9 replies to this topic

[Marcor]

Otto Merz died in a fatal crash during the practice of the 1933 Avusrennen.

Recruited very young (16 - 17 years) as a mechanic, he stayed faithful to Mercedes until the end. He started racing early 20's and had his glory hours in 1927 when he won the German GP. In 1928 he finished 2nd of the same race. Other victories: Solitude and Klausen hillclimb in 1924.

I notice that he had not raced during - at least 3 years - from 1930 to 1933. The Avus race should be his comeback race.

The fatal day - first day of practice (which date, 19, 20 May ?) - it was raining. Otto Merz was to drive a Mercedes Benz with a special aerodynamic body. Alas the car skidded and did a somersault. He was killed instantly.

So a simple question: why did he (plan to) come back. He was already 44 year-old. Would he drive the next 750 kg Racing car ? I always think Merz was a collossus.

[David McKinney]

Only slightly OT -
Wasn't Merz suppposed to have been the chauffeur of the second car in the cavalcade in Sarajevo in 1914, when the Archduke (in the first car) was assassinated?

[doc540]

If so, David, that is some serious automotive trivia!

[Alan Lewis]

Cyril Posthumous mentions this in his book The Roaring Twenties . The identify of his source and its integrity I cannot vouch for, but there it is.

APL

[David McKinney]

Is that where I read it? I think I've seen it somewhere else as well - a Tragatsch book perhaps?

BTW, Merz raced in 1931 - he shared Caracciola's Mercedes SSKL in the French GP and, on his own, was fifth in the German GP. I don't have any record of him doing anything in 1930 or 1932 however

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by David McKinney
Is that where I read it? I think I've seen it somewhere else as well - a Tragatsch book perhaps?

BTW, Merz raced in 1931 - he shared Caracciola's Mercedes SSKL in the French GP and, on his own, was fifth in the German GP. I don't have any record of him doing anything in 1930 or 1932 however

The story of Merz and the Archduke is also in Georgano - an article signed by TASO Mathieson - adding the information that Merz actually carried the dying Ferdinand to a nearby house.

Back on topic - Mathieson implies that Merz's "retirement" was purely due to Mercedes' withdrawal from racing in 1932. He says that Merz competed in a number of events in 1930 and 1931, but the only specific mentions are the ones David has highlighted and that "his activities were confined to experimental and test driving".

[Hans Etzrodt]

Otto Merz, born June 12, 1889 in Cannstadt had started to race for the Mercedes team in 1923. He had started working for Daimler in 1906 as mechanic, worked his way up and became mechanic for Theodor Dreher and Willy Pöge and was therefore always associated with Mercedes, later Mercedes-Benz.

In June 1914, Otto Merz came unwillingly into the center of interest for only a few seconds. He steered the large Mercedes that followed the Gräf & Stift, the Austrian car in which the successor to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was seated. When the shots of Sarawejo were fired, Otto Merz could see everything in front of his eyes. He stopped at lightening speed, jumped out of his car and was the first one to reach the Archduke. Because Merz was extremely strong, he lifted the Archduke out of his seat, carried him over to the next house and placed him at the steps. But this help had come too late since the bullets of the assassin had killed already.

After Otto Merz won the 1927 German GP for sports cars, he participated only in few races like the 1929 TT in Ireland with Caracciola. He seldom drove at races, usually teamed with Caracciola also as reserve, but was seen at the International Alpine Trial or ADAC long distance trials. In 1931 he finished fifth in the German GP. Mercedes withdrew from racing the following season and while Otto Merz did not race during 1932, Caracciola left Daimler-Benz and went to Alfa Romeo.

To everybody’s surprise, Otto Merz was entered with the streamlined SSKL at the 1933 Avusrennen with Manfred von Brauchitsch in another SSKL. During practice on Thursday, May 18, 1933, after it had begun to rain, Otto Merz crashed fatally. Why did he race again? My personal opinion is that since von Brauchitsch planned to race his own streamlined SSKL at the Avus and Caracciola lay in hospital mending his bones, Merz, only 43 at this time, still employed at Daimler-Benz, was the only driver available as pilot for the streamlined SSKL, which the Mercedes-Benz team had specially produced for this occasion. Even if the factory should have asked him to drive, he would probably not have declined as a very popular employee since 1906 in very good standing with management. Although he was semi-retired and because he liked driving so much, it is quite possible that he saw his last great chance to race one last time to give his farewell at the Avus and had offered his driving services. His fatal crash was very unfortunate and had nothing to do with lack of his skills or a faulty car.

[917]

The SSKL streamliner of von Brauchitsch was a design by von König-Fachsenfeld, the Merz streamliner was designed by Daimler-Benz. Some years ago I read an article which claimed that Daimler-Benz copied the König-Fachsenfeld design but made some alterations which made the car unstable at some speeds, and that this might have been one of the reasons of the accident. But in the rain even experienced "rain masters" like the current world champion can make mistakes...

David, two decades ago, I met a lady who was the niece of Otto Merz (she died last year, 93 years old), and she told me the story of her uncle carrying the Archduke to the next house.

Hans, please excuse me for being pedantic, but it is Cannstatt.

Kind regards
Michael

[Hans Etzrodt]

Originally posted by 917
...but it is Cannstatt...

Michael - Thanks! Noted and corrected in my own records.

[karlcars]

An aerodynamicist friend of mine who works for Mercedes-Benz is confident that the Merz streamliner was a faulty design. You'll note that the tail of the Koenig-Fachsenfeld car comes to quite a high point, which has the effect of balancing out the lift at the rear of the car. In contrast, the Sindelfingen body of the Merz car curved down markedly at the rear, a configuration much more likely to create substantial lift. This, feels my friend, was a contributor to instability that led directly to the death of Merz.