39 replies to this topic

[Marco94]

Dear forum members,

Since I have discovered that I have a real and fairly legendary race track in my back yard, I have been interested in the Solitude. This interest has reached an alarming level , almost that of an addiction.

My question to you is how much articles about the Solitude you know of in UK magazines. There have been some references before to the writing of Jenks for instance. When did those reports start. Was that when F1 came to the Solitude or before. How many pages did they use to report about the Solitude. What magazines did report about it.

I know these are a lot of questions, but I hope you can help me out.

Marco.

[green-blood]

Motorsport did an excellent piece on Solitude as part of their lost tracks series of articles. I think it was published early last year, maybe someone else can rememeber which editions mine are all elsewhere.

What do you think of the track and have you found out anything interesting you might like to share.

[Marco94]

I have definitly found interesting things and will share them as soon as they have the quality and quantaty I seek.

I have seen the Solitude track test, but that is not what I am looking for. What I really want to do is do a book on the Solitude, with the depth like that of "Time and Two-seat." In order to do that I need old reports, photo's, eye-wittness reports and what have you. Much, much more than can be found on the Internet. So it's back to the old fashioned library research. That's why I asked for hints on where to look in UK magazines.

I probably would be better of having a girl friend instead of such a hobby, but there you are. Another thing that I am considering is a web-site about the Solitude. There is one thing of which I can assure you, I will share it all.

Marco.

[green-blood]

great stuff, sorry I couldn't help but I'm sure some of the regulars can point you in the right direction. Personally I like the series of articles that Motorsport did, its educating to find out where these tracks are and have a look at them today.

I'm sure the drives who competed and won there will have remaniscences(?) in their biographies - worth look perhaps.

[Mickey]

Hi Marco,

I do not know which UK mags contain the info you need.
It's true, as well, that there isn't much info on the net either. This is all I've found. You probably have it already.
http://my.bawue.de/~...e/solitude.html
http://www.silhouet....s/solitude.html

This is the GPL Solitude track add-on:
http://home.online.n...tude/index.html

Good luck

[Mickey]

Whoops. Just noticed that in this thread you already know evertything I posted above.
Never mind then...

[Ray Bell]

Is that the thread where I (we) discussed what should be contained in a magazine article about an old circuit? The Motor Sport article had no map and very little (if anything) about the racing... it was typically modern Motor Sport, glossing over everything...
Then again, Jenks in his coverage of the F1 races there put in real detail... but not being of Grand Epreuve stature they were only a page or so. Sometimes very small type, however, in the manner of the true Motor Sport.
Remember that magazine?

[Marco94]

Ray,

I am very sorry, but I don't remember that. When I was a little younger, around 1989,1990, I did take a look at Motorsport but didn't like it. Not enough pictures if I remember correctly. I was an Autosport reader at that time. Still am, but it is indeed getting a little to flashy and tabloid like. :-(

Since I do not have these old Jenks reports on the Solitude available, could someone scan them for me? If you do, please let me know. In that case we have to work out what the best way to send them is.

BTW, I found a track map of the second Solitude track in a 1923 newspaper. Hope to scan it and send it to Darren.

Marco.

[Hans Etzrodt]

Marco,
would you please mail me a copy of your 1923 track map scan?
Out of which newspaper is it?
What are the names of the newspapers you checked?
Which paper did you find to be the more productive one for research?

[Marco94]

Hans,

If you are speaking to us from the pacific, what time is it there? Just to remind you. ;-)

The race was held on the 17 June 1923 and the trackmap came from what I think is the "official" programm in the "Stuttgarter Neues Tagblatt," evening edition from Saturday 16 June 1923. The "Schaebische Merkur" had an interesting photo exhibition in 1924. Have to find out where these have gone. Of the two, the SNT had more info in 1922, 1923 and 1924. By 1925 SM (sorry) had caught the virus as well.

Ah yeah, should really be working on my MS thesis. So it may take a while before I scan the map.

Marco.

[Darren Galpin]

Thanks Marco. Is the map similar at all to the 1924 map Hans kindly sent to me, posted on http://www.silhouet....ks/solitud2.jpg?

