Welcome to German Legends

There’s no country with a motor sporting history quite like Germany. While the Italians Legends may have held the upper hand during those very formative years (as you can read in our other recent special edition, Italian Heroes) it didn’t take long for German engineering to catapult itself to the forefront of the sport.

From our first glimpse of Auto Unions and Mercedes on British soil at Donington Park in the 1930s, through Hitler’s shady state-funded quest for dominance both on and off-track, right up to rewriting grand prix and endurance racing history, German brands and drivers are etched into virtually every roll of honour the sport has to offer.

Think of your top-five competition cars of all-time: chances are at least one of them will be German. Whether it’s flame-spitting rally specials such as the Audi Quattro lighting up the Group B era; Porsche putting it all on the line to make a mockery of what can possibly be construed as a ‘production’ car to provide us with Le Mans legends such as the 917 and 911 GT1; or Mercedes steamrollering all in its wake with first its pre-war brutes and more recently its hybrid precision grand prix instruments, there can be no denying the impact the country has had, and continues to have, on motor sport.