Mystery Foto #23 Solved: Bernd Rosemeyer’s Last Ride
This weekend's Mystery Foto documented a race car attempting to set a speed record.
Answers to the Mystery Foto questions:
- Identify the race car and driver
German Bernd Rosemeyer driving the Auto Union Type-C 6.3 Liter V-16 545 HP Streamliner on his way to an attempt at breaking the land speed record.
- Link the photo to the Vanderbilt Cup Races
Bernd Rosemeyer won the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Race held at Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island on July 5, 1937. Rosenmeyer drove an Auto Union Type C V-16 racer
- What is the date of the photo and the results of the record attempt.
The photo was taken on January 28, 1938. On that day Rosemeyer had set a class record of 268 mph. His next run that day ended when the car veered off the road at close to 270 mph and hit a bridge embankment, ejecting him from the car and killing him. It was less than six months after Rosemeyer won the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Race.
Comments (12)
Congrats to Greg O. Tim Ivers, Dick Gorman, Steve Lucas, Chris Battestin, Steve, Art Kleiner, Rich Stark, Randy Reed, Chuck Rudy Jr. and Aldo Zana for identying Rosenmeyer's Auto Union V-16 streamliner.
Kudos to Art Kleiner (see Kleiner's Korner), Chuck Rudy, Jr. (see Rudy's Records) and Steve Lucas (see Lucas' Learnings) for forwarding supportive jpegs for this weekend's Mystery Foto.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Rosemeyer is seen here getting a push start on the Autobahn. Team manager Dr. Karl Feurereissen was concerned about the changed weather and tried to prevent Rosemeyer from making his attempt at the speed record. But Rosemeyer was determined to regain his speed records. He set off on a "warm-up" run and was timed at 267.1 mph on the return trip. Rosemeyer announced that he was happy with the racer and then set off for a second run. He never returned.
Lucas' Learnings (Submitted by Steve Lucas)
A Tribute to Bernd Rosemeyer.
Note: A film segment of the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Race begins at 1:53 . A film segment of Rosemeyer's last ride begins at 2:14 .
Kleiner's Korner (Submitted by Art Kleiner)
Bernd Rosemeyer at the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Race
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 3, 1937
1937 Auto Union V16 Steamliners
Rudy's Records (Submitted by Chuck Rudy Jr.)
Here is a photo of the Nordkurve of the Avusrennen track from which the Auto Union LSR basis and chassis came from. The track was two 6- mile straits with two hairpin turns, one flat the other seen here as the “wall of death” since there was no retaining wall. True madness in a world not understanding safety as they quite possibly should have done better.
The car in the photo is a Mercedes streamliner not the Auto Union.
Comments
Now we’re talkin’! I love when historical loves collide!
Identify the race car and driver
-Bernd Rosemeyer in an Auto Union Type-C Streamliner
Link the photo to the Vanderbilt Cup Races
-Rosemeyer raced the Auto Union in the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Races
Roosevelt Raceway - New York (USA), 5 July 1937
(Monday - delayed two days due to rain)
90 laps x 3 1/3 mi (5.364 km) = 300 mi (482.8 km)
No. Driver Entrant Car Type Engine
1 Mauri Rose T. B. Martin Maserati V8RI
2 Jimmy Snyder H.C. Henning Boyle-Miller
3 Ted Horn H Hartz Wetteroth-Miller
4 Bernd Rosemeyer Auto Union AG Auto Union C 6.0 V-16
5 Tazio Nuvolari Squderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo 12C-36 4.1 V-12
7 Billy Winn B Winn Summers-Miller 4.2
8 Deacon Litz, Malmacaan Team Maserati V8RI -DNA - did not appear
9 Ernst von Delius Auto Union AG Auto Union C 6.0 V-16
10 G. Farina Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo 12C-36 V-12
What is the date of the photo and the results of the record attempt.
-This photo was taken the morning of January 28th, 1938.
At 11:47am, Bernd Rosemeyer was killed by cross winds. Interesting, translatable website with a great narration of the sad events.
https://www.freenet.de/auto/youngtimeroldtimer/rosemeyerunfall-details-des-rekordversuchs_194924_4714712.html
The auto is an Auto Union, the forerunner of Audi and the driver is Bernd Rosemeyer.
On January 28, 1938 he crashed this machine while hitting a speed of 268 mph on a closed section of Germany’s Autobahn, in a speed record attempt. He did not survive the crash.
Rosemeyer won the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup event held at Roosevelt Raceway driving an Auto Union.
Mystery photo #23… The race car is the streamlined V16 Auto Union driven by Bernd Rosemeyer. This driver won the Vanderbilt Cup race in1937 in an Auto Union Grand Prix car. The speed record attempt shown in the photo is dated January 28, 1937 AND sadly Rosemeyer died when the car crashed at 268 mph.
Could that be Bernd Rosemeyer, winner of the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Race, driving the Auto Union Type-C 6.3 Liter V-16 545 HP Streamliner on his way to an attempt at breaking the land speed record? If so, it’s not going to end well as Rosemeyer went airborne at about 270 mph, left the road, crashed and was killed on January 28, 1938.
