28 replies to this topic

[island]

He would have been 100 years old on January 30th.
One of the very best, I think. His comeback after the
terrible leg injuries at the 1933 Monaco GP was most
impressive.

[Dennis David]

The original Ringmeister and my personal favorite driver.



The starting positions were still selected by drawing lots in the 1935 Spanish Grand Prix. Caracciola would have to start from the last row. His style had always been to get to the front as quickly as possible but this time things would be a little more difficult. The flag fell and Caracciola roared off down to the first corner. Mistaking the pedal arrangement in his Grand Prix car with his touring car, he stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. The leaders seeing this maniac charge from way behind could only give way and in spite of almost crashing out on the first corner did he garner the lead!

I'll have more to add later but for now read the following ... http://www.ddavid.co...a1/triumph1.htm

[Ray Bell]

Such a shame he's spent the last 42 of them in the grave.

I too have a great deal of respect for the regenmeister, the first driver I ever read about. A career that spanned from the last of the gallant days to the early technological era, with that titanic era of the thirties in between... a most worthy hero.

[David M. Kane]

What a fantastic photo, thanks for posting it.

[LaurensDeJong]

And he's not forgotten: he's been given a plaque in the Nürburgring's "Historical Paddock" commemorating his 100th birthday; a monument will be revealed on June 21 in his native Remagen; and the Nordschleife's Karussell will be named "Caracciola-Karussell" in his honor.

-Laurens de Jong.

[Ray Bell]

That's a pleasant and informative inaugural post, Laurens, keep it up and welcome!

Nice to know he's not forgotten out there in the broader racing community.

[Marco94]

And of course do not forget to introduce yourself Laurens. If you want you can tell us who you are and what you do in the Introductions thread.

Marco.

[Leif Snellman]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
What a fantastic photo, thanks for posting it.

Yes, Rudi and his first wife Charly, who died in a tragic ski-accident during the winter 1933-34.

[GT Action Photo]

The Caracciola Trophies are on display at the
Indianapolis Speedway Museum.

It is well worth a stop to see them if you are
in the area.

With kind regards,
Gary Trobaugh

[fines]

As if anyone visiting Indianapolis needed a reason to visit the ISM!;)

[island]

Mercedes will honour its most successful driver with
a special exhibition in the coming months.
The exhibition will be in the Mercedes museum at
Stuttgart-Untertürkheim.

[fines]

Wow, an island post not connected to F5000, lo and behold! ('Tschuldigung, nicht bös' gemeint ;))

[Dennis David]

I guess I'll have to visit the museum again when I'm in Germany in August.

[MattFoster]

Caracciola, Nuvolari and Rosemeyer racing would have been awesome to see.

[oldtimer]

And the cars, and the cars!!

[Dennis David]

Don't forget Varzi was in there also mixing it up, add Chiron and Guy Moll and you truly have a battle of the titans!

[oldtimer]

With Von Brauchitsch hanging out the tail of any Merc he drove, and the mechanic Lang making them all wonder why he's so fast.

[Dennis David]

... and Hans Stuck racing to the clouds!

[Ray Bell]

Not to mention Enzo scratching his head wondering what he's got to do to get the Alfas up ahead of the silver cars...

Alfred strutting out in front of the pits at Monza with his little flags...

And the pommie upstart sweeping the German girl off her feet as he stuck it up Adolf on a fine day at the Nurburgring!

Baby Hoffman smiled... the French just ran their GPs for sports cars...

[oldtimer]

Aah, the aroma of nostalgia! Do you think Schumacher would ask his team to clean the extinguisher foam off his seat because he wants to get on with the race?

[Ray Bell]

Not likely... he'd be a lap behind before it settled, and that would mean he couldn't win....

Nor could I see him racing at Tripoli. Or Brno. Or Pescara.

Or chasing Stuck's times up the mountains...

But we're getting off the track here... aren't we?

[Dennis David]

The practicing had just begun. Away beyond the woods we heard the approaching scream of a well-tuned E.R.A. and down the winding slope towards us came Raymond Mays. He changed down, braked, skirted round the Hairpin and was gone.

"There's the winner," remarked one of my friends. "Knows this course backwards."

Half a minute later came the deeper note of a 2.9-litre Maserati, and "B. Bira" (Prince Birabongse of Siam, Mays’ nearest rival and a new star in the racing firmament) shot past us, cornering with that precision which marked him as the master he was.

"Or him," said another.

We waited again. Then they came.

Far away in the distance we heard an angry, deep-throated roaring - as someone once remarked, like hungry lions impatient for the arena. A few moments later, Manfred von Brauchitsch, red helmeted, brought a great, silver projectile snaking down the hill, and close behind, his teammate Rudolf Caracciola, then at the height of his great career. The two cars took the hairpin, von Brauchitsch almost sideways, and rocketed away out of sight with long plumes of rubber smoke trailing from their huge rear tyres, in a deafening crash of sound.

The startled Pressmen gazed at each other, awe-struck.

"Strewth," gasped one of them, "so that's what they're like!"

That was what they were like.

These were the fabulous machines which could top 190 m.p.h. on the long straights at Rheims and Spa and Pescara and which, on the twists and turns of the mountainous Nurburgring, scrubbed the tread from the tyres in 80 miles. On the starting line they weighed just over a ton, 75-gallon tanks filled to the brim to be emptied at the rate of 3 to 4 miles per gallon.



