Zakowski was born in Allenstein, East Prussia, the territory now known as Olsztyn in Poland. At the end of the Second World War, his mother fled west with eleven-year-old Erich and his four siblings, first to a refugee camp in Lübeck before the family eventually settled in Niederzissen, a small town in the Rhineland. He completed an apprenticeship as an auto mechanic in nearby Andernach and went on to pass the Kfz-Mechatroniker-Meister examination, qualifying him as a master craftsman. He then opened his own garage in Niederzissen, which would remain the permanent home of his racing operation for decades.
In 1968, still operating under the name Zakowski Niederzissen Tuning, Zakowski entered automobile racing for the first time, fielding a Ford Escort 1300 GT on the nearby Nürburgring. The combination of a works-capable German team running a Ford product quickly attracted factory interest, and through the 1970s the operation — by then known as Zakspeed — became a major force in the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, the premier German touring-car championship of the era. The team's highly developed Ford Capris and Escorts earned a reputation for meticulous preparation and for extracting extraordinary performance from production-based machinery.
Through the 1970s and into the 1980s, Zakspeed was one of the most competitive entrants in both the DRM and in international sports car racing. The team's turbocharged Ford Capris were formidable weapons in the DRM, and the operation's willingness to invest in aerodynamic and engine development gave it an edge over many rivals. Success in endurance events complemented the national championship programme and raised Zakspeed's profile beyond Germany's borders.
In 1985, Zakowski made the ambitious decision to enter Formula 1. Zakspeed became the first German constructor to compete in the world championship since the 1930s works Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union teams. The team built its own turbocharged four-cylinder engine, an unusual technical choice at a time when most competitors were acquiring V6 or V8 power units from established suppliers. Drivers including Jonathan Palmer, Christian Danner, Bernd Schneider, Piercarlo Ghinzani, and Aguri Suzuki raced for the team during its five-year campaign. Results were modest; the team scored only two world championship points across the entire Formula 1 programme, and the combination of limited resources and an in-house engine project proved extremely demanding.
In 1990, after five seasons at the sport's highest level, Zakspeed was forced to withdraw from Formula 1 following the departure of its main sponsor, West. The financial pressures of maintaining a constructor's programme without a large backer made continued participation impossible. Around the same time, Zakowski stepped back from the active leadership of the team, handing day-to-day control to his son Peter Zakowski. The operation continued in other categories under Peter's direction, including the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.
Erich Zakowski's achievement in building a competitive racing team from a small garage in Niederzissen, sustaining it through three decades of top-level motorsport, and taking it all the way to Formula 1 as a constructor remains a remarkable story in German racing history. The Zakspeed name became synonymous with German engineering ambition, and the team's DRM-era Fords are still celebrated as among the most spectacular touring cars of their generation. Zakowski died on 1 November 2023, aged 89, at his home in Balkhausen.