It’s a custom Auto Union on the Autobahn.
Car and Driver:
Custom streamlined 1937 Auto Union 545hp V16 Type C designed by Robert Eberan-Eberhorst and driven by Bernd Rosemeyer
Link to VCR:
Bernd Rosemeyer won the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup race
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2007-1205-501,_Bernd_Rosemeyer_mit_Vanderbilt_Cup.jpg
Date/Results:
Jan 28, 1938. He was attempting to beat arch rival Rudolf Caracciola’s of Mercedes’ 268mph record on a public road (a streatch of the German Autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt) set less than 2 hours before. During one of his runs, he lost control of the car. The car crashed into the center median then a bridge embankment on the opposite side of the road, while Rosemeyer was thrown from the car and perished on site.
Video of his lifetime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRwFV9hGXtY
At 2:20 into the video, you see almost the same image of the MFF as he gets underway.
Memorial markers: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Bernd-Rosemeyer-Denkmal-2.JPG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Bernd-Rosemeyer-Denkmal-3.JPG
Auto Union Streamliner Type C (1936-1937). Driver is Bernd Rosemeyer.
Rosemeyer won the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Race at Roosevelt Raceway.
Might this be Rosemeyers final attempt at regaining his speed record on the Autobahn (January 28, 1938). Unfortunately he crashed and did not survive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVK9F1yO2NY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWa9gvLygng
This is the Auto Union (now Audi) streamliner that in Oct. 1937 broke through the 400km/h barrier on the motorway between Frankfurt and Darmstadt, Germany. It was driven by Bernd Rosemeyer. On Jan. 28, 1938 he reached 432km/h (268 mph) on a warm-up run. On the following record-breaking run, he was killed in a violent crash. I’m not sure if this photo is of his 1937 or 1938 runs.
His connection to the Vanderbilt Cup is that he won it on July 5, 1937 at Roosevelt Raceway.
Wow - total blank! Not even vaguely familiar. Oh, well; it’s an Auto Union, at any event (literally AND figuratively). Sam, III
Photo is of a specially prepared Auto Union Grand Prix car with a fully streamlined body for speed record attempts on the German Autobahn. The driver is Bernd Rosemeyer. Rosemeyer had won the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup on Long Island in the road racing version of this car. The photo was taken on Jan. 28, 1938. On that day Rosemeyer had set a class record of 268 mph. His next run that day ended when the car veered off the road at close to 270 mph and hit a bridge embankment, ejecting him from the car and killing him.
The Car-The Auto Union V16 Streamliner based on the 1937 Auto Union Type C. Which raced at Avusrennen…..the car sounds very similar in ideas to the Stutz BlackHawk of Frank Lockhart’s design which ended his life in 1928, or ‘29.
The Driver-Bernd Rosemeyer. Rosemeyer won the 1937 rendition of the Vanderbilt Cup Race at Roosevelt Raceway in an Auto Union, besting Richard Seaman in second and Caracciola whose Mercedes ended up 24th when it broke.
The day of the Foto-On the day of the head to head LSR match between Mercedes, driven by Caracciola, and his Auto Union he died in the attempt, January 28, 1938 at Frankfurt-Darmstadt Autobahn, Germany at 29 Years. His wife Elly gave birth to a son, Bernd Jr., just ten weeks before his father’s death.
The day between Caracciola and Rosemeyer…..interesting notation of
http://jalopnik.com/the-sleek-streamliners-that-broke-records-and-served-ev-1538151482
http://www.audi.com/corporate/en/company/history/models/auto-union-16-cylinder-streamliner-racing-car-typ-c-1937.html
From Aldo Zana:
The mystery is quite simple.
Car: Auto Union Stromlinienwagen modified for the 1938 Rekordwoche (Week of the records).
Driver: Bernd Rosemeyer, winner of the 1937 Vanderbilt Cup
Date: January 28, 1938
Hour: 11.46 am, start of the Southbound run 3. Rosemeyer had only 90” left to live before the fatal crash at about 11.47’30”.
Site: Frankfurt-Darmstadt Reichsautobahn (Motorway), starting point close to the Frankfurt Airport.
Thank you for keeping me in the mailing list.
Enjoy the Sunday.
Aldo
I am a car nut since birth. My father born in Frankfurt (1921) would tell me of this record run he witnessed. He’s (my father that is) has passed on now, a number of years before I could research the statistics of that run.
ON THAT SCORE, (WARNING) fasten your seatbelts for
this.
The Auto Union Which Came Away That Day With The Statistical Victory, Had A V16 Engine (with four banks of valves) ALL OPERATED BY ONE CAMSHAFT.
The Tachometer Was About Eight Inches In Diameter View through The Center Of The Steering Wheel & Had A 5000 rpm redline.
OH THE VALVE TRAIN, STRAIGHT OUT OF JULES VERNE, AND THE ONLY TOME EVER USED ANYWHERE BEFORE OR SINCE PERIOD.