb performance in a Team Pierre Robert GRD-Ford plus a drive at Le Mans in Équipe Gitanes Cigarettes France’s Lola T282. There was also a further F1 drive, in a Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthie team March, when he replaced Mike Beuttler at the French GP.
The following year saw him compete in his last F1 race, in a Västkuststugan sponsored March 741 for the Swedish GP, and he qualified sixteenth, though retired during the race due to rear suspension failure. The year also saw his fourth race at Le Mans, in a Gulf Mirage GR7 with Vern Schuppan.
In 1975 he was a co-driver with Hartwig Batrams in a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR in the European GT Championship and drove a Group 2 Chevrolet Camaro in European saloon car racing, plus a Camaro in the Swedish SuperStar series, during 1976-79.
Although he disappeared for some years, in 1985 there was a return to sportscars when he took part in the SuperSports series for historic sportscars in a Chevron, with Johnny Lundberger.
Reine continued to appear at historic racing events and also teaches advanced driving techniques.
Reine Wisell – The Sideburn Swede – from 
