/ 23 January 2008

High speed, high drama

So you think today’s Formula One cars are fast? How about 70 years ago, when drivers wearing cloth helmets and short-sleeved shirts wrestled massive cars shod with skinny little tyres around grand prix circuits, reaching speeds of more than 320km/h?

Berndt Rosemeyer was a very successful professional motorcycle racer when Auto Union built its formidable supercharged V16 racing cars in 1935. These monsters could reach more than 320km/h down the straight, but experienced racers battled to come to grips with the ill-handling, rear-engined beasts around corners, so the factory organised a series of “search for talent” tests at the Nörburgring.

Rosemeyer, aged 26, pitched up and, without ever having driven a racing car before, hurled the big Auto Union around the track within seconds of the established drivers, securing himself a seat in the new car.

The fun-loving German, still rated as possibly the most naturally talented racing driver yet, was cast in a very unconventional mould — he lived for his racing, and loved being unpredictable in his everyday life. His career lasted just 979 days, but in that time he won 10 of the 31 races of grand prix status he entered, set 12 fastest laps and started on the front row of the grid 20 times. He also became the first man ever to reach 250 miles per hour (400km/h) on a public road when he took a specially streamlined version of the Auto Union to more than 405km/h in October 1937.

Rosemeyer died on January 28 1938 when he crashed at more than 400km/h while trying to establish new land-speed records on Hitler’s new Frankfurt-Darmstadt autobahn. The 16-cylinder Type C Auto Union he was driving was calculated to be good for 420kW at 5 000rpm, at which revs it would be travelling at 456km/h in top gear.

The car shown here was photographed at the 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed in the United Kingdom by myself. It’s a 1938 supercharged 12-cylinder model developed to comply with the change of rules for that year limiting engine capacity to three litres — enough for a top speed of 310km/h. The driver here is Pink Floyd’s drummer, Nick Mason — a real car fan who owns 35 historic racing cars and has driven in five Le Mans 24-hour races.

The four rings of the Audi badge symbolise the brands Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer, which were combined under the umbrella of Auto Union in 1932. Auto Union and NSU, which merged in 1969, made many significant contributions towards the development of the car. Audi AG was formed from Audi NSU Auto Union AG in 1985. Audi has announced that the company will lay a wreath at the scene of Rosemeyer’s death on January 28 this year.