[Marco94]

Darren,

Now it is time for me to officially disappoint someone here in this forum. :-) The map Hans send you has to be from 1925 until 192?. It is the 3rd Solitude track and the first closed circuit. Before they used to have mountain climbs. In 1925 the circuit you mention was used for the "Rund um die Solitude" races.

Marco.

[fines]

Marco94, I don't know if you speak German, but "Schaebische Merkur" is a really nice misspelling ! Should read "Schwäbischer Merkur", though!

[Marco94]

Was heist das dan auf Deutsch? Hab ich jetzt die Schwaben beleidigt? Keine umlaut auf'm tastatur unw. My note book has the right spelling.

Marco.

[fines]

Well, it's the difference between "shabby" and "Swabian"! You should not use "schäbig" or "schaebisch" when speaking of them, I'd suppose ;)!

[Marco94]

Why not, have you ever seen how they develop cars? Or what kind of housing they have for interns and "diplomanten."

Marco.

[fines]

Well, that's another matter...

But you have to live there, so it's your decision whether you want to live in peace, or else...

[Hans Etzrodt]

Originally posted by Marco94
Hans,
If you are speaking to us from the pacific, what time is it there? Just to remind you. ;-)

Marco,
There is a 12 hour time difference from Hawaii to central Europe. Sometimes I cannot sleep when my wife goes through her snoring period, so I connect to the net and where else to go than here, where my buddies are.

Thank you for all your fine information. I will copy it into my 20 GB memory HD for later use when one day I will go to the Stuttgart library, unless you have published your book by then.

By the way, the map I sent to whoever asked for it was out of the 1931 MOTOR und SPORT mag and shows the first Rundstrecke (closed circuit) after the mountain races. Since the last Solitude Mountain Race was held in 1924, the closed circuit was used from 1925 on till 1933. By 1934 the new 11.5 km circuit had finally been completed according to the ADAC book, which does not give an exact date. So, I hope, Marco, that your book will improve on the many shortcomings of the ADAC version. If these 11.5 km was the correct length or the abbreviated version of the later 11.515 km long circuit, I do not know.

[Marco94]

Hans,

If you read the book carefully, you will see that there have been 5 different track lay-outs. I will however be the first one to admit that the booklets do not stand out as examples in clear writing, not even when considering they are written in German.

1903, 1904, 1905: First mountainclimb track.
1906, 1922, 1923, 1924: Second mountainclimb track.
1925..1930: First closed circuit, the big one 22.3 km.
1931: Second closed circuit, the middle one 15.? km.
1935..1965: Third closed circuit, the little one 11,5 km.

The second closed one is really a curriosity. It was run clockwise and used the top part of the big one, but ran through Mahdental for the first time.

Another interesting thing that showed up in the 1922 Stuttgarter Neues Tagblatt is that they refer to 1913 as having been the year for the last Solitude race before 1922. I will call the ADAC and see if they have some more data regarding the early races. In the ADAC booklets however it is stated that entry lists and results from those races are lost. I hope that the newspaper route will provide some results.

Marco.

[Hans Etzrodt]

Marco,
I wish I could look through these old papers, since you have so little time. I like the moments when I discover what I was looking for. You should find most of it in the newspapers, I am sure. Good luck.

Any names yet of winners or makes from 1903 to 1906?

[Marco94]

In the ADAC motorcycle booklet they have two names of the, hear this, female winner of the light motorcycle and bicycles with auxillary engine class. That's it. Until I find the dates or suspected dates of these race, I am not very hungry to spend days to search through an entire year of news papers. As you said before, I could probably narrow it down to the period between April and September, but still. Once I do know I'll let you know.

Marco.

[Boniver]

Who have the results of the Solitude races of
1925
1. Merz - Mercedes
2
3
4

1926
1. Merz - Mercedes
2
3
4

1927
1. Momberger - Bugatti
2
3
4

[Ray Bell]

1925: 1,O. Merz (M-B); 2. W. Kaufmann (Steiger); 3. H. Birk (Rabag).
1926: O. Merz (M-B); 2. A. Seyfert (NSU); 3. ------
1927: A. Momberger (Bugatti); 2. W. Walb (M-B); 3. E. von Kalnein (Bugatti).
from Monkhouse.

