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East German racers at the Prototyp Museum, Hamburg


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#1 ensign14

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Posted 27 January 2015 - 10:38

...until 15 March at least.  Just saw the notice in this month's Octane so have booked to go early next month.  Looks very interesting.  HHs and EMWs and so on.

 

Details on their website here.  Although the site's a bit design-y.

 

Anyone else gone/planning to go?



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#2 Arese

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Posted 27 January 2015 - 11:20

I've been there for the first time about 2 years ago. I loved the Graf Berghe von Trips section in particular. The museum seems to be worth a visit any time.



#3 ensign14

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Posted 12 March 2015 - 08:54

OK, so I decided to aroint myself and take a shufti...

 

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^ Kurt Baum's special

 

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^ Rudi Krause's Reif

 

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^ The Reif from the rear

 

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^ Holbein HH49

 

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^ Veritas

 

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^ Ernst Klodwig's special, with lovely patina

 

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^ The Klodwig from the rear...

 

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^ ...from the side...

 

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^...and on the inside.

 

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^ Lorenz-VW.  Apparently East German sportscars had a very low survival rate.

 

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^ somewhat Bauhaus view of the Lorenz

 

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^ EMW

 

 

I'll get some more regular museum section pics up later.  Not a big collection, but the quality is supreme, nearly everything in it is vanishingly rare or unique.  Even a (the?) Toyota TF110.  And a very good building with lots of light.  Temporary exhibitions like the post-war cars in the basement.

 



#4 wolf sun

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Posted 12 March 2015 - 11:35

Thanks for posting these, Ensign - especially the R3, easily forgotten what a beautiful design it was.

:up: :up: :up:



#5 KWSN - DSM

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Posted 12 March 2015 - 11:47

Is it not great how the cars are displayed 'under the protection of the public'? Not hidden behind barriers so cars can only be viewed from a distance. Very good looking exhibition, we often tend to forget the whole east block racing scene.

 

:cool:



#6 fbarrett

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Posted 12 March 2015 - 20:48

Is a museum catalog or book available?

 

Thanks,

 

Frank



#7 ensign14

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Posted 15 March 2015 - 15:39

No.  There was a small selection of books in the museum shop (including a Wimpffen - not TATS), but it was more geared towards models.  Of cars rather than Caras.

 

Few more including from the general collection:

 

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^ Denzel-VW

 

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^ Otto Mathe's special - with the rev counter outside the cockpit

 

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^ Delfosse DVD - a record special of which I had never heard

 

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^another speed special, this time from NSU

 

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^ Polensky Monopoletta F3

 

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^ another F3 special: the Ludewig

 

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^ still proudly wearing its Goodwood sticker, the Petermax

 

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^ Toyota TF110

 

 

 



#8 ensign14

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Posted 15 March 2015 - 15:43

And from the temporary exhibition:

 

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^ Rometsch Porsche, built in West Berlin by enthusiasts who could not get access to Stuttgart

 

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^AFM Intertyp

 

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^ front end view of the EMW - at this particular juncture it was badged AWE

 

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^ the HH from the front end; very Silberpfeile in aspect

 

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^ Melkus FJ

 

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^ Scampolo-Wartburg FJ

 

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^ SEG FJ

 

 



#9 Tim Murray

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Posted 15 March 2015 - 16:05

So much fascinating stuff. Thanks Ens.

#10 Vitesse2

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Posted 15 March 2015 - 17:14

Anyone with an interest in these machines might want to seek out a copy of Autorennsport in der DDR by Horst Ihling. I have the original 2008 hardback with the DDR flag on the cover (which now seems to go for very silly money!), but there are some very reasonably-priced (possibly remaindered?) paperback copies on ABE at present. Even cheaper on Amazon.de Marketplace. Amazon UK Marketplace has two 2012 hardbacks listed.



#11 ensign14

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Posted 15 March 2015 - 18:44

There's also Meister des Sports by Wolfgang Melenk, which is a bit easier to read for those with klein Deutsch.  Bit like a small version of Hodges' A-Z, split by category.  One for a tenner on Amazon UK right now, a few more on .de.

 

What we really need is uechtel to write one though...



#12 Doug Nye

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Posted 15 March 2015 - 20:21

WOW!  What a stupendous selection - so well presented...  Thanks for the photographs.  Wonderful.

 

DCN



#13 hittheapex

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Posted 16 March 2015 - 11:22

Thanks for these photos, I particularly enjoy seeing the "streamliner" style cars of EMW, NSU and others.



#14 ensign14

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Posted 05 April 2015 - 22:16

Is a museum catalog or book available?

 

Decided to create my own here...I concentrated on the unusual suspects but it gives a flavour of some of the other things that are there.  And some car badges.



