21 replies to this topic

[klemcoll]

The question is, who is the driver in these two photos from our archive? They were taken during practice for the 1938 Swiss GP at Bern, as in the race all entries had even numbers. The official Auto-Union drivers were Kautz, Müller, Nuvolari and Stuck. In the race they drove cars 2 through 8, respectively. We have another photo of, we suppose, Müller driving n. 4 in practice and he is not the guy driving n. 1 here, nor does it appear to be Kautz or Stuck. Many thanks in advance for the usual TNF expertise!


106E-15A


C106A-6

[Vitesse2]

Ewald Kluge?

[Rocky2]

I assume the driver in both pictures is Rudolf Hasse.

[David McKinney]

Uli Bigalke and Ewald Kluge were considered to be the most promising of Auto Union's Nachwuchsfährer in 1938, if that's any help. Others on the progranne were Hushke von Hanstein, Bobby Kohlrausch, Erwin Zimmerman and Wlfried Winkler

Edited by David McKinney, 04 December 2010 - 20:51.

[Vitesse2]

This is Kluge:



Driver in the pictures looks too young to be either Hasse or Bigalke and too short to be Hasse, who was about 6'6".

[jj2728]

doubt it's von Hanstein. Great colour photograph btw.....

[Vitesse2]

doubt it's von Hanstein. Great colour photograph btw.....

Due to his lack of pace in his AU test H v H was politely told that his future probably lay elsewhere than Zwickau.

[larryd]

Looks awfully like Rudi Hasse to me,especially with the ski-type goggles (to give room for his spectacles?)

Mind you, I've no theory on the race number . . . . . . . . .

[Felix Muelas]

Great! (and how all of us look like really blind to faces!)
Why do you think this is NOT Christian Kautz?

[RStock]

Judging by the second photo, that flat griille area looks to be one of the re-built C types. The only time they were raced according to Leif Snellman's site were at the 1938 French GP, German GP and Coppa Acerbo. None were numbered number 1. Could this be a hillclimb?

[RStock]

Great! (and how all of us look like really blind to faces!)
Why do you think this is NOT Christian Kautz?

I think it does resemble him.



photo from http://kais-autogram...verstorben.html

[Rocky2]

Judging by the second photo, that flat griille area looks to be one of the re-built C types. The only time they were raced according to Leif Snellman's site were at the 1938 French GP, German GP and Coppa Acerbo. None were numbered number 1. Could this be a hillclimb?

The photograph was taken by Louis Klemantaski during 1938 Swiss Grand Prix practice in Bern. That's the last appearance of interim C/D-Type car (1937 C-Type chassis, 1938 D-Type engine).

Great! (and how all of us look like really blind to faces!)
Why do you think this is NOT Christian Kautz?

Just look at the face. It is not Kautz, it is Hasse.

[Otto Grabe]

IMHO both pictures show Hasse
http://www.phpbbplan...p;mforum=aerogi
(including the #1 car)


by the way you can find there a Hasse photo too:
http://kais-autogram...verstorben.html

[LittleChris]

I also think it's Hasse

[Tim Murray]

In the book Auto Union Grand Prix Wagen by Stefan Knittel there's a different photo of Auto Union #1 practising at Bremgarten. The driver's features are not as clear as in the Klemantaski photos, but he is wearing a similar dark shirt. The photo is captioned as Kautz.

[Eric Dunsdon]

Arent they both of H.P ('Saucy') Muller?.

[monoposto]

. . . and also on the cover of his 1969 book "Historic Motor Racing"
this time describing it as the 1937 Swiss Grand Prix, and the driver as Bernd Rosemeyer ! !

"Klemantaski Himself - Portfolio" has the driver as Christian Kautz

Edited by monoposto, 05 December 2010 - 15:48.

[Rob G]

However, what about one of the Ludwig brothers?

Do you mean the Sebastian brothers, Ludwig and Wilhelm? That was one of my first thoughts, but I found photos of them in an Auto-Union book I have, and it's not either of them.

[klemcoll]

Thanks to one and all for your efforts. Based on the comments here and advice from another party with special knowledge, we believe that it is indeed Hesse. We ourselves were confused in the past as to the driver's identity, and I guess we had some company in that! Thanks again to the very helpful members of TNF.

[Rocky2]

Thanks to one and all for your efforts. Based on the comments here and advice from another party with special knowledge, we believe that it is indeed Hesse. We ourselves were confused in the past as to the driver's identity, and I guess we had some company in that! Thanks again to the very helpful members of TNF.

Not Hesse, but Hasse

Unlike the young drivers, Rudolf Hasse was able to give a very good feedback for the car. He had driven this very car just one week before at Pescara (on August, 14th), not to say about miles of testing and Grandes Épreuves, so he also could compare the behavior of the car better than anybody other. The most probably date of the pictures seems to be Friday, 19th August 1938.

[Doug Nye]

I initially really doubted it was Hasse on grounds of height, but that A-U variant must have been deep-chested, since the driver's cleft chin and right-cheek dimple (possibly created by the scar from a healed injury) entirely match the lofty German's features.

DCN

[Holger Merten]

EDIT: Just checked my pictures again: The driver is Hasse. I have several pictures showing him in Berne in this shirt and with those googles.

Edited by Holger Merten, 24 August 2012 - 06:43.