[Boniver]

Ray,
thank you for the info,
great
Boniver

[Ray Bell]

What I didn't give was race distance and speeds:
1925 - 139 miles; 58.47mph
1926 - 277 miles; 57.29mph
1927 - 13 miles; 63.07mph
One would look and think that this is crazy... only 13 miles in 1927!
I wonder if it is a typo and should be 139 again?

[Marco94]

Ray,

It is not a typo! The Würtemberger government was not very keen on racing on the Solitude and only allowed for a one lap race in each class. They used a standing start.

Marco.

[Ray Bell]

This kind of thing must stop!

[Marco94]

Ray,

I have another thing that should stop. The second Solitude circuit, used for the mountain climbs, will be no more in the not to distant future. Much to my suprise I discovered that the B14 going into Heslach from the A381 is actually that second track. Unfortunatly it is WAY to small for al the traffic going into Stuttgart. Now they are building a two lane almost Autobahn like road on that part. When that is copleted, the old track will be gone.

I have driven ito Stuttgart via that route and understand very well why they did it. The current B14 is totally inadequate! It's just a great shame they have to demolish the old route. Even without knowing the history of that small piece of road, it was good driving.

What bugs me most is that I don't have any pictures of it. Does anyone plan to go there soon. I have returned to Holland.

Marco.

[TonyKaye]

Despite all the discussion, I'm still puzzled about the various events at Solitude in the twenties. It is said that RACES were held there in 1925, 26 and 27. However my understanding of the 1927 event is that it only consisted of a single lap of the same course, which had been used for 'races' in the two previous years. In 1927 Momberger made the fastest lap in a whisker less than 13 minutes at an average speed just over 100 kph. I suspect that the cars were despatched at intervals rather than from a massed grid, so the event was more like a hill climb than a race, except that they finished where they started. If this is so, the drivers competed against the clock, not against other cars on the road. 13 minutes would have been awfully short for a real race in the 1920's.

In 1925 and '26 the event consisted of three laps, which sounds more like a race. But even then I have doubts. Did the cars all start together and race each other on the road? Or were they sent off at intervals? In other words, more like the Targa Florio or the Mille Miglia than a Grand Prix of the period. Was there ever a conventional grid start at Solitude in the 20's?

[Hans Etzrodt]

Unfortunately, the starting procedures have not been properly described in the articles and the book I read about those events. I assume that the cars were released in pairs or single with intervals, similar like at the Targa Florio.

The 1925 event, considered the Opening Meeting, went over 10 laps of the new 22.300 km circuit, won by Otto Merz in the 2-liter 4-cylinder Mercedes in 2h22m09.1s. Supposedly 300,000 spectators came to see this event, which saw 13 racing cars at the start for the main event. The following year, Merz won again but this time with the 2-liter 8-cylinder GP car. The race went over 20 laps or 446.000 km and because of the rain it took him in the faster Mercedes 4h50m24.2s. There were only six racing cars on the grid, whereas the sports car race in the morning received much better support. The 1927 Solitude Rennen was the last prewar race for cars. There were only 9 cars at the start and they were released single, because the circuit was rather narrow; and yes, they did only one lap. How odd!

I had always hoped that our friend Marco had visited the Stuttgart Bibliothek to snoop through those old newspapers there and resolve some of the existing mysteries.

[Marco94]

So had I Hans!

Unfortunatly time was in rather short supply, as was my planning for that matter. I have managed to get prints from micro film. Two newspapers published in Stuttgart. I have 1922, 1923, 1924 and 1925, from the top of my head. During the final few weeks in Stuttgart I have tried to get more prints, but the micro film printer "was no more"/"was pushing up the daisies"/"had seized to be."

Even having these newspapers at hand, does not give answers all of the time. There have been some more questions raised during the analysis of these articles. The ancient German Fraktur fonts did not make things easier. :-( I will remain on the case however, I found it rather enjoyable to try to get the history of the Solitude sorted.

I also have made arrangements for a web-site about the Solitude. I'll make an overview available about when and what kind of races were held, stay tuned.

Marco.

