BADEN-BADEN THE HIDDEN MOTOR CITY
FASCINATING AUTOMOTIVE HISTORY WITH BENZ, CARACCIOLA & CO.
WITH THE ORIENT EXPRESS TO BADEN-BADEN
Benz, Daimler, Vollmer and others do pioneering work for mobility
12
CARS, NOBILITY, ADVENTURE 18
The car proves itself on test drives and long-distance journeys
OF WITCHES’ CARTS AND DEVILISH BEASTS 30
A pioneer meets the emperor and crosses Africa by car
Hubert von Herkomer, whose full name was Professor Sir Hubert Ritter von Herkomer, was born in Bavaria and grew up in the USA and England. He was one of the most famous painters of his time – highly successful and equally rich. The winner of the Herkomer competition not only received the coveted, valuable challenge cup designed by Herkomer himself—no, he was also portrayed by the painting genius! The Herkomer ride took place a total of three times, in 1905, 1906 and 1907. The route no longer ran through Baden-Baden in 1906 and 1907 due to the tender.
On 13 August, the Badener Tagblatt wrote that “a limited number of reserved seats will be placed along Kaiserallee”. Entry tickets authorising the arrival of the cars on 14 August and the departure on 15 August cost 2 marks at the visitor’s tax office.
After the Herkomer competition, the Badener Tagblatt reported lively spectator interest: “BadenBaden was on its feet! A total of 79 cars started in Munich, 72 of which crossed the finish line safely
in front of a large crowd of spectators in BadenBaden. Only car no. 74, belonging to Privy Councillor Dr Hoffa from Berlin, suffered an accident on the journey. On a sharp bend before Burlafingen, the car was hurled down a three-metre-high embankment, overturning several times and being severely damage. One of the occupants, a Mr W. Sensburg, jumped out of the car, while Mr Koch, the director from Frankfurt, and Mr Galler, the chauffeur, crashed over the embankment. Mr Koch was uninjured, the driver suffered a broken arm. There are not further accidents to report. On arrival, the cars made their way to the gymnasium, where a large hall had been erected to accommodate them.” The newspaper thanked the “tireless members of the ‘Tourenklub Baden’, who escorted the individual cars to the gymnasium. The watch provided by the volunteer fire brigade also performed its difficult duty to the best of its ability under the command of its leading officer. Car no. 73 suffered an accident without any consequences when it overturned on an embankment on Leopoldstraße while driving to the gymnasium. The occupants escaped unscathed and the car was also undamaged.” Despite the early start, numerous participants enjoy the wonderful, cool evening in the spa town.
The day got off to a busy start on the Tuesday morning. The first cars arrived at the start on the promenade at around 4.30 a.m. The first car de-
parted at 5 a.m., “just as the light of day broke”. The early-morning start was attended by numerous spectators, including representatives of the town and its automobile committee.
According to a published list, vehicles of the brands Benz (10 cars), Mercedes (10), Adler (8), Métallurgique (5), Opel (4), Clément (4), English Daimler (4), Peugeot (4), Horch (3), Argus (2) and Martini (2) arrived at the destination in Baden-Baden. One car each: Gaggenau, Hermes, de Dietrich, Schulz, Leon Bollée, Stoewer, Scheibler, Fahrzeugwerk Eisenach, Dürkopp, Beckmann, Ehrhardt, Achenbach, Uren Kotthaus, NAG. Well-known drivers included August Horch, Fritz and his brother Heinrich Opel, Prince Battenberg, Ernst Schoemperlen from Karlsruhe, who drove Gaggenau, H. Heinrich Büssing from Braunschweig and brothers Bernhard and Emil Stoewer from Stettin.
Elaborately decorated horse-drawn carriages and some no less decorated cars took part in the traditional flower parade as part of “Great Week”. The Brenner hotelier family drove along in a magnificent, flower-bedecked six-seater car. The parade was organised by the International Club, the organisers of the traditional horse racing week in Baden-Baden and Iffezheim. The first flower pa-
rade was held on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the club established in 1882. Several dozen horse-drawn carriages paraded along Lichtentaler Allee, splendidly decorated with flowers. But time marched on: at the beginning of the 20th century, automobiles increasingly came to the fore. The last parade was in 1914.
