Karl-Günther Bechem began his career in 1950 under the pseudonym "Bernhard Nacke" in order to hide his racing activities from his family. First on the road with BMW in various local sports car races, he started under his pseudonym with a self-made BMW at the 1952 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring , but fell out on the second lap with a defect. With his AFM-50-5 with a BMW-328 engine, he again completed the German Grand Prix in 1953, now under his real name, but also retired after five laps. This AFM-50-5 originally belonged to Karl Gommann from Remscheid , who had a fatal accident with it on the Grenzlandring in September 1950 .
The Borgward RS was almost on a par with the Porsche 550 , especially after the conversion to gasoline injection in the summer of 1954 . On May 23, 1954, Bechem won the International Eifel Race on the Nürburgring with the twin-carburetor engine and drove the Carrera Panamericana for the team at the end of the year. Bechem was leading his class when he had a serious accident during the fifth stage. The Borgward RS was completely destroyed and Bechem was seriously injured. Although he was able to fully recover from this accident, he stopped racing afterwards.