One of motor racing’s last living links to the pre-war era, Mercedes driver Manfred von Brauchitsch passed away in February at the age of 97.
Born in 1905, von Brauchitsch (nephew of German Field Marshal von Brauchitsch) burst onto the international motor racing scene in 1932 when he won the Avus Grand Prix in a privately entered 7-liter Mercedes-Benz, defeating such greats as Carraciola, Fagioli, Stuck and Dreyfus. Von Brauchitsch’s stunning victory caught the eye of the Mercedes factory team, who signed him to drive the 8-cylinder Grand Prix car alongside Carraciola and Fagioli in 1934.
Von Brauchitsch’s star soared even higher when he scored the new 8-cylinder car’s first vic- tory in the 1934 Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring but later, while practicing for the German Grand Prix, he suffered a devastating crash that sidelined him for much of the year. While von Brauchitsch placed several times during the 1935 season (including leading the famed 1934 German GP until a shredded tire handed victory to Tazio Nuvolari on the last lap), it was clear that he was no longer a match for the likes of his teammates, Carraciola and Fagioli.
The 1936 season proved to be a bad one for both von Brauchitsch and Mercedes. However, 1937 proved to be one of his best with the Mercedes team: first, scoring a controversial victory, at Monaco when he refused Neubauer’s team orders to let Carraciola by for the victory and then, scoring a heat victory at AVUS and four 2nd and two 3rd place finishes. In 1938, von Brauchitsch scored a victory at the Reims Grand Prix but was plagued with bad luck again at the Nürburgring, where he led until his car caught fire while refueling. In fact, von Brauchitsch’s career was so plagued with bad luck that he was nicknamed pechvogel, which means “unlucky bird” in German.
By 1939, with war looming, it was clear that von Brauchitsch couldn’t match the pace of his Mercedes teammate Hermann Lang. After the war, von Brauchitsch made a somewhat half-hearted return to racing, driving an AFM and a Veritas, but he soon decided to retire from active competition to take up a position with the German Ministry of Sport though he always maintained a close relationship with Mercedes.
According to Mercedes motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug, “He was one of the founders of the Silver Arrow legend and the first winner in a Grand Prix car with this name. Manfred von Brauchitsch was close to our racing team until the end. He was one of the first to congratulate us on Mika Hakkinen’s first World Championship title win in 1998.”
Submitted by Casey Annis