#15 Peter0Scandlyn

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Posted 05 April 2015 - 22:39

Thank you for sharing this. Fascinating stuff in there  :up:



#16 kmartin

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Posted 06 April 2015 - 16:53

Thank you for taking the time to create and share this online book, Ensign. It is pretty cool to get a great personal summary of a museum exhibition in Hamburg from where I live in the South Island of New Zealand. Well done!



#17 Derwent Motorsport

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Posted 06 April 2015 - 20:03

It is interesting that so many of the post way German race cars have the look of the pre war Merce and A-Us.



#18 uechtel

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Posted 08 April 2015 - 09:38

Is this really surprising? I think there are some quite obvious explanations like that what had brought Silver Arrows domination could not be totally wrong. Also nostalgic feelings, the desire to go back into the time when the world had been still "in order" may have been a factor. And last not least "streamlining" had quite a tradition in Germany, the Silver Arrows "Avus specials" had been extremely spectacular and in particular in the post-war years a lot of races were run on more or less improvised circuits with high speed character. Besides special high speed tracks like Avus, Hockenheim and the Grenzlandring a lot of races were held on Autobahn circuits, like Karlsruhe, Cologne, Dessau, Dresden, Bernau... There was almost no private traffic anyway in the early post war years so it was no problem to reserve such circuits for a weekend and they offered a comparatively good infrastructure with comparatively little preparations and costs.

 

 

What we really need is uechtel to write one though...

 

Haha, unfotunately as I have to earn my living I am afraid you will have to wait until my retirement. Anyway I can give you remarks about some of the cars. Of course I have already visited the museum, but that has been some time ago before that very interesting exhibition. So thank you very much for all the nice photos!

 

 


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^ Kurt Baum's special

Reportedly the very first "proper" Formula 2 car from East Germany. A very remarkable effort under the circumstances of 1948, when racing was not yet allowed by the Soviet government. When you stand besides the car in "real" you notice the rough hand work and the quite huge dimensions. When more "modern" cars appeared on the scene the Baum Special got soon a little bit outdated, nevertheless a very important piece from one of the pioneers of East German motorsport.

 

 

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^ Rudi Krause's Reif

 

Krause was one of the most active drivers in Formula 2 from 1949 to 1955, but in 1953 he put the Reif to the side and took over the drive in the orphaned Greifzu Special. Reif had been BMW representative before the war and in the post war years he used some left-over spare parts to build a small series of Formula 2 cars, of course built around the legendary BMW 328 engine.

 

 


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^ Holbein HH49

 

A product from the brothers/opponents from the West. Not really more successful and of course also made with BMW machinery. The HH49 is a sister car to the HH48, the very first German purpose-made Formula 2 car built by former BMW employee Hermann Holbein and when it appeared in public, because of its elegant shape the press celebrated it as "German Alfetta".

 

 


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^ Veritas

 

Veritas came close to success as a race car manufacturer with the hopes of the nation resting on them for quite some years. In the end the whole enterprise failed for a combination of underfinance, notorious dissipation of energies and discord and overestimation of the own capabilities by the management. The Veritas Meteor Formula 2 car is the incorporation of all these characteristics, as generally of quite modern basic design it lacked a lot of reliability and development and did never fulfill the promises. Nevertheless Veritas cars had achieved the first national and international successes to Germany and today the marque has become a legend to the "insiders".

 

 


 

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^ Ernst Klodwig's special, with lovely patina

 

The Klodwig is an example for the combination of Auto Union "tradition" with pragmatism of available Volkswagen platform froM East Germany. A lot of "Kübelwagen" wrecks had been left over by the war so a lot of drivers used such parts to build their specials. Usually they retained also the VW engine to start in the 1100 cc category, but some exceptions like Klodwig also chose the BMW 328 option to enter the Formula 2 class. Klodiwg was a regular contender of consistency rather than outstanding performance.
 

 

 

 

 

 


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^ Lorenz-VW.  Apparently East German sportscars had a very low survival rate.

 

 

I really do not know anything about this particular car, but it looks like a good example for the lots of VW based 1100 cc sports cars that were to be seen on the circuits and hillclimbs in West and East Germany. The low survival rate may also have something to do with the potential to convert cars like this into normal "street cars" after their active career without too much effort. In particular in East Germany, where people sometimes had to wait decades for the delivery of a new Trabant from the factory they tried to make use of anything that was available.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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^ EMW

 

 

According to GDR ideology the state was to be behind anything. Also sporting success was always a central mean of their propaganda, so for 1951 they formed a "national" racing team, called "Rennkollektiv" in the idiom of the system. Of course it used mainly parts from the former BMW factory at Eisenach which had to be renamed EMW after a legal dispute with BMW Munich. After some years of struggle EMW seemed at the point of a breakthrough with their new 1500 cc sports car design of 1955/56, but then by a typical political decision the whole enterprise came to a full stop in 1957 as the resources had to be shifted elsewhere.