[TonyKaye]

Marco, I look forward to seeing all the Solitude data on your web site. It probably won't help, but I will pass over what little information I have on the 1925 thru 1927 races.

16/17 th May 1925 - Solituderennen

Lap distance 22.3 km

Racing cars 2000cc and over - 10 laps 223 km
1.W? Kaufmann Steiger 10 laps

Racing cars up to 2000cc - 10 laps 223 km
1.Otto Merz Mercedes 10 laps 2:22'09.2"

Racing cars up to 1500cc - 10 laps 223 km
1. Birk Rabag 10 laps 2:37'14.8"

Racing cars up to 1100cc - 10 laps 223 km
1.Karl Joerns Opel 10 laps 2:46'05.6"

Other entries, class unknown
Hans von Opel Opel
Wadhin Alfi
Flick Alfi
Klein Ego (Klein Ego - I like that!)
Taxes? Alfa Romeo
Graefin Einseidel Bugatti
Kappler Simson (Supra?)
N? Tatenhorst Duerkopp

Sports cars? up to 8 hp 5 laps 111.5 km
1.Adolf Rosenberger Benz Tropfenwagen 5 laps 1:14'07.4"
Alfred? Noll Duerkopp
Kurt Volkhardt Duerkopp
Wroblewski Duerkopp
Walter? Andreae Bugatti
Kordewann Bugatti
Kappler Simson (Supra?)
Karl Slevogt Selve

Sports cars? up to 9 hp - 5 laps 111.5 hp
1. Biesenberger Lancia 5 laps 1:18'38.2"

Sports cars and Touring cars up to 4 hp - 4 laps 89.2 km
1.Karl Joerns Opel(S) 4 laps 1:07'59"
2.Hans von Opel Opel(S) 4 laps 1:09'00"
1.P Staiger Opel(T) 4 laps 1:16'57"
Einsinger Opel(?)
MittenmuellerTatra(?)
Josef Vermirovsky Tatra(?)
?????? Ego(?)
?????? Ego(?)

Sports cars and Touring cars up to 5 hp - 4 laps 89.2 km
1. Holheimer NSU(S) 4 laps 1:07'27.8"
1.Ernst? Schuh Freya(T) 4 laps 1:14'24.6"
?????? Salmson(?)
?????? Wanderer(?)

Sports and Touring cars up to 6 hp - 4 laps 89.2 km
1. Morawitz Bugatti(S) 4 laps 1:02'46.0"
1. Buechel Dixi(T) 4 laps 1:03'22.4"
Loge Aga(?)
?????? Fiat(?)
?????? Ley(?)

Sports and Touring cars up to 10 hp - 5 laps 111.5 km
1.Kurt? Neugebauer NAG(S) 5 laps 1:32'55.2"
1. Kause(or Graue) Stoewer(T) 5 laps 1:41'25.8"
2. Cleer Stoewer(T) 5 laps 1:43'11.0"
Strauss Stoewer(?)

Sports cars and Touring cars up to 12 hp - 6 laps 132.2 km
1. Fuld (or Fulb) Steiger(S) 6 laps 1:39'58.8"
1. Feitelberg Austro Daimler(T) 6 laps 1:45'09.2"
W? Kaufmann Steiger(?)
Maier Steiger(?)
Steinke Steiger(?)
Paul von Guilleaume Oakland(?)
Willi? Cleer Alfa Romeo(?)

Sports cars and Touring cars over 12 hp - 6 laps 132.2 km
1.Harry Stumpf-Lekisch Moon(T) 6 laps 1:41'45.6"
Huldreich Heusser Steyr(S)
Schulz Mercedes(T)
Muehlschlaegel Spa(T)

Notes:
The races were on Saturday 16 May and Sunday 17, but I am not quite sure which races were on which day. I think the mixed sports and touring races were on the 17th, the sports cars only on the 16th, probably along with the racing cars.
The only thing I can say with certainty is that this is not a complete list of competitors.
Also, were some of the races run concurrently?
Cyril Posthumus states that Franz Hoerner won a race in the Tropfenwagen, one of its few successes, not Rosenberger as above. The race was too short for them to share the drive, surely?

