by Unknown
LAP
ROSEMEYER
NUVOLARI
CARACCIOLA
1
12’ 00.0”
11’ 51.4”
11’ 47.6”
2
11’ 43.8”
11’ 44.0”
11’ 46.4”
3
11’ 38.8”
11’ 37.4”
11’ 43.8”
4
11’ 43.4”
11’ 35.8”
11’ 51.6” RTD
5
11’ 34.0”
11’ 42.2”
6
11’ 25.0”
11’ 32.4” FOG
7
11’ 44.8”
11’ 44.8”
8
8 11’ 32.6”
12’ 14.8”
9
11’ 40.0”
12’ 28.8”
10
11’ 49.4”
12’ 22.4”
(FOG LIFTED)
‘It really is quite extraordinary how Rosemeyer simply drove away from Nuvolari in the fog, by 42.2 secs on lap eight; 48.8 on lap nine and 33 on the final tour when the fog was lifting. Nuvolari had already raced six times at the Ring and knew it as well as anybody, but he simply could not stay with Rosemeyer.’ Bernd was not only blessed with uncanny skill, but also with remarkable eyesight, which somehow enabled him to see through fog. This seems hard to believe, but it is confirmed by his wife, Elly, who recalled: ‘I had been given firsthand experience of Bernd’s extraordinary eyesight very early in our relationship, when he drove me to a lecture one foggy night. I had very good eyesight myself and on this occasion I could barely see more than 20 metres ahead, yet Bernd was driving the Horch at around 50 mph, as calm and relaxed as you please! When I asked him to slow down, he replied that he could see perfectly well, thank you, and had I noticed that cyclist in front of us? I could see nothing, but moments later, there was the cyclist. Bernd pointed out several other things long before I saw them and this convinced me that he had a remarkable, infra-red-type vision. Armed with this «secret weapon», he was virtually unaffected by the fog at the Nurburg-Ring, and won easily.’ That drive established Bernd as the new King of the Nurburg-Ring and became yet another monument in the building of the Rosemeyer legend, which was to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming months. But, for the moment, Bernd had more important matters on his mind and on July 13 he and Elly were married in Berlin. They deliberately chose that date because both regarded 13 as their lucky number. And, 13 days later, Bernd won the German Grand Prix. In truth, he didn’t just win, he dominated the Nurburg-Ring and the race almost from start to finish and in front of a crowd estimated at close to 400,000 people. Most of them, no doubt, were drawn to the Ring in the hope of seeing yet another electrifying peformance from young Rosemeyer, now a household name throughout Germany. This was due as much to his romance with Elly Beinhorn and their recent marriage as to his racing skills, for they were a truly charismatic couple and the German press could not get enough of them, on or off the race track. As usual, the starting grid was decided by drawing lots and Bernd found himself on row three, behind Tazio Nuvolari (4-litre, V12 Alfa Romeo); Hans Stuck (6-litre Auto Union); Jean-Pierre Wimille (3.3-litre Bugatti) with Rudolf Caracciola and Manfred von Brauchitsch (4.7-litre MercedesBenz) on row two. Manfred made a great start, leading Hermann Lang (Mercedes), Stuck, Caracciola and Nuvolari, but by the Karussell Rosemeyer had forced his way in to second place, only to have Caracciola pass him before Brunnchen. On the three-kilometre straight, however, both Rosemeyer and Lang got by and fled through the start/ finish area behind von Brauchitsch, whose standing lap had taken just 10 mins 24 secs, eight seconds under the circuit record, which he set in the previous year’s GP. On lap two Bernd went into the lead at the Adenau Bridge, when von Brauchitsch suffered front suspension problems and drove slowly back to the pits. From then on Rosemeyer was never headed. After seven laps he stopped at the pits for fuel and two rear tyres, being sent on his way again after just 41 seconds. Then Caracciola came walking in, his Mercedes having come to a halt with a defective fuel pump. After 10 laps Rosemeyer was leading team-mate Stuck by 1 min 54 secs, with Nuvolari third, some 25 seconds further back. On the 14th tour Nuvolari was forced to retire with a broken rear axle, by which time Rosemeyer had broken Manfred von Brauchitsch’s 1935 lap record of 10 mins 32.0 secs no fewer than 12 times! He did not lower the record each lap, but on the third he recorded a stunning 9’ 56.4”, which was so fast it did not appear in the speed table in the programme. It was also the first time that a lap in under 10 minutes had been recorded during a race. Once Nuvolari had retired Bernd eased up somewhat and took the chequered flag 3 mins 37 secs ahead of Stuck. «How’s this for an extra wedding present?’ asked Bernd of his bride, who was almost overcome with relief after the awful tension of the past four hours. ‘Sometime later,’ wrote Elly in her biography of Bernd, ‘we managed to struggle through the still-lingering crowds to our Horch and set off towards the little village of Daun, where the whole Rosemeyer family had preceded us. Naturally, Bernd insisted on driving. The youngsters of Daun had prepared a wonderful welcome for him, with poems written in his honour and garlands of flowers they had picked themselves, and in the evening the Fire Brigade came to congratulate us! I cannot describe to you how impressive this enthusiasm really was. ‘Later we were to enjoy another triumphal celebration given by Auto Union at the NurburgRing’s Sport Hotel, but in spite of all the praise being showered upon him, Bernd’s main concern was for his mechanics. ‘»We couldn’t have won anything without them, Elly,» he said, «You really should get to know them. They are the heart and soul of the game and think nothing of working through a couple of nights to get the cars ready. I’m going to crack a bottle with them. Coming?»’ Rosemeyer went on to win three more GPs, which made him European Champion for 1936, in only his second season of motor racing. To complete his phenomenal year, he also won two mountainclimbs and became European Mountain Champion. In 1937 Bernd was delighted to find that the Eifel GP was to be held on June 13. A few days before, however, he was summoned to the NurburgRing by Professor Porsche for some testing. Having only recently acquired his full flying licence, Bernd borrowed a Jungmann bi-plane from its designer, Karl Clemens, and flew down from Berlin. He made an emergency landing on the small gliding airfield at Quiddelbacher Hohe, claiming that his engine had ‘lost’ a cylinder. This meant that the Jungmann had to be man-handled onto the circuit so it could be towed backwards down Flugplatz to the start/finish area, where the cylinder was replaced. The next day (having recorded an unofficial best-ever lap of the Nurburg-Ring in 9 mins 54.0 secs) Bernd took off right in front of the grandstand and flew home. Elly Rosemeyer was convinced that he planned the whole affair, so he could show off his new-found flying skills to his motor racing friends. On race day, a crowd estimated at around 300,000 turned up, doubtless in the hope that Rosemeyer would emulate Rudolf Caracciola and score three victories in a row at the Ring. He did not disappoint them, for his lucky 13 held true and he defeated the Mercedes team almost single-handed. Following their disastrous 1936 season, the Stuttgart concern came up with a superb new racer, the W125, which won first time out, at Tripoli. Five of these cars were entered at the Eifel, to be driven by Caracciola, von Brauchitsch, Hermann Lang, Dick Seaman and Christian Kautz. By contrast, Auto Union retained their C-type and were in driver trouble, as Luigi Fagioli (who had joined the
team from Mercedes) was ill; Rosemeyer’s great friend Ernst von Delius crashed in practice and hurt himself, motor-cycle racer HP Muller was having his very first race and Rudolf Hasse was a junior driver of little experience. So it was Rosemeyer against the entire Mercedes-Benz team - and he loved it! In practice he demoralised his rivals with a time of 9 mins 57 secs, whereas Caracciola and von Brauchitsch could not break 10 minutes. Caracciola took the lead from the start, but Rosemeyer moved ahead on lap two, which he completed in 9’ 59”. After four laps he was 10 secs ahead of the Mercedes, but at the end of lap five Rudi came into the pits with a rear tyre in shreds. Two laps later Rosemeyer came in - as scheduled - for new tyres, then roared back into the race, still leading by 45 seconds. He eased off in the final three laps to win by 50 secs from Caracciola, who was 55 secs ahead of von Brauchitsch. And so, in the circuit’s 10th anniversary year, Bernd Rosemeyer was King of the Nurburg-Ring again, having scored his third win in a row, the Eifel and German GPs in 1936 and now the Eifel once more. The day after the race he returned to the Ring to do some filming for Auto Union. ‘This gave him a great idea,’ recalled Elly Rosemeyer, ‘He had long wanted to take me round the Ring in his racing car and here was his chance. «This is a golden opportunity, Elly. You simply sit on the edge of my seat and I will drive very carefully, but fast enough that you may get an idea of what it’s like when I am racing.» ‘I was all for it, but my enthusiasm evaporated after the very first corner! At every bend I was ready to swear an oath that we would never get round and I was almost thrown out of the Auto Union by the centrifugal force. As I clung on for dear life my husband laughed himself silly. “What are you complaining about? I can’t drive fast at all on these running-in plugs. Dawdling along like this wouldn’t get us tenth place.” I was by no means ashamed of my timidity. On the contrary, I was grateful for the chance to get some idea of what Bernd got up to on a circuit and it was abundantly clear to me that driving a racing car was infinitely more difficult than flying.’ With three consecutive wins under his belt Bernd was, of course, odds on to win the German Grand Prix again in July and, after practice, few would have bet against him. Although the W125 Mercedes produced an eye-watering 640 bhp, not even Caracciola was a match for Rosemeyer, whose Auto Union gave a mere 520 bhp and Bernd stunned everyone with a lap in 9 mins 46.2 secs. This gave him pole position on the grid which, for the first time at the Nurburg-Ring, was decided by practice times. Second fastest was Hermann Lang in 9’ 52.2». He had been a racing mechanic with Mercedes until he was given his chance to drive for the team in 1935, so he and Rosemeyer were almost exact contemporaries. He had won the Tripoli GP earlier in the year and was now second on the grid with a lap in 9’ 52.2» Third was Manfred von Brauchitsch (Mercedes), with 9’55.1» and not at all happy at being slower than the former mechanic! On the second row were Caracciola (Mercedes) and Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo), neither of whom could get below 10 minutes. The starting grid contained some of the most powerful racing cars the world had ever seen, five Mercedes W125s producing around 3,200 bhp and five Auto Unions a further 2,600! John Dugdale set the scene in The Autocar: ‘The opening stages of a modern Grand Prix are the most thrilling in racing. Half a minute before zero time engines are started and the collected cars make the ground vibrate with their concerted roar. A maroon fires and the smoke from spinning wheels and exhausts blows up to join the maroon’s white puff. The cars move off the line together, accelerating amazingly quickly to almost 100 mph before the first bend. ‘Nuvolari and Rosemeyer were moving suspiciously before the general start, but two Mercedes were first into the Sudkehre, the banked loop which immediately follows the straight past the stands; Caracciola (Mercedes) and Lang (Mercedes) led Rosemeyer (Auto Union). The rest could hardly be distinguished as they flashed down the narrow return road, the silver cars of Germany out in front, interspersed with the red of Italy and the lone green car bearing the British colour - Evans’ Alfa Romeo. ‘Then the unique atmosphere of the NurburgRing really took hold. The cars went diving off down the winding road far out into the country. Through the Hocheichen, a wicked, grass-lined Sbend, every corner taken in a dry skid, drivers cutting the leaves from the bordering hedges, clipping grass verges and making the white-painted wood kerbs black with rubber from the tyres. The announcer’s guttural voice, vibrant with excitement, rose to a pitch of frenzy as the order from the Karussell banked hairpin was shouted through between the echo of the cars. ‘Finally, the crowd waited expectantly for the dull roar which was to announce the leaders’ approach up the straight towards the stands. All eyes were turned to the right. Then, quicker even than one expected, the cars came in sight over the bridge round a fast left bend. Lang’s Mercedes had a fifty-yard lead on Rosemeyer’s Auto Union. They were followed by Caracciola’s Mercedes, scarlethelmeted von Brauchitsch skidding nastily with his Mercedes; young Muller, Delius and Hasse, the three junior drivers of the Auto Union team; Nuvolari with the first of the Italian Alfas; Kautz’ Mercedes and, tenth, Dick Seaman’s Mercedes. ‘The last couple had not made too good a start, and forthwith they set about increasing speed. But they were not the only ones to make special efforts, since Rosemeyer, who knew the race was really his, was impatient to be in front. On the second lap he passed Lang, put in the fastest lap of the day (9 mins 53.4 secs; 85.61 mph) and came round with a good lead. On the third lap Rosemeyer was more easily in the lead and Caracciola had passed Lang. But on the fourth lap it was the great “Rudi” Caracciola, four times winner of the German GP, whose Mercedes came round well out in front, followed by Lang and von Brauchitsch. Where was Bernd Rosemeyer? Where was the race favourite?’ Elly Beinhorn Rosemeyer takes up the story: ‘Not long after Bernd had gone by (at the end of lap three) an NSKK official appeared at our pits with a hub cap that had fallen off one of our cars. From my position in the pit I could see that our Team Manager, Dr Feuereissen, and the mechanics were looking anxious about something, but I didn’t know what. Then Bernd failed to appear at the end of the fourth lap and I could see that the mechanics were no longer just anxious, they were very worried. Before I could discover just what was going on, however, Bernd came rolling in with a rear tyre in shreds and although the mechanics worked feverishly it was 2 minutes and 20 seconds before a furious Bernd could get back into the race.’ John Dugdale again: ‘Rosemeyer, aching to be on with the chase took a running jump into the cockpit, ripping the seat of his neat white overalls on the way. The sixteen cylinders roared into life, puffs of smoke shot up from the vertical exhaust stumps and the Auto Union was away, with over three minutes to make up on Caracciola. How dearly the champion had paid for his opening laps at what was evidently too great a speed.’ Too true: in his efforts to pass Caracciola, Bernd had slid into a bank somewhere, breaking the hub cap which fell off at the South Turn, where it was retrieved by the NSKK official. The wheel vibrated on its spindle until the tyre burst. The result was that Rosemeyer was now down in 10th place. But worse was to come for Auto Union. On the seventh lap Ernst von Delius, having passed Rosemeyer as he was making his way slowly back to the pits, took it upon himself to challenge Dick Seaman for fourth place, as John Dugdale reported: ‘Delius made a terrific effort to pass Seaman and came up close as the cars entered the two-mile straight. The crowd rose in horror - just over the brow of a hump-backed bridge the two collided and in a flash were gone, Delius off the road on one side end over end; Seaman crammed on his brakes and slid broadside down the road, then spun round and round and shot backwards into the hedge. The smash occured at 150 mph. At the time of dictating this, Dick Seaman has a cut face and a badly sprained wrist. Delius is more critically hurt, although details are still lacking.’ As soon as she heard of the crash, Elly Rosemeyer went to the circuit’s krankenhaus, where she learned that Dick Seaman had a broken nose and flesh wounds and that their friend Ernst had a broken leg, but was conscious and sent greetings to everyone. She returned to the pits to watch Bernd making a sensational effort to retrieve the race he thought should be his. He was now up to fifth place,
but ‘driving on the brink of disaster’, as Rodney Walkerley wrote in The Motor. At one point he overdid it and the Auto Union went off the road, stripping another tread from a rear tyre. The ensuing pit stop cost him 43 seconds. On lap 15 he passed Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) into fourth place, but had to stop again two laps later for a scheduled change of all four wheels, which was achieved in the splendid time of 52 seconds. It was then Nuvolari’s turn for a final pit stop and Bernd moved back into third place, which he held until the end. Caracciola won, with von Brauchitsch second, but the packed grandstand gave Bernd the biggest cheer, for although he had been forced to do two very slow laps with a shredded rear tyre and had spent almost four minutes in the pits, he was barely 62 seconds behind Caracciola at the end. It was another stunning peformance from Rosemeyer, who had won three of his six races at the Nurburg-Ring in three years. His frustration at losing a race he should have won was immediately banished by the concern he and Elly felt for von Delius, who had been moved to the hospital in Adenau. The next morning their worst fears were confirmed, when they learned that he had died during the night. And so the 1937 German Grand Prix, which had promised so much for Bernd Rosemeyer, had a tragic ending. In more ways than one, for it was to be his last race at the Nurburg-Ring he loved so much and which he had dominated so completely. Within six months Rosemeyer himself was dead killed in a record attempt on the Frankfurt-Darmstadt autobahn - and buried close to his friend von Delius in the Dahlem cemetery, Berlin. The most astonishing career in the history of Grand Prix racing was over, after just three seasons.