What do the Grello Porsche, Frikadelli Ferrari, Rowe BMW, HRT Mercedes, Scherer Audi or Abt Lamborghini have in common? All of these well-known vehicle foils were created by the German designer Fabian Weingart, better known as ‘Berzerk design‘! We asked the horsepower artist to count: He has designed a total of 34 car designs for the 24h Nürburgring 2024.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: Since 2009, Weingart has developed countless vehicle designs for racing around the globe. “There are around 1,000 cars designed by me that have found their way onto the race track in the past 15 years,” says Weingart in an interview for the current print edition of Motorsport-Magazin.com.
Berzerkdesign: A Big Bang named Ernst Moser
The story of how Berzerkdesign came about is both crazy and racing-romantic: While still a student at the time, motorsport freak Weingart joined a sim racing modding crew. For the 2009 season, he went looking for virtual logos for what was then an Audi R8 LMS GT3 from Phoenix Racing. Easier said than done: At that time, access was not so simple. And so Weingart decided to send the Phoenix team an email with his request.
And he received an answer… “From Phoenix boss Ernst Moser himself,” Weingart remembers with great enthusiasm. “He found my designs and 3D models exciting and actually asked if I wanted to develop car designs for him. This email from Ernst was practically the big bang for Berzerkdesign. The cars I designed for Phoenix Racing actually went into racing – for me as a student at the time, that was really crazy.”
Berzerkdesign: More than 100 regular customers from motorsport
It all started with Phoenix Racing and the now retired team boss Ernst Moser: in 2010, the yellow GT1 Corvettes and the Porta Audi, which surprisingly landed on the podium at the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring with drivers Marc Bronzel, Dennis Rostek, Markus Winkelhock and Luca Ludwig, were designed according to Weingart’s design. The collaboration with Phoenix turned out to be a stroke of luck for the future.
Weingart remembers the beginnings: “Back then, my logo was on the side skirts. And good work in motorsports, thankfully, gets around quickly, and one thing led to another. I currently have around 100 regular customers, all from motorsports. I am still incredibly grateful to Ernst Moser to this day. Without his openness to new things, none of this would have happened.”
Mamba, Green Machine, rubber ducks: fan favorites from Berzerkdesign
Today, the name Berzerkdesign is an indispensable part of the world’s race tracks. When fans look closely at numerous cars, they often discover the company logo on the A-pillar or in the rear area of the respective racing car.
Current fan favorites from Weingart’s pen include the Mann-Filter Mamba, the Ferrari 296 GT3 from Frikadelli that won at the Nürburgring in 2023, the camouflage Audis from Phoenix and Scherer Sport PHX, and the Green Machine from BMW driver Marco Wittmann in the DTM. And last but not least, the crazy ‘Underduck’ designs from Absolute Racing; Weingart: “It’s a camouflage design made up of rubber ducks! I had a lot of fun with that, in Asia the teams are still really daring to do something.”
“My wife’s idea”: This is what lies behind Berzerkdesign
Confidentiality is a very important asset in Weingart’s daily work, after all, he knows large parts of the starting fields or driver line-ups long before the public does. But he can reveal one thing that will certainly interest many motorsport fans: where does the name ‘Berzerkdesign’ actually come from?
Weingart explains: “The idea came from my wife. I also belong to the generation that grew up with computer games. When I was playing online games, I was nicknamed ‘The real Berzerker’. When it came to naming the company, I couldn’t think of anything memorable at first, until my wife said I should just use this gamer name.”
You can read a large exclusive interview with Berzerkdesign founder Fabian Weingart in the current print edition of Motorsport-Magazin – which is already sold out. To avoid missing out again, it’s best to order today Pre-order issue number 97 here!