Marco, I have no idea if this helps. It was gleaned from German newspapers as I have no access to German motoring magazines. If it is of any use, I will type up what little I have on the 1926 and 1927 events. If it merely duplicates what you already have, let me know and I won't bother with the later events.

[David McKinney]

The ADAC booklet on the venue, which Hans has mentioned (and which perhaps Marco has in his library too), contains more complete results for 1925 - and of course for other years as well.

[Marco94]

The booklet is indeed in my possesion, but a little short on data. It's not big and usually it's just a matter of Mr D won in an ARGH with speed Mach 0.1. The research slipped a little due to other obligations. :-(

Tony, if you can reveal to me which newspapers you used. That would be a great help.

BTW, I have a nice picture of the Tropfenwagen in action at the Solitude.

Marco.

[TonyKaye]

Marco,
I used the 'Neue Frankfurter Zeitung' and 'Neueste Weltkunde'. However, David says that the information I extracted from them is not detailed like that in your ADAC book, so there's little point in your wasting your time on them as well.

[Hans Etzrodt]

1925 Solitude Rennen

I found in my handwritten notes (only about racing cars) the following out of the 1925 MOTOR und SPORT, No. 22, pg.18 and additionally at a later edit also information from the ADAC Solitude booklet:

Date: Sunday, 17 May 1925. The race for racing cars went over 10 laps =223 km. The cars were dispatched one by one every half minute (it says in my notes ”mit Halbstundenabstand”, which must be an error by the original writer, Dr. R.K.) strongest cars first; altogether 13 cars.

After the large cars had passed the finish, both Opels were flagged off at the end of lap nine. Merz drove a beautiful race. Kolb had several problems, once hit a tree with the tail of his car and at the end had to drive without hood (bonnet for non US citizens) since the engine overheated. The little NSU and Rabag fought a hard battle. Birk won with only a little advantage. The victory of the Mercedes driver was celebrated with playing and singing the National Anthem – probably because the defeated Bugatti was a foreigner – French.

In one of the other races, one driver lost his life, a tragic fate. The Stuttgart motorcycle driver, Binder, left the corner after the finish and hit a Km-marker stone with his head and was immediately dead.

The results were as follows:

Racing cars up to 1.1-liter:
1. Karl Jörns (Opel monoposto) 9 laps; 2h46m05.3s
2. Hans von Opel (Opel monoposto) 9 laps; 2h33m17.2s
DNF C. Klein (Ego) 3 laps completed
DNF Flick (Alfi) 2 laps completed (engine problems)

Racing cars up to 1.5-liter:
1. Hans Birk (Rabag-Bugatti) 10 laps; 2h37m14.4s
2. Arthur Werner (NSU, Avus type) 10 laps; 2h37m53.1s
3. Franz Waldhier (Alfi or Bugatti) 9 laps; flagged
DNF Hans Joachim Schaede (Ley) 3 laps completed (plugged fuel line)

Racing cars up to 2-liter:
1. Otto Merz (Mercedes) 10 laps; 2h22m09.1s
2. Hans Kolb (Bugatti) 10 laps; 2h29m24.2s
DNF Max Sailer (Mercedes) 3 laps completed (spark plug problems)
DNS Bugatti (did not arrive)
DNS Simson-Supra (declined to start)
DNS Simson-Supra (declined to start)
DNS Dürkopp (declined to start)
DNS Dürkopp (declined to start)

Racing cars over 2-liter:
1. Walter Kaufmann (3.0 Steiger, Targa type) 10 laps; 2h25m33.3s
DNF Helmuth Taxis (3.0 Alfa Romeo RL) 3 laps completed

[Boniver]

Hans,

fine what you found

[Hans Etzrodt]

1926 Solitude Rennen

In 1994, I wrote the following story for inclusion in the black books. I undug it now to bring it up also here, adapted to TNF, although the thread title refers to UK magazine articles, which this obviously is not. Main sources besides seven books for minor details were:

• Allgemeine Automobil Zeitung, Wien, 1926, No.19 pg.69-71
• Der Motorwagen 1926, No.29, pg.706-709
• MOTOR und SPORT 1926, No.39, pg.11 (results only), pg.12 (race report not included here since I had never copied it)

Entry: The Solitude races took place outside Stuttgart. The 22.3 km long road circuit had to be lapped 15 times by the sports cars during the hot, sunny morning and 20 times in the wet afternoon by the racing cars. Only six of the ten entries showed up. The official explanation was, that the international participants had moved to the Semmering Mountain Race in Austria, which took place the same day.

