History Fastest In The Fatherland

I recently posted this up on my blog and thought it may be of interest to some of my fellow hambers. It may be a little off topic but I can't help but think that early hot rodders found these cars inspirational.

Fastest In The Fatherland​

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"It is still dark when I arrive, a sliver of moon hangs over the little fir copse by the starting area. Hoar frost covers everything and the road is quite white. The firs are twinkling in the moonlight. "
So begins Rudolf Caracciola's description of the morning of January 27th 1938 and his attempt to break the world speed record held by arch rivals Auto Union. Caracciola driving his Mercedes W125 Rekordwagen was to break the record held by Bernd Rosemeyer and his Auto Union V16 Type C Stromlinienwagen. These cars were the pride of Nazi Germany. Displaying technological superiority and brutal horsepower they were virtually unbeatable in international competition up until the outbreak of World War Two.​

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Caracciola went first with his attempt on the Reichs-Autobahn A5 between the cities of Frankfurt and Darmstadt. "Again the road shrinks to a narrow band, bridges and tunnels appear like dark gorges. At this speed one must aim accurately to get through. But even before the brain has registered the whole proceedings, the car has thundered through. I cannot get it into my mind that my brain should be slower than the speed of my car. Always there is the strange impression of having to aim to get through." At the end of his final run Caracciola had set a new world record of 432 km/h (268 mph) still the fastest ever officially timed speed on a public road.​

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Caracciola's rival Rosenmeyer was up next in his Auto Union however by the time of his attempt the wind had intensified. On his third and final attempt the car veered off the Autobahn throwing Rosemeyer out at high speed, killing him instantly. Bernd Rosemeyer's coffin was carried by SS troopers at his funeral. Even in death The Third Reich spared no opportunity for naked propaganda. An untimely end for Rosemeyer in his quest to be the Fastest In The Fatherland.​

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Heavy....

Wait...These NAZI fucks still have the record...hahaha.

 

my pops once told me the best three years of his life were spent killin those nazi sum-bitches but even he would have thought this was cool stuff..
and they still hold the record?? wow!

 

Crazy Stuff. I love all things speed and metal. But I know my Dad would blow a gasket about this propaganda. He was a WWII vet and was thrilled in his participation of crushing the nazis.

 

Skywolf,
Thankyou for posting this. I have never seen this poster before.
Not at all off topic unlike the preceding comments.... and to think one of them drives a Ford.
Let's "talk" about these magnificent cars.

 

you got ryans attention...mine too.

 

Hey you guys, sorry for going OT like that.
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myxMudtFX6g

 

Although the Landspeed cars were mighty fast the Grand Prix versions suffered from excessive oversteer and were never competitive compared to the Mercedes Benz. Nevertheless these cars were trully ahead of their time with many technological firsts in the auto industry.
The car pictured on the left was stolen and taken back to Russia at the end of hostilities and examined. One has to wonder if too much vodka was consumed 'cause what came out of that country in terms of auto engineering leaves alot to be desired. Most if not all of the racing cars were lost during this period but this one was found and restored last decade. Many others are replicas.
The other photo is the Hans Stuck driven LSR.

 

If you can look past the nastiness that was going on in Germany in the 30s, there was some great automotive engineering going on. Mercedes-Benz, Horch (which became part of Audi) and BMW turned out some truly cool cars.

 

Well said. And might i add that you also have a truly cool car.
I nearly fell out of the chair when i saw the pic in the avatar. I[ll be reading up on the resto now that i have found your website.

 

Making references to killing nazi f**ks during WWII is off topic on a traditional hotrodding site? I wonder what those hotrodders on the salt in 48 would think about that...most fresh back from killing a bunch of nazi f**ks themselves.

Those nazi f**ks sure did make some fine cars though...they'd look sexy on the salt!

 

268 mph on a public road with a leather helmet, no roll cage and it's doubtful that they even had seat belts sounds pretty crazy now.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw that Speed magazine cover was Speed Racer.

 

"Making references to killing nazi f**ks during WWII is off topic on a traditional hotrodding site? I wonder what those hotrodders on the salt in 48 would think about that...most fresh back from killing a bunch of nazi f**ks themselves."

Actually it is. Calling every German citizen, whether an engineer, racer, craftsman, etc. a F**king Nazi that happened to live through the period either tells me the American propaganda machine worked flawlessly or you haven't talked to some who was there. It's like calling every Cuban citizen a f**king communist who should be shot because they must ALL support Castro.

I'm German and my family was obliterated by the war. We lost 17 out of 23 males, some as young a 16. None were "party members" from what I've been told. To this day, you can sit my entire extended family around one large diner table. Face it. War sucks, no matter what side you are on.

During that horrible time there were some amazing engineering feats. The MB 540K and Horch roadsters were fantastic cars. The Messerschmitt 262s was the start to a new world of fighter jets.

 

Peace. 49Coupe.

 

Peace,absolutely..................In the long run it was the Americans and Brits flying traditional piston engine aircraft,many of those engines made by automobile factories that contributed to War's end.Add to that the tanks powered by Caddy and Ford engines,500,000 trucks made by GM and of couse the imortal Jeep.And the men themselves.Like the common Small Block Chevy,not the best but sheer numbers and mass production wins a battle of attrition.

