Schurti was born in Austria on Christmas Eve but moved with his family to Liechtenstein shortly after World War II. He trained as a mechanic and eventually became head of the national motor vehicle inspection authority (Motorfahrzeugkontrolle MFK). His racing ambitions initially pointed toward motorcycle competition, but his sponsor, Baron von Falz-Fein, refused to fund two-wheel efforts and instead put him in a Formula Vee car. That decision proved transformative.
In Formula Vee, Schurti found himself slipstreaming with a group of Austrians that included the young Niki Lauda. He won his first race in 1969 at Hockenheim and followed it with the 1970 Formula Vee World Championship title. In 1972, backed by Hilti, he claimed both the Formel Super Vau Castrol Trophy and the International Castrol GTX Trophy, and was named Sportsman of the Year in Liechtenstein.
After a costly and uncompetitive foray into Formula 2, Schurti tested a Williams Formula 1 car at Goodwood in 1976 and, at 34, decided that touring cars and prototypes offered a more promising path. He joined the German Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft series, winning three events, and in 1980 competed in the BMW M1 Procar Championship, taking a victory on the AVUS in Berlin.
Peter Sauber offered him a sportscar contract, but Schurti, having witnessed fatal accidents during his career, chose to retire from professional racing at 39. He emerged briefly from retirement for the 1984 Nürburgring Race of Champions, driving a Mercedes-Benz 190E that he subsequently purchased once it was converted to road specification.
Schurti's reputation rests largely on his association with the Porsche factory at Le Mans across a decade of appearances. He debuted there in 1974 sharing a Martini Racing Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo prototype; the car caught fire and retired, while the sister entry finished second overall.
In 1975, with Porsche absent from prototype development, he co-drove a regular 911 Carrera RSR to fifth place overall and first in the GTS class — a strong result with a privateer-specification machine.
From 1976, Schurti became a full Porsche factory test driver. With the team's lead drivers Jacky Ickx, Jochen Mass, and Rolf Stommelen committed to Formula 1 obligations, he and Jürgen Barth regularly substituted or handled backup entries. At Le Mans in 1976 he drove the Porsche 935, finishing first in the Group 5 class and fourth overall. He returned with factory 935 entries in 1977 and 1978, and in 1979 raced a private 935 when the factory sat out — the year another privateer 935 took the overall win. Between 1980 and 1982 he also supported Porsche's factory campaigns with the 924 variants.
Schurti's career illustrates an uncommon trajectory: a late-blooming Formula Vee world champion who pivoted successfully to factory endurance racing with one of motorsport's most storied marques. As Liechtenstein's most prominent motorsport representative, he remains a singular figure — a country of roughly 40,000 people having produced a Le Mans class winner and Porsche factory driver. His longevity across multiple Porsche programs, spanning the RSR Turbo, 935, and 924, reflects the trust the factory placed in his judgment and mechanical understanding.