In the class up to 1500 cc, Herrman Friedrich showed up with a non-supercharged Pluto, the licensed German version of the French Amilcar. The NSU works team entered Felix Seifert and their heavy-set top driver, Georg Klöbe. Both drove the latest 1926 NSU racing car with 1476 cc 6-cylinder side valve engine. The Roots blower, driven by the transmission, ran constantly far behind the engine, boosting the power to about 60 hp and a top speed to 160 km/h (100 mph).

In the class 1500 cc to 2000 cc, the German privateer Georg Kimpel arrived with a 2-liter 8-cylinder Bugatti T35. Since the Solitude-Rennen took place the same day as the Semmering-Rennen, the Mercedes team had to split forces. Rudolf Caracciola drove their only entry at the Semmering and for the Solitude the newly formed Daimler-Benz A. G. brought two cars for Christian Werner and Otto Merz. These Mercedes-Benz models differed from the four-seat sports car version used by Caracciola to win at the Avus in July. These ill handling racers were the latest version of the original two-seat 1924 2-liter Mercedes Grand Prix car with 1980 cc 8-cylinder engine with double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. The constantly running, large Roots blower was mounted at the back of the engine, sucking the mixture from the carburetor and pushing it to the cylinders. The engine produced 170 hp at 7000 rpm and the car was capable of 200 km/h (125 mph).

Race: The racing cars took to the track at 1:15 pm under ear deafening noise. Almost at the same time a thunderstorm opened its clouds and soaked track and spectators alike with intermittent bursts of rain. This of course had a significant affect on the pace of the race. Werner's Mercedes-Benz took 14m05.4s for the first lap. He led his teammate by almost half a minute, closely followed by Kimpel's Bugatti, the two NSU’s of Klöbe and Seifert and Friedrich's Pluto over 2 1/2 minutes behind the leader. On the second lap Werner ran already into trouble. Merz took the lead ahead of Kimpel and Klöbe.

After five laps, Kimpel's Bugatti was leading Klöbe by 88 seconds with Merz over one minute behind the NSU, then Seifert's NSU and Werner's Mercedes-Benz. Friedrich's Pluto had disappeared with engine problems. Then Kimpel started one of several stops to exchange brake shoes, the linings wearing out too fast. This brought Seifert's NSU into first place, but only for a short time, since Merz regained the lead on lap eight. On lap nine Werner established the fastest lap at 13m23.3s.

After ten laps, Merz and Werner were ahead of the Bugatti, followed by Klöbe and Seifert with the NSU's. On lap 12 the Bugatti spun at the Schatten corner but Kimpel carried on and lost again time when stopping at the depot. Both NSU drivers lost time, when Seifert went into a skid at the Ramsel Corner and Klöbe drove into the sandbags at Eltingen. On lap 13 Werner had to give up with a transmission defect.

After 15 laps, Merz was almost ten minutes ahead of Klöbe's NSU, followed by Kimpel and Seifert. After having changed spark plugs, the heavy set Klöbe stopped his NSU for good on lap 16 at Glemseck with spark plug trouble. Now there were only three cars left and at the finish it was the Mercedes-Benz of Merz almost 15 minutes ahead of Kimpel's Bugatti and Seifert' NSU.

As a result of the heavy rain, the drivers could not reach their car's full potential. Merz's winning speed of 92.1 km/h was below 96.8 km/h of Willy Walb, winner in the morning’s dry sports car race. (Walb would become team manager of Auto Union in 1934). It was this race where Alfred Neubauer acted for the first time as the Mercedes team manager. In front of his pits he was waving different colored flags and signs with coded letters and numbers guiding his drivers through the race.

