Posted 18 August 2001 - 21:18
Quintin,
I was feeling kind today so have OCRed the complete report from the Posthumus book. Do you want the photos as well?
Out of interest, the 1927 report begins "The disasters at Avus in 1926 ended motor racing there for five years, ..."
1926 July 11
Stormy Overture
There had been motor racing on Berlin's Avus track since 1921, but nothing on a par with the first Grosser Preis von Deutschland, held there on July 11 1926. The earlier meetings were national, but this was a major International affair, with drivers coming from France, Italy, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia to contest the 243.75-mile race. Spectators came in staggering numbers-the estimated attendance exceeded 230,000 and this mass of people gathered thickly around the corners and spread along the long straights of the 12.25-mile circuit.
The entry was remarkable for its diversity. Instead of adopting the 1926-27 1.5-litre Grand Prix Formula, the A.v.D. wisely chose a rather free and easy 'sports car' formula which admitted several thinly disguised racing machines but had the advantage of producing 46 entries, compared with just three Bugattis in that year's French G.P. at Miramas, run a fortnight before. German sporting makes such as Brennabor, Alfi, Pluto, Steiger and Aga were there, most of them looking uncomfortably naked, stripped of their mudguards and headlamps.
More professional in turn-out were five 1.5-litre works-entered supercharged NSUs, four factory 2.6-litre NAGs, and two 1925 four-cylinder 1.5-litre Talbots of the kind which had dominated voiturette racing for so long, one driven by French veteran Jean Chassagne, the other by the Czech Hugo Urban-Emmerich. The German amateur Willy Cleer had a 22/90 Type RL6 Alfa Romeo, Frenchman Pierre Clause had a 2-litre Bignan, and Prinz zu Schaumburg-Lippe and H. Santner had a pair of 2-litre 'Superba' sports O.M.s.
Still more formidable, Minoia, the Italian racing veteran, came with a 1.5-litre Type 856 Grand Prix O.M. straight from the Brescia works. And there were two eight-cylinder supercharged 2-litre Mercedes, ostensibly private entries but works-backed, with designer Dr. Porsche and team manager Sailer accompanying them. These cars were of the kind that ran in the 1924 Italian G.P. at Monza, having fine engines but a bad reputation for roadholding ever since Count Louis Zborowski was killed in one. Their drivers at Avus were to be Adolf Rosenberger, a much-experienced amateur, and Rudolf Caracciola, a promising newcomer with a good record in local hill-climbs.
Practice showed the two Mercedes to be very fast, while Minoia's O.M., the two Talbots and Riecken's NAG all made good times. At the close of the last session, Gigi Plate's 'Monza' Chiribiri collided with W. Heine's 2.6-litre NAG in the South Curve. The Chiribiri's mechanic, Piroli, was killed, while Plate suffered broken ribs and internal injuries. This was the prelude of worse to come. On race day the weather was at first dry, but the skies were heavy when the cars were sent off, group by group at two-minute intervals, big cars first, then the 2 litres, then the 1,500s.
At flag fall, Caracciola stalled his Mercedes, losing at least a minute before getting going, while Rosenberger in the other Mercedes had taken the lead from Riecken and Berthold in the big NAGs and the Austro-Daimlers. The latter were soon assailed by trouble and dropped back and Cleer's Alfa moved up. By the fourth lap it began to rain, first in heavy drops, then in a downpour which rendered the asphalt-surfaced track as slippery as soap, sent spectators scurrying for cover, and quite a few cars to the pits. The Bob, the Aga, the two-stroke BFA and the Dürkopps retired with diverse troubles, Berthold's NAG went out on lap 5, and on the seventh round came disaster.
Adolf Rosenberger's Mercedes, leading the race, went out of control at the North Curve when passing an NSU at over 90 m.p.h., and by appalling luck skidded sideways into a timekeeper's hut and demolished it. Inside were two young students and the board painter, jointly in charge of the scoreboard; the students were both killed, the painter had both legs crushed and died 12 hours later after amputation, and Rosenberger's mechanic was seriously hurt. One report has it that a small ether tank on the Mercedes, used to aid starting, had sprung a leak and that Rosenberger, by moving slightly to get fresh air, precipitated the skid on the glass-like surface; whatever the true cause, it added further to the unfortunate reputation of the 2-litre eight-cylinder Mercedes as a 'killer'.
The Italian Ferdinando Minoia, who had made the fastest lap at 100.16 m.p.h. in his Grand Prix O.M. just before the rains came, retired shortly after the accident-whether because he witnessed it, or because of mechanical trouble, is not known.