11 October: Her Majesty, Queen Dowager Margarethe of Italy, arrived in Baden-Baden by car from Mainz at 6 o’clock in the afternoon and stayed at the Europäischer Hof on Kaiserallee. Some of the entourage and servants travelled to the Oostal by express train. The car has long been socially acceptable. News of this and of a similar kind is no longer out of the ordinary.
The concours d’élégance drew a “large crowd” to the Kurgarten, where the house orchestra was playing in the new bandstand. Forty-eight open and four closed carriages competed. The cars initially lined up in a long row. Over the next three and a half hours, the jury slowly weeded out more and more cars until finally only the prizewinners remained, each adorned with a winner’s rosette and taking a lap of honour to rapturous applause and warm congratulations. The modern types were characterised by pointed coolers and a retractable canopy. First prize in the “Open Cars – Touring” category went to a 28/95 hp Mercedes, while the “Open Cars –Sports” category was won by General Director Willy Hof, also in a Mercedes 28/95. Clara Sielcken-Schwarz from Baden-Baden won the closed car category in a Benz 16/50 hp.
On the third day, the “reliability test with special timekeeping” followed, the first part of the tour. At 6 a.m., 48 drivers set off on the 80-kilometre route from in front of the theatre: the route passed through grey and foggy conditions via Ebersteinburg, Schloss Favorite, Rastatt, Ettlingen, Herrenalb, Gernsbach and Oberbeuern back to Theaterplatz in the spa town. The tour included a flat race of about five kilometres,
held for the first time on the straight stretch between Rastatt and Ettlingen, which was lined with colourful pennants. Thirty-seven cars participated in the speed test. The cars waited in a long line for the starter’s signal, which left greater intervals between them. The cars, all of which were occupied by two people, raced off from the starting line and soon disappeared from the spectators’ view. A distances of 200 metres was measured out in the middle of the track, where, as at the start, a small group of men from the tournament management and onlookers had gathered. The fastest flat racers thundered around the track at speeds of over 130 kilometres an hour. The tournament organisers had set up their mobile office at the finish line: the telephone worked promptly and announced every car that started. From a distance, it was already possible to hear the rattling of the engines working at top speed. Then the cars appeared, taking on increasingly solid outlines and passing the finish line at full throttle. The driver and companion sat hunched down low in the car. Some women also drove their cars with flying colours on the fast ride. Cars carrying motorsport fans had gathered on both sides of the country road. The fastest time of all was achieved by the experienced racing driver and
senior engineer Sailer in a Mercedes 28/95 hp, with a time of 2 minutes 8 seconds. Karl Kappler was third fastest with a time of 2:19.4. Notably, Ines Folville took second place in Class 3 with the 9/50 hp Steiger in 3:09 minutes!
The participants had to get up before the chickens so as not to miss the departure of the second tour at 5 a.m. The town “still lay in the half-light of a rainy night”. They headed via Lichtental and Geroldsau to Bühlertal. The starting point for the approximately four kilometre-long race track of the hill climb was just above the Schindelpeter spa house. It extended along the Wiedenfels to within a few hundred metres of the Bärenstein spa house. The phone, which had been quickly laid from start to finish, was already in full use. A large group of onlookers had long since gathered at the finish. The first cars could already be heard rattling below on the bend. A few minutes later, the first car turned the last corner and crossed the finish line to a lively welcome. More followed in quick succession. Everything went off fine. Although a few vehicles slid off the road in the bends and ended up halfway in the ditch, they all made it out again. Only one of them was unlucky: Prince Eugene of Schaumburg-Lippe got stuck on a curb at the bottom bend. He was still able to drag the car across to the other side of the road, but the sports car, which had also lost a wheel, could not continue the journey. Last year’s winner Schultze-Steprath also had bad luck: his gearshift failed halfway through the race and he was only able to pass the finish line at half speed. The result: Karl Kappler took first place in his class in the hill climb “into the mountains of the Black Forest” in the heavyweight Benz-Gaggenau, completing the course in 4 minutes and 12 seconds. The man in the big class, Mercedes senior engineer Sailer, was just one second faster, making him the overall winner.
And in the skill test, Karl “Charlie” Kappler also won in his class, once again demonstrating his superior control of the hard-to-handle car: instead of last year’s cigarette ride, this was replaced it with a bottle ride driven backwards. Local favourite Kappler won the overall ranking and the Batschari Challenge Trophy. His strongest rival, Schultze-Steprath, followed close behind, with Sailer coming in third. For “Charlie” Kappler, the victory came as a great surprise. He himself had hardly hoped to win against such excellent opponents in his 16-year-old production touring car.
