August Momberger

August Momberger in an Auto Union Type A 1934 in training for the AVUS race

Bugatti T35B , built in 1925

Mercedes-Benz SS racing (1927)

Mercedes-Benz type SSK (1929)

An Auto Union Type A as driven by August Momberger in 1934

Replica of the Wanderer tram

August "Bubi" Momberger (born June 26, 1905 in Wiesbaden ; † December 22, 1969 in Gruppaldo , Switzerland ) was a German automobile racing driver and engineer .

Career

First years as a racing driver with NSU, Bugatti and Mercedes-Benz

August Momberger began his racing career in mountain races in the 1920s when he was still a senior prime minister and an intern at NSU . On August 23, 1925, he won the International Taunus Race over 450 km on a prototype of the NSU supercharged racing car 6/60 PS, ahead of the favored competition of Mercedes, Bugatti and NAG . In his first Grand Prix season in 1926 , he also competed for NSU at the first German Grand Prix at the Berlin AVUS , but had to give up. In June 1927 Momberger took part in the opening race of the Nürburgring on a Bugatti and won the class of racing cars up to 5000 cm³ in the time of 4,39,00.1 hours for 14 laps or 397.6 kilometers. At the German Grand Prix, which was held for the first time in 1928 at the Nürburgring , he also started on a Bugatti T35B , but retired due to a defective water pump .

In the 1929 season August Momberger started for Daimler-Benz AG . He started in a Mercedes-Benz SS at the Gran Premio di Roma at the Circuito Tre Fontane , where he had to retire, and on an SSK in Monza , where he finished third. At the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, he and Max von Arco-Zinneberg achieved third place in the SSK behind the two Bugatti drivers Louis Chiron and Georges Philippe .

In 1931 was Momberger reserve driver in the factory team of Daimler-Benz, but was not used and therefore ended at the end of the season his career.

Change to Auto Union

For the 1934 season , Momberger was reactivated and hired by the Chemnitz Auto Union as a works driver for their newly started Grand Prix engagement in the 750 kg formula of the AIACR . He met with Hans Stuck and Hermann zu Leiningen on one of the new Auto Union - mid-engined car with V16 -Motor and played a total of seven races. At the first race of the year, the AVUS race in May, Momberger finished third behind the Alfa Romeo factory drivers Guy Moll and Achille Varzi and drove the fastest lap with an average speed of 225.8  km / h . He was only able to complete the last four of the 15 laps in fourth gear due to a gearbox failure and was also disadvantaged by the racing tactics chosen by race director Willy Walb . Walb had ordered a pit stop to change tires after the tenth lap , which would not have been necessary in view of the rainy weather and the associated low wear and tear on the Continental tires. At the four following races, the Eifel race and the Grand Prix of France , Germany and Belgium , he failed with technical problems. At the first Swiss Grand Prix in Bremgarten at the end of August, Momberger finished second after almost three and a half hours of racing, not even three seconds behind his teammate Stuck. At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza and in Brno , Czechoslovakia , he was unable to start because of arthritis .

At the end of the 1934 season, August Momberger decided to end his active career because of the arthritis and the hypothermic relationship with race director Walb. He then became works sports director of Auto Union and in 1938 designed the Wanderer tram, which successfully took part in the Liège - Rome - Liège long-distance journey .

After the war, designer for Borgward, Ford and Henschel

After the end of the Second World War and the associated occupation of large parts of central Germany by the Red Army , a group of former Auto Union technicians and engineers led by August Momberger and Martin Fleischer  - like numerous other specialists - left the Soviet occupation zone and settled settled in Hude near Oldenburg . There the group, which later became the engineering office (INKA, Ingenieurs-Konstruktions-Arbeitsgemeinschaft), designed spare parts for pre-war DKW vehicles; Fleischer designed the Lloyd LP 300 for Borgward .

