That 1935 German GP

Sir,

On page 1111 in the August issue of MOTOR SPORT you list a number of guests staying at the Hotel Eller Hof during the 1935 German Grand Prix. You admit to miss a couple of the names, so I will join the many who will be writing you. My explanations are by necessity from the literature, as I only entered this world 30 years ago. But let’s start.

Walb, christian name Willy, was at that time with Auto Union, but if you think back ten more years, and think more of Benz than of Mercedes, you will remember him I’m sure. He stayed on after the merger but Mined Auto Union as team manager. Dr. Werlin (Jakob was his first name was a very important man in the history of the German Grand Prix car, as he was a good friend of Adolf Hitler and the Mercedes-Benz representative in Munich. He was instrumental in getting State support for his firm. Geyer is probably a misspelling of Hans Geier, who on a Mercedes-Benz was seventh in the race. Krompring Wilhelm is probably another misspelling, “n” being very like and “m” and a “g” like a “2”, so now we have Kronprinz Wilhelm, the Crown Prince no less.

The next one is Ricordi who was the Italian representative of Auto Union, while sig. Ugolini, who must be hiding somewhere in my library, is suspected of being the post-war Ferrari team manager, but I hope someone may confirm it. This information was kindly supplied by the book by Karl Ludvigsen “The Mercedes-Benz Racing Cars”, Monkhouse’s “Grand Prix Racing”, and Alfred Neubauer’s “Manner, Frauen und Motoren”.

Denmark – PETER J. T. KNUDSEN