AFTERMATH

AFTERMATH

Fortunately we woke up after the race and gave our German visitors some be

lated hospitality. A dinner and dance was held after the race, when the prizes and cheques were presented, and on the Monday evening the B.R.D.C. had a cocktail party for the German drivers at the Hotel Splendid, Piccadilly. Rosemeyer’s winning Auto-Union, officially a Type 22 Horch, was brought to London by truck on the Sunday and displayed at the Great Portland Street Showrooms of Auto-Union Sales Ltd. on the Monday. Marvellous to see an Auto-Union racing-car in a London showroom, but it might have been very much more impressively displayed. After all, other racing cars have been stuck half out on the pavement in the Street of Cars and an Auto-Union is-an Auto-Union ! A background of photographs, similar to those excellent studies by ‘George Monkbon, which Mercedes-Benz displayed in their Park Lane showroom, would have helped, and I think a raised dais was indicated. The car was worth prolonged study. Weight saving is evident through out. The body panels are very thin and the forward bonnet is held by light clips, wired on, and the rear bonnet by clips sprung with efastic. Insulating tape and aeroplane elastic feature in the rear suspension and the seat is well padded but ‘the a thin back-rest. There is ample elbow room and a goggle-case is beside the seat. Even the radiator grille strips are drilled. The right-hand brake-lever is very slender and the stubby gear-lever works in a wide gate. The rev, counter reads to 5,000 r.p.m. safety-limit and the steering wheel detaches, and locks onto its column automat ic;t11 y. Rosemeyer has the coins of every country in which he has raced riveted to the steering wheel spokes, and the British sixpence, King’s head uppermost, has been duly. added. The exhaust ports were protected with a wide strip of adhesive tape and a registration plate had been attached to the starting crank protruding from the tail. The rear tyres, larger than those on the front wheels, measure 19″ x 7, as on the Mere. The small glass screen is astonishingly thick and the stone-guard is held by

a flimsy spring-clip. The car was fairly clean, but the rear faces of the brakedrums were blackened by smoke ! When these remarkable cars were introduced to an expectant world MoTox SPORT published as much information as was then available and many unique photographs. Since then further details have been published in this paper as they came to hand. Suffice it, therefore, to say that they have V-sixteen-cylinder, 6,000 c.c. supercharged, rear-mounted engines in Continued on page 442 tubular frames, with independent suspension, front and rear. The fuel tank is behind the cockpit but ahead of the engine, and not ahead of the cockpit as the Race Programme had it. The water flows from radiator to engine via oval tubes passing inside the cockpit. The front suspension is torsion bar, there is a five speed gearbox in unit with the engine, and the Roots-supercharger delivers to the engine, sucking from the carburetter. The cylinders are set at 450, the o.h.v are operated by short push-rods and rocking-levers from a single camshaft, the built-up crankshaft runs in rollerbearings, and the alloy cylinder blocks have wet steel liners. Dr. Porsche is the designer, Herr Feureisen the team manager and Sebastian, once riding mechanic to Caracciola, his chief assistant. The four ringed badge indicates the Horch, Audi,

D.K.W., Wanderer Auto-Union combination. The Mercedes-Benz has an eightcylinder, 5,660 c.c. blown twin o.h. camshaft engine with four valves per cylinder and wet steel cylinder liners in an alloy block. The latest long-wheelbase frames are tubular, with all-round independent suspension, torsion bar at the rear and coil spring at the front. In spit,: of Seaman’s early statements the front suspension is identical with that of the sports models, which no doubt will be still further improved as a result of

Donington lessons. The Roots supercharger now blows through the carburetters and the right-hand controlled gearbox is in unit with the rear axle. It gives four speeds and reverse and the clutch is a single dry plate. Both ears were designed for the International G.P.

formula imposing a weight limit of 750 kilograms, which expires this season. Both use Lockheed hydraulic brakes. The Mercedes-Benz team is managed by Herr Alfred Neubauer and attended by one of the designers, Herr Uhlenhaut. The mechanics are presided over by Zimmer and Lindermeyer and timekeeping is done by Alice Caracciola and Geier. Seaman is to make a demonstration run with a Mere. at the Crystal Palace on October 9th, and, if timed, will no doubt net the lap record. And Mercedes are likely to get busy on Brooklands lap and other records quite soon, of which we first had wind from an announcement seen in a German motor-paper on September 29th. How they overcome the silencer difficulty and what subsequently transpires, MOTOR SPORT is watching very closely.