When the Germans came to Donington by Rodney Walkerley

[Hans Etzrodt]

While leafing through some 1935 issues of the AUTOMOBIL-REVUE, I came across an interview with Rudolf Caracciola. A German motoring journalist had met with Rudi early in 1935 when he professed his personal opinion about motor racing in general and the present situation in particular. This is what he had to say:

"To me personally, I like it best when not much fuss is being made about me in public. I cannot stand the personality cult, the stardom fuss and the hero worship of the racing drivers and nothing is more nauseating to me than "Mister Crack" or "Herr Canon". Despite my successes, my views about that have not changed over the years. A racing driver is a man, who has to live up to a very serious and dangerous line of work and at today’s speeds, the driver has also to reckon with the last consequences before every start. Therefore it is fitting for him that he silently and modestly steps back behind the great cause, which he serves and it is perfectly sufficient when he lets his successes speak for themselves.

"From this point of view, my personal advertising requirement has arrived at zero. A racing driver is no movie star and the star cult, which rages lately in the automobile sport is the most unsporting, which I can imagine. Racing drivers, and at that already the youngest newcomers, have to be brought up to sportsmanlike modesty and may be permitted to be prominent only through their accomplishments.

"Once one has done one’s part in a race, it is best to disappear in a little mountain village and gather strength, repose and build energy to be readily prepared for a new fight. Whoever does differently will harm the cause of the automobile sport. He is no racing driver but a Crack and will only change his views, when his tire blows out at 320 km/h, so that only by chance, about 1/100 second, he whisks by the grim reaper.

"The racing season begins for us on 22 April with the Grand Prix of Monaco, which as is well known, is staged in the streets of Monte Carlo. The circuit forms the absurd carousel, where I crashed some years ago. I personally think a race on such a circuit in the fast racing cars is nonsense. But we have to go there because the foreign competition goes as well, and indeed my teammate Fagioli and I will start for Mercedes-Benz while the Auto Union sends Varzi and Stuck. It will become a hot battle, where we have to reckon especially with the Italians.

"The new Alfa Romeo from the Scuderia Ferrari with the enlarged to 4.5-liter compressor engine and rear swing axle, as I know, has become very fast and known as reliable and persevering. Nuvolari, Chiron, Dreyfus and Brivio will do everything in their power to give us hell. This year it will not be quite as easy to get rid of the Italians, because from last year’s defeats they have learned a lot.

"About the French, quite frankly, I am not worried. This Nation has lost ground in the international racing sport and they will have to work long until they catch up with our clear advantage. It will become very dangerous in the summer, when the Italians will line up with the new 12-cylinder Alfa Romeo, which is a very modern racing car. It is not at all impossible, that we will reach speeds of up to 360 km/h near the end of the season, with which of course the races do not become less dangerous than they already are today.

"Without doubt, in the coming season, Varzi will become on the racing car of Auto Union one of the most dangerous competitors; just so my teammate Fagioli. Both are excellent sporting companions with whom I am very much ready to compete.

"Our Mercedes-Benz racing cars this year will certainly also join in and us drivers will also do everything to secure a victory. But the sporting world has to realize that it will be harder this year than in the previous, because in the meantime the opponent has definitely not slept.

"Then 14 days later, we will meet under the hot African sun in Tunis and with the same time interval then at the Grand Prix of Tripoli. Both are very dangerous and fast races, which will be a hard task because we are not used to that climate. End of May, we will then start at the Avus, and I can already say today, that it will be driven there at speeds, which until now have never before been reached in another race of the world.

"It is a pity that our new recruits are not yet far enough advanced, to help out now. The construction of little, fast sports cars up to 1.5-liter engine size, should be forced, still stronger than up till now, and every great race be preceded by a sports car race. This would be the best method to bring up the rising generation, because only from the youth can we receive in every respect an up to standard junior set. I think the procedure to try out the existing racing drivers on the new racing cars to be unsuccessful. We all had to start with smaller cars and could only push on for years to the front in tough development work."

[fines]

So that view of Monaco being unsuited for GP cars already existed in 1935! Also, the last paragraph is interesting in view of the furore about the Räikkönen signing.

[Roger Clark]

It's remarkable how little has changed. as well as the concerns about monaco and inexperienced drivers, there's the commercial demands on his time. Plus ca change..

[Hans Etzrodt]

What was wrong with Rudi Caracciola during the 1935 German Grand Prix?

Rudi Caracciola led commandingly from the start of the race. After lap six, it became obvious that with each lap Caracciola became slower and slower. The normally relaxed and upright sitting Rudi became from lap to lap smaller and smaller in his seat. His movements, hand signals, and head nodding to the pits became more and more tired. No doubt, Caracciola had become seriously sick behind the wheel and was unable to participate in the battle for the lead.

For that reason Dr. Gläser, the medical caretaker of the German drivers, immediately received Caracciola at the finish. Caratsch complained about attacks of weakness, which at times had become so intense during the race, that at times he could not make out the circuit. For a time he had seen blue and black in front of his eyes, he had seen double images and had only continued to save at least one good place for his company.

Dr. Gläser finally diagnosed that Caracciola had a large tapeworm. Monday evening at the Hotel Eifeler Hof in Adenau, on doctor's orders, he ate a sour marinated herring and on Tuesday he was released from his bad companion.

[Dennis David]

That'll do it every time!;)

[FLB]

I visited the Hulman Museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1989. Of course, there were many pieces beside Indy-related artifacts.

But I certainly did not expect to find Herr Caracciola's trophies on full display.

[Dennis David]

Yes, I was not expecting them either!