The Black Forest is particularly suitable for motorsports. The roads in the Black Forest are in exemplary condition.
On 7 July, Hans Fieser, a young graduate engineer from Baden-Baden, embarked on an eventful journey by car “across wide areas of the United States of North America”, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Before that, Fieser had worked for six months in a New York machine factory. He then started a job in San Francisco. He did not want to take the train there in 4 days. His wish: to get to know as much of the United States, the character of its landscape, its inhabitants and its industry as possible. First, he and a friend, a fellow student from Karlsruhe, took the train from New York to Niagara Falls and from there to Detroit. There, he visited the famous Ford factory, bought a small closed Ford car, probably the T-model “Tin Lizzy”, a tent (2.10 metres by 2.10 metres) and the necessary travel supplies. Ford and the modern assembly line method of working made a “quite extraordinary impression” on Fieser. The Ford initially helped them make good progress. Only frequent punctures plagued the young men from Baden. On the way to Chicago, he noted in his travel log: “It is almost unbelievable for German ears to hear that, with only a few exceptions, traffic on the major country roads, the ‘highways’, is
always about the same as it is after the race (author’s note: this refers to the horse races of the Great Week) between Iffezheim and BadenBaden, from morning until late at night; only everything goes much faster, an average of 30 miles, about 50 kilometres, per hour.” The route continued via Yellowstone National Park to Salt Lake City. The Ford caused problems on this section and necessitated visits to garages. The reasons were the crankshaft bearings overheating twice, the front leaf springs breaking completely and other “little things”. And the weather got worse. When it rained, the Ford sank up to its axles in the mud on side streets that resembled better dirt roads. Driving with “utmost effort” in first gear and pushing was the order of the day. On the way, they came across rattlesnakes and visited Indian reservations. From Salt Lake City, the route led via Colorado to New Mexico and Arizona to California. From there it was on to San Francisco via Los Angeles. In total, Fieser drove around 4,500 miles – which is about 7,500 kilometres! In 1924!
The Bavarian Automobile Club, founded in 1899, took part in its fourth Baden-Baden Automobile
Tournament from Wednesday, 9 July, to Sunday, 13 July, as a further co-organiser. Organised in the form of a rally, 23 cars and 9 motorcycles set off from Munich-Laim on 5 July, of which 20 cars and 7 motorcycles arrived at the finish line on the Rote Lache, a lookout point 11 kilometres from Baden-Baden and 690 metres above sea level. The large cars travelled via Starnberg, Kempten, Friedrichshafen and Freudenstadt, the small cars from Friedrichshafen via Tuttlingen and Freudenstadt, and the motorcycles via Augsburg, Ulm and Tübingen to Freudenstadt.
On the Rote Lache, the Bavarians were given a warm welcome by Lord Mayor Reinhard Fieser and the President of the Baden Automobile Club, Robert Batschari, together with the tournament administration, to the encouraging sounds of the Geroldsau band. In accordance with Baden custom, cherry brandy was served. The participants then drove to Baden-Baden for “Music on two Daimler touring cars”. The vehicles lined up for the welcome on the festively decorated square in front of the town theatre, surrounded by a large crowd of onlookers. The weather was perfect: it is warm throughout the entire tournament; the Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung even spoke of tropical temperatures.
On Sunday evening, all the participants in the group trip were guests of Batschari at the Stephanie Hotel. The president of the Bavarian Automobile Club, Major Leo Czermak, was made an honorary member of the Baden Automobile Club. The Bavarian Automobile Club reciprocated this great and surprising honour by appointing Robert Batschari an honorary member. The people of Bavaria thus expressed their thanks for the overwhelming reception on the Rote Lache, the thunderous welcome on the drive along the magnificent Lichtentaler Allee and at Theaterplatz.
The tournament participants were divided into five classes. The classification was based on the engine power. Represented among the more than 100 vehicles were the marques Adler, Audi, Benz, Bugatti, Dürkopp, Fiat, Hispano-Suiza, Horch, Lancia, Maybach, Mercedes, Opel and Wanderer. Well-known German racing drivers, such as Rudolf Caracciola, sat at the wheel. Over five days, the cars competed in several events: a flat race between Rastatt and Malsch, a 150-kilometre tour through the Black Forest via Renchen, Kniebis to Rippoldsau, a hill climb in Oberbühlertal along the Wiedenfels, a skill test in the Kurgarten, a concours d’élégance and a special new ladies’ skill test.
