Ernst Loof

Ernst Loof

Nation:	Germany
Automobile world championship
First start:	1953 German Grand Prix
Last start:	1953 German Grand Prix
Constructors
1953 Veritas
statistics
World Cup balance:	no World Cup placement
Starts Victories Poles SR 1 - - -
World Cup points :	-
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Ernst Loof (born July 4, 1907 in Neindorf near Oschersleben , † March 3, 1956 in Bonn ) was a German engineer , racing driver, race director and entrepreneur .

Life

Ernst Loof began his professional career as a car mechanic in Halberstadt . From there he moved to the motorcycle manufacturer Imperia in Bad Godesberg . Here he was an engineer, works racing driver and partner. In 1932 and 1933 he won the solo class up to 350 cm³ in the Eifel race at the Nürburgring and in 1934 and 1935 the sidecar class with 350 and 600 cm³ respectively  .

Four times he was German champion on the road , three times in the 350 cm³ solo class and once in the sidecar class up to 350 cm³. He also won four German championship titles in mountain races in the solo classes up to 350 and 500 cm³.

350 cc Imperia from the 1930s

After a short time at Auto Union , Loof came to BMW , where he was responsible for automobile racing from 1938, for example: 1938 Mille Miglia (class and team win), 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps (class and team win), 1939: 24 Hours of Le Mans (class and team victory ), 1940: Mille Miglia (overall victory and places three, five and six as well as team victory).

When the German car factories were destroyed or dismantled after the Second World War , Ernst Loof, Schorsch Meier , Lorenz Dietrich and Werner Miethe began to build sports cars. From 1946/47 they procured assemblies and entire vehicles of the type BMW 328 , which they provided with streamlined bodies. Vehicle frames from the BMW 315 were also used. In 1948 they founded the Veritas company in Meßkirch, Baden-Württemberg . Georg Meier became German automobile champion in 1948 with the Veritas RS and in the same year German motorcycle champion with the 500 series BMW.

After Veritas GmbH went bankrupt, Loof moved to the Nürburgring in 1951, where he developed sports cars under the name "Veritas Nürburgring" and also built a few examples of the "Veritas Meteor" Formula 2 car. With a “Meteor” he started alongside Hans Herrmann and Willi Heeks in the German Grand Prix on August 2, 1953, but was canceled right at the start of the race.

After the Veritas brand failed to achieve economic success at the Nürburgring either, BMW took over the business in 1953 and Ernst Loof as an engineer. In 1954, Loof built the prototype of an open sports car (internally called BMW 528 ), which, however, did not go into series production in favor of the BMW 503 and BMW 507 , which were presented a year later .

With Hans Wencher as co-driver, Loof drove the Monte Carlo Rally for BMW in 1954 .

Ernst Loof died on March 3, 1956 of complications from a brain tumor .

statistics

title

• 1931 - German 350 cm³ champion on Imperia
• 1932 - German 350cc champion on Imperia
• 1933 - German 350 cm³ team master on Imperia python
• 1934 - German 350 cc champion on Imperia
• 1934 - German 350 cm³ team master on Imperia python

Statistics in the automobile world championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1953	Ernst Loof	Veritas Meteor	Veritas 2.0 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
total				1	-	-	-	-	-	-

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9
1953
							DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• Thora Hornung: "50 Years of the Nürburgring". Görres-Verlag, Koblenz 1977.
• "Motor Klassik" (4/1988).
• Werner Oswald: "All BMW automobiles 1928–1978". Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1979.
• Matthias Röcke: "Oldtimers built at the Nürburgring". (Homepage of the Ahrweiler district)
• Rainer Roßbach: "Veritas RS: Establishing a Myth". In Prova - magazine for automotive avant-garde (2001).

Web links

Commons : Ernst Loof  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• BMW 507 prototype by Ernst Loof. traumautoarchiv.de, accessed on April 14, 2013 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sports from all over the world - Ernst Loof , Automobil-Revue from March 21, 1956, Bern, Switzerland, page 5, accessed on October 12, 2014.
2. ^ Personal details - Ernst Loof , ADAC Motorwelt No. 4 of April 1, 1956 - page 205, accessed on October 12, 2014.