The rain continued and under the appalling conditions there were numerous retirements. Race order at 8 laps was Urban-Emmerich (Talbot), Cleer (Alfa Romeo), Clause (Bignan) and Riecken, whose NAG was having considerable tyre trouble. Then Chassagne's Talbot left the road at the South Turn, allegedly because of broken steering, and overturned; the mechanic was injured, being unconscious for 12 hours. Next Mederer's Pluto (an Amilcar built under German licence) charged off the glassy road, over the grass verge, and into a parked petrol lorry, the driver receiving severe facial injuries.
Then Urban-Emmerich, who had been driving splendidly, had his Talbot skate wildly across one leg of the straight when braking for the North Curve; the car shot over the centre strip and across the opposite leg, across the nose of Caracciola's Mercedes, and into a post, from which it bounced into a packed enclosure. Three spectators were injured, one seriously. Urban-Emmerich and his mechanic somehow got the car back on to the road and resumed the race after checking it.
Meantime, young Caracciola, to whom this incident was but a frightening blur in the teeming rain, was driving like one possessed to make up time, revealing that remarkable surefootedness on wet roads which was to earn him the sobriquet the regenmeister (the rainmaster). His pace was interrupted, first by a refuel stop on lap 8, then three rounds later with misfiring; the offending plug proved to be the last of the eight he extracted and cost him thirty seconds. He tore back into the race, and with the rain now easing off lapped at over 98 m.p.h., caught Riecken again and won by over three minutes at 83.95 m.p.h.
Cleer's RL6 Alfa Romeo was third, and Clause's Bignan fourth. In the 1.5-litre class Kimpel's Bugatti inherited the lead from Urban-Emmerich's Talbot, only to break a connecting rod on lap 17. After that the kompressor NSUs came through to a fine team finish led by Georg Klöble, who finished fifth overall. Third to the NAG and the Alfa in the 2-3-litre class was Fritz Feldmann s Hansa, slow but reliable, and interesting for its full-width streamlined bodywork, destined to be popular wear at Avus in later years. In all 17 cars finished this unfortunate Grosser Preis, which precipitated a considerable crisis in German motor racing.
RESULTS:
1. Caracciola (Mercedes), 20 laps, 243.7 miles (392.2 km) in 2 hours 54 min 17.8 sec, 83.95 m.p.h. (135.1 k.p.h.)
2. Riecken (NAG), 2:57:33.2;
3. Cleer (Alfa Romeo), 3:0:16.8;
4. Clause (Bignan), 3:2:7.4;
5. Klöble (NSU), 3:7:27.0;
6. Schaumburg-Lippe (O.M.), 3:10:57.2;
7. Scholl (NSU), 3:11:54.2;
8. Islinger (NSU), 3:13:58.8;
9. Santner (O.M.), 3:16:54.2;
10. Muller (NSU), 3:18:25.4;
11. Backasch (Brennabor);
12. Reichstein (Brennabor);
13. Feldmann (Hansa);
14. Orska (NAG);
15. Mitzlaff (Brennabor);
16. Urban-Emmerich (Talbot);
17. Wälti (Bugatti).
Fastest lap: Minoia (O.M.), 100.16 mph. (161.2 k.p.h.).
Class D (2,000-3,000 cc.):1. Riecken (NAG), 82.33 mph. (132.5 k.p.h.); 2. Cleer (Alfa Romeo); 3. Feldmann (Hansa).
Class E (1,500-2,000): 1, Caracciola (Mercedes), 83.95 mph. (135.1 k.p.h.); 2. Clause (Bignan); 3. Schaumburg-Lippe (O.M.).
Class F (1,100 - 1,500): 1. Klöble (NSU), 78.17 mph. (125.8 k.p.h.); 2. Scholl (NSU) ; 3. Islinger (NSU). 4. Muller (NSU).
Retired:
Class D: von Guillaume (Austro-Daimler); Deilmann (Austro-Daimler); Berthold (NAG); Lohmann (Komnick); Hofer (Steiger).
Class E: Rosenberger (Mercedes); Kolb (Bugatti); Breier (Bugatti); Durkopp (Durkopp); von Mosch (Durkopp); Komnick (Komnick); Ludewig (Bugatti).
Class F: Chassagne (Talbot); Momberger (NSU); Minoia (O.M.); Loge (Aga); Fiedler (BFA); Mederer (Pluto); Friedrich (Pluto); Kimpel (Bugatti); Erblich (Alfi); Fettkenheuer (Bob); van Horn (GM).
). Then Werner was allowed to develop one car, which he did by moving the fuel to the tail (shades of the Lancia D50 here!) and introducing a 4-speed gearbox.