Ninety-six entries were recorded, including five women competing for the first time for the Robert Batschari Challenge Trophy for Ladies. The valuable prizes donated, including the Batschari Challenge Trophies, were displayed in the window of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, Lichtentaler Allee 1.
And all those not at the front were already covered in dust and had to drive in dust clouds.
motorbikes were still equipped with carbide lamps. Accordingly, the drivers could see very little, just 12 metres ahead. “Recklessness!” the trade journal Motor und Sport complained, and with good reason. The 550-kilometre circuit led through the Black Forest up to Constance and via Donaueschingen, Freiburg and Offenburg back to Baden-Baden. Large numbers of spectators lined the route.
“Mrs Heller from Baden-Baden drove her Mercedes into a telegraph pole near Engen, but nobody was hurt,” reported Motor und Sport. And continued: “However, the Freiburg – Offenburg stage caused most of the drivers a lot of trouble due to major diversions, narrow roads and a very
high volume of farm traffic. The winner of the motorcycle race was Henning from Düsseldorf on a Wanderer sidecar machine. Kist from Kappelwindeck was the second to cross the line in the standard class. In the cars, Fini Groß from BadenBaden came in third in an Opel, Westermann from Baden-Baden came in sixth in a Pluto.”
The hill climb started on the Sunday morning on the 10.4-kilometre-long, beautifully situated and perfectly prepared mountain road from Geroldsau to Plättig. The route up to the Old Castle was no longer used for these Autumn Sports Days! Despite the road being wet from the rain and quite slippery in places, the entire competition passed off without a single accident. The countless spectators certainly got their money’s worth. The ADAC-Motorwelt wrote: “In the racing car class, Kappler took the honours in a Bugatti, also setting the fastest time of the day, while Kimpel took victory in the Mercedes-Benz in the sports car class. The latter finally won the challenge trophy for sports cars, which had previously been won by Kappler and Weiss in the years before.” Kappler competed in the sports car class up to 2 litres in a Simson Supra and was the fastest in his class with a time of 9 minutes 10 seconds, beating Willy Brenner, who drove a Bugatti across the line in 10 minutes 46 seconds. A lap time of 8 minutes and 10 seconds was enough to qualify a Bugatti in racing car class D. “Charlie” Kappler set the best time of the day. Emil Fuss won the small sports car class J in a Hanomag in 16 minutes 10 seconds. In class G, Westermann from Baden-Baden took first place in a Pluto with a time of 12 minutes 24 seconds. Second was Oos native Fortenbacher in a Fiat in 13 minutes 41 seconds. In class D, Schlagintweit from Baden-Baden won in a Steiger in 11 minutes 19 seconds. Due to bad weather, the balloon chase in the afternoon was cancelled. All participants in the Autumn Sports Days received an exceptionally artistically designed medal with the town’s coat of arms, for which the drivers praised very highly. The organizers also did a lot to ensure safety along the race track. The excellent roadside service was provided by mobile telephone stations, medical services, barriers and excellent timekeeping. And – for the first time, the high-altitude road experienced a motorcycle race.
By the way: Karl Kappler celebrated his 200th race win during the Autumn Sports Days! To his surprise, he received the Golden ADAC Pin of Honour from the ADAC committee at the Kurhaus. Kappler was thus the second person after
Rudolf Caracciola to receive this highest honour from the ADAC. ADAC president Fritz gave a speech at the Kurhaus in which he emphasised Kappler’s sporting success. After that, he handed the man from Gernsbach a letter dated 10 September. It read in part: “For a long time now, the ADAC presiding committee has followed your glorious career as a sportsman and been delighted to see how you rush from victory to victory with your boundless energy, your courageous, genuine sporting spirit, and above all your extraordinary driving skills. Dear Mr Kappler, you are now the oldest, active sportsman in German motorsport and, as we have learned, are on the verge of winning your 200th prize. The ADAC is proud of a member like you, unique in its ranks, and it is an honour for us to count you among its members. On this, the day of your 200th victory, the ADAC presiding committee would not wish to be absent and gladly takes advantage of this extraordinary and historic moment to award you, dear Mr Kappler, the ADAC Golden Pin in recognition of your sporting achievements to date. We hope that you, dear Mr Kappler, will continue to wear this great but well-deserved honour for many years to come and that you may also continue to achieve many successes in your sporting career.” The ADACMotorwelt then wrote: “Karl Kappler, one of our oldest, most experienced and most successful sportsmen, was given a rapturous reception.”