Results:
Date: Sunday, September 12, 1926
20 laps x 22.300 km (13.857 mi) = 446.000 km (277.144 mi)
1. #58 Otto Merz (2.0 Mercedes-Benz 1924 GP), 20 laps; 4h50m24.4s
2. #56 Georg Kimpel (2.0 Bugatti T35), 20 laps; 5h05m06.4s
3. #55 Felix Seifert (1.5 NSU), 20 laps; 5h13m30.4s
DNF #53 Georg Klöbe (1.5 NSU), 15 laps; sparkplug trouble
DNF #57 Christian Werner (2.0 Mercedes-Benz 1924 GP), 12 laps; transmission defect
DNF #51 Herrman Friedrich (1.1 Pluto), 5 laps; engine
Winner's average speed: Otto Merz (Mercedes-Benz) 92.148 km/h (57.261 mph)
Fastest lap: Christian Werner (Mercedes-Benz) on lap nine in 13m23.3s = 99.938 km/h (62.101 mph)
Weather: First dry, then raining.

© 8/94 Hans Etzrodt.

[Hans Etzrodt]

1927 Solitude Rennen

During 1994, I also had written the 1927 account for inclusion in the black books. Today I updated the story to include additional material from the ADAC publication. The main sources besides five books for supporting information were:
* Allgemeine Automobil Zeitung, Wien, 1927, No.6 pg.34 and No.19, pg.47.
* Solitude 1903-1965 Die Automobilrennen by the ADAC Württemberg, published 1990.

Sunday, 18 September 1927: It was raining until the end of the event, which saw motorcycles, sports cars and racing cars. Whereas the motorcycles had to absolve four laps, all cars were allowed one lap only. The reason could have been that one car passing another was very difficult on this extremely narrow circuit, only 5 meter (16 ft) wide on average. With a time of 13m13.2s, Willy Walb was fastest of the 15 sports cars ahead of Georg Kimpel in 13m17.2s, both in large 6.8-liter Mercedes-Benz type S cars. Third came Count Eckhart von Kalnein's 2.3-liter Bugatti T43 in 13m20.1s.

The racing car category was divided in classes up to 1100, 1500, 2000, 3000 and over 3000 cc. According to information by the ADAC book, the meeting took place on a shortened 21 km lap using a single standing start. The results show that August Momberger in his Bugatti was first of the nine racing cars and had also fastest time of the day. The Untertürkheim people must have felt hurt to be beaten in front of their own door step.

The 1927 Solitude Rennen was the last prewar race for cars held on this circuit but motorcycle races took place during the 30's and 40's. In 1927, the company managing the circuit, Solitude-Rennen G.m.b.H. in Stuttgart, was in deep financial trouble. They were showing a deficit of 270,000 Marks and suggested that the state of Württemberg should take over the circuit, provide a durable surface and widen the road to 8-9 meter (between 26 and 29 feet). But not until 25 years later was the circuit widened and shortened to 11.515 km, according to information from the ADAC booklet.

Results of Racing Cars:
Date: Sunday, September 18, 1927 1 lap = 21 km
1. 12m28.2s August Momberger (2.3 Bugatti T35B)
2. 12m44.1s Otto Merz (6.8 Mercedes-Benz S)
3. 12m50.4s Franz Kappler (2.3 Bugatti T35B)
4. 12m59.2s Helmuth Taxis (3.0 Alfa Romeo RL)
5. 13m51.3s F. von Trütschler (2.0 Bugatti T35C)
6. 14m13.2s H. von Meister (1.1 Amilcar)
7. 14m39.3s Franz Waldhier (1.1 Salmson)
8. 15m35.4s Hans Birk (1.5 Rabag-Bugatti)
9. 17m33.1s Davidson (1.1 Amilcar)
Winner’s average speed 12m28.2s = 101.042 km/h (62.788mph) {Note that the officially published lap averages had been calculated by the time keepers with a large sliding rule}
weather: overcast, drizzle throughout the event

© 8/94 & 3/01 Hans Etzrodt

[fines]

Great info, Hans, thank you!

© 3/01 Michael Ferner

http://grand-prix-ra....freeyellow.com

Winning isn't everything, but it's somewhat better than finishing second! -- Bruce McLaren