 

My Aunt Gretechen spent the war here with her family in a US internment camp and they were well cared for no reparations necessary it was a war.
God bless the rebels. The people who won't be pushed around, will live their life to the dying end and know that legal/illegal is not the same thing as right and wrong. It wasn't so much that they were Nazi's as much as they were officers of the public trust (beaurocrats) getting away with whatever they wanted to do and as always a people are held responsible for the actions of their government. It was up to the Germans to stop the Nazi's first and they either failed or were suckerpunched but most importantly they were disarmed and it went downhill from there.

 

I originally posted this because I feel that those cars were & still are amazing. I have no political agenda to push, it just happens to be a part of history. Those cars most likely would not have existed without the rampant nationalism of the government of the day. The records were set before the outbreak of WWII & the men driving them were racers, no more no less. The Germans even employed a British driver by the name of Dick Seaman. He was victorious at the 1938 German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Whilst on the podium he gave the Nazi salute not once but twice !! A staunch Nazi ? I think not. He was a racing driver employed by a madman. Caracciola donated all of his trophies to the Indy 500 museum which they gladly accepted. The US welcomed many Nazi scientists after the war to help them launch their space program,yet I have never heard of anyone calling to have Werher von Braun strung up. Perhaps if I had have taken out the swastikas in photoshop I may have avoided some of the drama.I will be very careful in the future not to post anything that may stir up any deep seated nationalistic fervour. I just thought it was a cool story about two racers & their cars.

 

Thanks skywolf! Dont ever photoshop out anything. Those cars history are legend. I go to swap meets and gun shows that sometimes have Nazi memorabilia, Its history. Thanks, Slim

 

Political bullshit aside, if only they'd pursuid their engineering talents more....
Unbelivable designers & engineers to not only build a car like that but to be able to drive it on a public road & big balls for the drivers for climbing into the monsters

 

well my heart just pumps purple piss over your troubles dude and if you could fuckin read you just might understand no one said anything about germans in general , we are talking about goose stepping paper hangin fuckin nazi's tard , and im sure during world war two if one or the other was in germany at the time it didnt make much differance to the allies which side of the fence you were on , now if you want me to feel quilty or ashamed because my ancestors kicked the living shit out of yours you better think again pal..

 

Who cares who built them or ran them!! They are cool as hell!!

 

First painting of Bernd Rosemeyer attempting a new LSR in 1938. Note what looks to be the mechanics pushing the car forward. What they are doing is turning the car on a table due to the cars limited steering.
Second painting is Lang and Rosemeyer dueling at Avus in 1937.
The shapes of these cars would arrive at Bonneville nearly fifteen years later.

To see Rosemeyer attempting a record log onto www.itnsource.com and add into search. Many other videos on LSR planes,trains,etc..

 

These cars will come up every once in a while, because they are Hot Rods.

And even if you cant admit to that, they acctually were an inspiration for Californian Hot Rodders that were Racing at B'ville.

( Do a little reasearch and see what Alex Xydias had to say about that )


So please leave the Drama and Politics out of it...

 

Art by Walter Gotschke.



Here is some more...

 

Such language, my my my. Engineering and politics are probably best kept separate. Nazi's were vile shits, and Germans seem to be good engineers, regardless of who is/was running the country. It is a shame that the cars had swastikas painted on them, but after all it is just paint, right? Only skin deep, you might say.

My admittedly limited second hand knowledge is that the the USA won the war by out-producing the Germans, we did not generally out-engineer them, and in many instances our equipment was decidedly inferior, we just had way more spares.

'Speak softly and carry a big stick' is better than brag and fuss, I guess.

 

Politics and engineering excellence aside, the thing about American cars and trucks and cycles and other USA designed and produced mechanical devices that foreign folks just admire the hell out of is that our stuff is tough as nails, will survive with minimal, if any, proper service maintenance and get the job done while the more complicated more advanced more technologically pure products of their own nations are just getting warmed up.

 

Great photos I've not seen before not if i was there i'd be cheering for the underdog tazio nuvolari in the p3 alfa.Not trying to stir up trouble but wasn't there a bit of a stink about a ford subsiduary or something being involved with supplying the germans with materials during the war?and to quote Lemmy from MOTORHEAD a noted collector of german war memorabilia "I'm not a nazi but they make the best shit"

 

They are truly awesome cars and yeas the Germans kicked our arses in quality and performance in WWII, look at the Tiger & Panzer, The Turpitz, Bizmark, Aircraft like the FW190, TA 152, ME 262, well ahead of the Allies.
49Coupe, I understand why but you did jump to a pretty big assumption. T-Bone, My family fought too, both the Germans and the Japanese just a evil as the Nazis look what they did to POWs my grandfather was a prisoner of the Japs I still harbor ill feelings because of what it did to him.
Its history, lets leave it there huh guys? A misunderstanding.

Doc.

(PS)
Von Braun was a 'hidden asset' when bought to the US, when it was finally revealed (I think in the mid 50s?) that he was living free in the US there was a BIG outcry both in the US and England to string him up. I mean he built both the V1 and V2 (Both brilliant weapons). He was a staunch Nazi.

 

Its strange.

I'm very clear in my mind how I feel about the horrible things People have done to other People.
But still, the beauty of those Machines facinate me.

Not just the Silver Arrows, but even things like the Horton Flying Wings.


And yes, I feel uneasy about that.


The cars by themselfs belong here. ( and we had Threads about them before )
I'm convinced of that.

But not if that triggers a big discussion about Nazi's and Warcrimes.


Timingwise, it probably wasnt a very sensitive or sensible Topic to Post...