1928
The 1928 social trip of the German Automobile Club (AvD) from 22 May to 6 June took the participants to places including Baden-Baden, “where people like to spend the night”. Full route: Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Klagenfurt, Villach, Venice, Lugano, Zurich, Baden-Baden, Wiesbaden and Chemnitz. According to one participant’s records, that was an enormous 3,247 kilometres!
The 8th Baden-Baden Automobile Tournament from Wednesday, 27 June, to Sunday, 1 July, had the elements of a skill test and an international concours d’élégance in the Kurgarten, a flower parade with grandstand at Theaterplatz, flat racing on the exactly five-kilometre Rastatt –Ettlingen route, 10-kilometre hill climb from Geroldsau up to Bühlerhöhe, award ceremony and closing banquet in the foyer of the Kurhaus. Despite the tangible economic crisis, a
The crème de la crème of German drivers is meeting up again and giving the race a new lustre.
An autograph of racing great Manfred von Brauchitsch. As so often, he was dogged by bad luck during the “2,000 km through Germany” and was involved in a serious accident – but fortunately emerged unhurt. He was mistaken by a year in his signature, as this picture was actually taken in 1933.
1950s
1958 to 1964
1976 to today 1995 2015
Baden-Baden was the start, finish, stage location or time control location for the Monte Carlo Rally, Lyon-Charbonnières Rally, Liège - Rome - Liège, Germany Rally as part of the European Rally Championship.
The Deutschland Rally as part of the European Rally Championship, renamed “Rallye Baden-Baden” from 1961, had either its start and finish or its start or finish in Baden-Baden. Well-known drivers included Eugen Böhringer, Helm Glöckler, Rauno Aaltonen, Eberhard Mahle, Luigi Villoresi, Erik Karlsson, Patricia Moss and Ewy Rosqvist.
Jean Marc Culas invited the world to the first “International Oldtimer Meeting Baden-Baden”. This successful event with up to 350 participating vehicles has remained Baden-Baden’s automotive highlight year after year, with the exception of a single cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On 15 May, the Mercedes-Benz branch in Baden-Baden moved into the new building on Wilhelm-Drapp-Straße in Baden-Oos.
The renowned car dealership Wackenhut, based in Nagold, took over the Baden-Baden branch with the associated Gaggenau location.
town administration and the casino management as well as the executive committee of the Badischer Automobilclub im ADAC and briefly entertained, time permitting. The time check was at the Malschbach Camp, at the end of Geroldsau. There, at 8.50 a.m., the hill climb got under way for the 230 or so vehicles on the old, traditional hill climb track up to Bühlerhöhe. The police cordoned off all the side streets. An oppressive heat lay over the tarmac roads.
Many visitors stood at Zimmerplatz, whose bend became a focal point of interest as it placed incredible demands on the riders. Georg “Schorsch” Meier, the idol of Germany’s sporting youth, took part in the German tour on a BMW 500 and was greeted with lively applause. He elegantly mastered the sharp bend. He was followed by other well-known riders: Wiggerl Kraus, Ewald Kluge, H.P. Müller, Karl Döring, Kurt Mansfeld, Kurt Nitschky, Max Klankermeier, Karl Kling and Toni Ulmen. The last two bends before Bühler-
höhe were also particularly attractive for spectators, with some vehicles finding themselves in “ticklish situations”. A contemporary report described: “The participants rode up to the Bühlerhöhe at wild speed and using all their cornering skills.” And the ADAC’s Motorwelt wrote: “All of Baden-Baden is draped in the jewel that is the ADAC Deutschlandfahrt. Right through the centre of the spa town. The sound of the engines drowned out the spa concert. Old people felt disturbed in their peace and quiet, young people left the tennis courts and paid homage to the engine: mountain test with all chicanes, 16 per cent maximum gradient. A real hill climb. Primissima!” The timekeepers had the result: Georg “Schorsch” Meier was the fastest over the almost ten-kilometre-long hill climb with an altitude difference of 600 metres. The “cast-iron one” achieved an average speed of almost 80 kilometres per hour!