At the Geneva Motor Show in 1949, Momberger suggested to Carl FW Borgward that a racing car be constructed on the basis of the Borgward Hansa 1500 . He or INKA would bear the financial risk for design, construction, testing and for record drives. Borgward then provided a chassis with engine and gearbox, on which INKA built an aerodynamic streamlined cladding made of aluminum , which Martin Fleischer designed based on the Wanderer streamlined car; Karl-Ludwig Brandt increased the engine output of the Hansa 1500 from 52 hp to 66 hp. In August 1950, the INKA car with drivers August Momberger, Adolf Brudes , Heinz Meier and Karl-Heinz Schäufele set twelve international records in the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry in France .

During the record runs, the technical director of the Goliath works belonging to the Borgward Group died and Carl Borgward appointed Momberger to this position. A little later Fleischer also switched to Goliath, so that INKA dissolved. In 1951 Goliath in Montlhéry achieved 38 world records in the classes up to 750 cm³ and 1200 cm³, including two hours with an average of 155 km / h and 2000 miles with a streamlined three - wheeler with a 700 cm³ two-stroke engine developed under the leadership of August Momberger an average of 130 km / h. The drivers were Hugo Steiner, Adolf Brudes, Hans-Hugo Hartmann , Otto Koch-Bodes and Helmut Polansky. In another record attempt with a three-wheeler on the Hockenheimring , Steiner had a fatal accident.

After the collapse of the Borgward Group in 1961, Momberger worked for Ford , Henschel and Reimers in Bad Homburg. In 1968 he retired.

August Momberger died on December 22, 1969 at the age of 64 in Gruppaldo in Switzerland.

statistics

Pre-war grands prix results

season	team	dare	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	Points	position
1934	Auto Union AG	Auto Union Type A							-
					DNF 1

Legend
colour	meaning		EM points
gold	victory		1
silver	2nd place		2
bronze	3rd place		3
green	Classified, covered more than 75% of the race distance		4th
blue	not entitled to points, covered between 50% and 75% of the race distance		5
violet	not eligible for points, covered between 25% and 50% of the race distance		6th
red	not eligible for points, covered less than 25% of the race distance		7th
colour	abbreviation	meaning	EM points
black	DSQ	disqualified	8th
White	DNS	did not start
	DNA	did not arrive
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)

¹ Ernst Günther Burggaller retired with his car on the fifth lap with transmission problems, then took over the vehicle from August Momberger and retired after 20 of 25 laps with a technical defect.

literature

• Eberhard Reuss: Hitler's racing battles . The silver arrows under the swastika. 1st edition. Aufbau-Verlag GmbH, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-351-02625-0 .
• Heinrich Völker: Silver Arrows from Bremen . Racing sports car from the Borgward works. Peter Kurz, Bremen 2004, ISBN 3-927485-43-8 .

Web links

Commons : August Momberger  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: August "Bubi" Momberger (D). www.kolumbus.fi, March 29, 2013, accessed on May 25, 2015 . 
• AUGUST MOMBERGER. wiki.mercedes-benz-classic.com, October 6, 2011, accessed on May 25, 2015 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ "International Taunus Race, 23 August 1925". Contemporary history in Hessen. (As of May 29, 2012). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Michael Behrndt, Jörg Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrndt: German racing drivers. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2008, ISBN 978-3-86852-042-2 , p. 49.
3. ^ Peter Schneider: The NSU story . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-613-03397-9 , p. 51.
4. ↑ Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrnd: ADAC Eifelrennen . Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2009, ISBN 978-3-86852-070-5 .
5. ↑ Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: GRAN PREMIO DI MONZA. www.kolumbus.fi, November 26, 2013, accessed on May 25, 2015 (English). 
6. ↑ Reuss (2006), pp. 129-131.
7. ↑ Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: IV INTERNATIONAL AVUS RACE. www.kolumbus.fi, April 5, 2013, accessed on May 25, 2015 . 
8. ↑ Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: VIII ADAC Eifel RACE. www.kolumbus.fi, April 5, 2013, accessed on May 25, 2015 . 
9. ↑ Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: V Masarykův Okruh. www.kolumbus.fi, April 5, 2013, accessed on May 25, 2015 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Völker (2004), pp. 5–10.
11. ^ Lena Siep: Borgward press kit. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Www.borgward.com, March 3, 2015, archived from the original on May 25, 2015 ; Retrieved May 25, 2015 . 
12. ^ Georg Schmidt: Borgward . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-87943-679-7 , pp. 114–116.