7 June: The Motorrad Club Baden-Baden im ADAC for motorcycles was re-established. At the founding meeting in the “Löwenbräu”, the 46 members elected Südwestfunk (SWF) sports editor H. Schaaf as the first chairman. The first sporting event of the Baden-Baden Motorcycle Club was on 9 July. A “speedometer test” took place on the country road between Iffezheim and Hügelsheim in a flying start over a distance of 500 metres. Siegfried Fuss won on his 500 cc Triumph in a time of 10.2 seconds, ahead of K. Simon on 14.5 seconds and F. Becker on 15 seconds, both on a DKW 500.
15 June: The Gerstenmaier dealership was awarded a Porsche dealership contract. Ludwig Gerstenmaier and Ferdinand Porsche were old and good acquaintances.
19 to 22 September: Major event. The Association of Public Transport Companies (VÖV) met in Baden-Baden for its annual conference. At the same time, preparations were being made for a large vehicle and accessories show. Many well-known companies exhibited their buses, including scheduled service, articulated, all-weather, underfloor-engined, intercity, city, touring and tram buses, bus trailers, special bodies, lorries and customised bodies, as will accessory suppliers. A total of 44 of these heavy vehicles alone were on display on Gausplatz and in front of the Kurhaus. Great effort was put into the event. Almost without exception, all well-known companies took part. These included Borgward, Büssing, Daimler-Benz AG, FaunWerke, Ford, Gaubschat, Henschel, Kässbohrer,
Krauss-Maffei, MAN, Magirus, Waggonfabrik Rastatt, Karosseriefabrik Trutz and Südwerke.
Lord Mayor Dr Schlapper hosted a reception for the guests in the large, festively decorated theatre hall of the Kurhaus. In his welcome speech, the Lord Mayor said that it was a special honour for him to be able to welcome Federal Transport Minister Dr Seebohm back again so soon. Dr Schlapper once again called for an adequate transport network for the international spa and congress town. The Baden-Oos railway station was really not a calling card and the branch line to Baden-Baden was unprofitable and superfluous. In his subsequent speech, Dr Seebohm promised that a prestigious railway station would be built in Baden-Oos despite the dictates of empty coffers. He also promised that the Ettlingen to Baden-Baden motorway section would be completed soon. The motorway was to be built as far as Basel as soon as possible, but unfortunately these matters were always a question of money.
The participants rode up to the Bühlerhöhe at wild speed and using all their cornering skills.
In 1952, a large vehicle exhibition of the Daimler-Benz branch took place in the Kurgarten. The highlight of the event was the presentation of the 300 SL gullwing, in which Karl Kling and Hans
had just won second place in the
Südwestfunk Baden-Baden broadcast the television programme “Das Rasthaus” for the first time in March. It was the oldest motoring magazine programme on German television.
Wednesday, 26 September, to Sunday, 30 September: The “Internationale Rallye Baden-Baden”, run as the “Deutschland-Rallye 1962” within the European Rally Championship, got under way on 27 September. The organisers of the 8th round of the European Rally Championship were the ADAC and the AvD. Baden-Baden had proven itself as the “headquarters” of this long-distance test over 2,500 kilometres.
The fairground in Waldseetal made an excellent starting point for Europe’s rally aces. The Kurhaus provided all the prerequisites for the smooth running of the rally, both for the race organisers and for the “accounting office”. So it was no wonder that the AvD and ADAC liked coming to Baden-Baden, which “looks back on a great, even extraordinary past” in the field of motorsport. One of the favourites was Mercedes driver Eugen Böhringer from Stuttgart, who led the European Rally Championship. Böhringer’s most dangerous opponent was the Swedish Saab 98 driver Erik Carlsson, who was later to be nicknamed “Carlsson on the Roof” because after a slip he simply put his overturned Saab back on its wheels and continued driving successfully. While Böhringer was clearly in the lead in the European Championship standings after his successes in the Rally Acropolis, the Rally Poland
and the Rally Liège-Sofia-Liège, Carlsson was able to make up some ground after winning the Rally Monte Carlo and was now only 28 points behind the Mercedes man. With participants from ten nations, the Baden-Baden Rally boasted an unprecedented line-up of the European driving elite. In the championship class, 43 vehicles from Germany, eight cars from Austria and seven vehicles from Italy took part in the race. The field was completed by three Swedes, two Englishmen and two Frenchmen as well as one Dane, one Finn, one Moroccan and one Swiss. There was also a women’s championship, with Ewy Rosqvist from Sweden in a Mercedes 220 SE and Pat Moss from England in a Mini Cooper among the favourites.
Germany’s biggest touring competition passed through France and returned to the finish in the Oostal valley on Saturday, 29 September. The long-distance test was divided into three sections: from Baden-Baden via Kehl to Charbonnières-les-Bains, just west of Lyon, from there to Annecy in the eastern French Alps and back to Baden-Baden via Breisach on the last day.
In total, there were over 2,500 kilometres to cover, with four hills stages and one special stage. The four hill stages were at the Col de Rousset (16 km), near Chamrousse (17.2 km), on the Ballon d’Alsace (9.2 km) and between Turckheim and Trois-Épis (6.3 km). There were also some special stages, which were only announced to the participants shortly before the start.
On 26 September, the technical inspectors from the AvD and ADAC went over the vehicles with a fine toothcomb. As no significant changes were allowed to be made to the standard cars, some drivers who had gone a little too far with the weight reduction had to appear a second time to get their vehicle approved. By then, the missing parts had to have been reinstalled. The inspectors also checked whether crash helmets, first-aid kits, fire extinguishers and tow ropes were available.
The “extremely tough long-distance test” for 90 teams began early on the Thursday morning at 6 a.m. on Waldseeplatz. It was raining cats and dogs! Nevertheless, there were plenty of fans in attendance. The well-known German Silver Arrow racing driver Karl Kling looked after the Mercedes racing drivers. He pulled a worried face: “If only it keeps on raining,” he said. “Snow in the Vosges and Jura mountains is not uncommon at this time of year. But the snow would dash some hopes.”
Badge of the International Rally BadenBaden 1962.
There was great excitement during the preparations for the start: Porsche drivers Horst Diefenbach and Willy Bruder from Karlsruhe had difficulties driving away. The keys were simply not to be found. The co-driver’s wife had accidentally taken the car keys with her to Karlsruhe the previous evening. A call to Karlsruhe cleared up the mishap. The young woman raced to Baden-Baden on an express train and arrived at the start five minutes before the race began, greeted with joy by the cheering supporters. Diefenbach/Bruder made it after all.
The bad weather continued with persistent heavy rainfall and dense fog in the Vosges mountains and the Jura. The enormous difficulties led to seven vehicles dropping out in the initial phase.
In the end, only 57 teams reached the finish line in front of Baden-Baden’s Kurhaus on the Saturday in heavy rain, fog and with ever-increasing fatigue. The demands and the exertions were enormous! The surprise: the English women’s team of Pat Moss and Pauline Mayman won the difficult long-distance stage after a dashing drive in the light and manoeuvrable BMC Cooper ahead of the Germans Böhringer and Lang in a Mercedes 220 SE. This meant that Eugen Böhringer was the European Rally Champion ahead of time. Böhringer’s co-driver Peter Lang was the son of Mercedes Silver Arrow racing driver Hermann Lang.
Third place went to Hans-Joachim Walter and Ewald Stock in a Porsche 356. Rudolf Smoliner and Karl Auer in a Citroën DS 19 won fourth place in the overall standings. Erik Carlsson/ Gunnar Häggbom finished sixth in a Saab 98,
The International Oldtimer Meeting Baden-Baden is one of the most beautiful meetings in Germany. 20,000 guests visited the spa town for the event weekend.
In Baden-Baden: The Hidden Motor City, Roland Seiter tells the fascinating and untold story of one of the world’s first pioneering automotive towns.
We sense the spirit of optimism in the early days of the car and meet some of the well-known and less well-known protagonists of the early days, from Carl Benz to Joseph Vollmer. We experience racing legends on a fast-paced journey, among them the unforgettable Rudolf Caracciola as well as Ernes Merck, the only woman to race professionally in the 1920s. High society cheered them on from the sidelines: aristocrats, crowned heads of state and film stars.
The result is a book packed with exciting, exclusive pictures and plenty of thrilling content: automotive history and racing, local news and lifestyle, cultural and contemporary history, from the end of the 19th century to the present day. Make way!
