Walter Bäumer

The BMW 328 Touring Coupé, with which von Hanstein / Bäumer won the replacement Mille Miglia in 1940

Hermann Lang 1986 in the Mercedes-Benz W 154

Walter Bäumer (born October 17, 1908 in Bünde ; † June 30, 1941 in Herford ) was a German motorcycle and automobile racing driver .

Career

Bäumer completed a commercial apprenticeship and was able to win a total of twelve different races as a motorcycle racing driver for NSU from 1928 . After an accident, he turned to car racing , where he became the most dangerous opponent of Eisenacher's Robert "Bobby" Kohlrausch on Dixi and BMW . When he competed in car races on a BMW 3/15 PS DA 3 Wartburg , Bäumer quickly lost the nickname "Walter von der Wartburg". Between 1933 and 1937 he took part very successfully in hill climbs, where he mostly drove on Austin . Between 1937 and 1939 he was a substitute driver for Mercedes , but was not used for the Grand Prix of Germany (1937 and 1938) and Switzerland (1938), while he was the target in the GPs of Donington (1938) and Belgrade (1939) not reached.

Bäumer was a member of the NSKK , which was a prerequisite for participating in official races. In 1937 he also joined the NSDAP, possibly to increase his chances of participating in the Grand Prix races. He was spared being drafted to the front, he did his military service as NSKK-Sturmführer in the driver's service , probably in occupied France.

He achieved international fame in 1940 through overall victory in a BMW 328 Touring Coupé at the Grand Prix of Brescia ( Gran Premio de Brescia della Mille Miglia ), the replacement event of the Mille Miglia held in 1938 due to the serious accident (over 9 rounds of approx . 165 km). For this competition, which was prestigious for the rulers of the National Socialist era , Bäumer was obliged by the NSKK to form a team as co-pilot with SS racing driver Fritz Huschke von Hanstein - but it was Bäumer who managed the team's streamlined coupé drove the last three laps to victory.

Walter Bäumer died at the age of 32 in a private car accident. In the early morning hours of June 30, 1941, he drove into a ditch on Salzufler Strasse in Herford, rammed a mast there and suffered a fractured skull. The time of death was given as 2:25 am. The circumstances of the accident are puzzling and numerous rumors have been spread. Among other things, it was alleged that Bäumer had actually died during an operation in occupied France. However, Jörg Militzer interviewed a number of contemporary witnesses who lived near the scene of the accident and can also rely on official documents.

statistics

Pre-war grands prix results

season	team	dare	1	2	3	4th	5	Points	position
1937	Mercedes Benz	Mercedes-Benz W 125						-
				DNS
1938	Mercedes Benz	Mercedes-Benz W 154						-
				DNF 1	10 2
1939	Mercedes Benz	Mercedes-Benz W 154						-
				DNS

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)

¹During the race, Bäumer took over the car from Hermann Lang , who already had technical problems. He was eliminated.

² During the race, Bäumer took over the car again from Lang, who was injured when a stone had smashed his racing driver's glasses in the rain.

literature

• Jörg Militzer: Walter Bäumer, the fastest Bunder of his time. In: Historical yearbook for the Herford district 2010 (Volume 17), Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, Bielefeld, pp. 8–33

Web links

Commons : Walter Bäumer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Walter Bäumer. In: BMW history. BMW AG, accessed on April 18, 2014 (dossier on Walter Bäumer in the BMW Group Archive): "Successful racing driver in BMW automobiles." 
• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: Walter Bäumer (D). www.kolumbus.fi, September 5, 2014, accessed September 13, 2014 . 
• Pictures from and information about Walter Bäumer (engl.)
• Short obituary in the Marburger Zeitung of July 2, 1941 (p. 6)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Columbus - website: The golden era of GP racing 1934-40: Drivers. From: www.kolumbus.fi , accessed May 31, 2013 . 
2. ↑ dixi-magazin - website: Walter Bäumer. At: www.dixi-automobile.de , accessed on May 31, 2013 . 
3. ↑ Militzer 2010, p. 26.
4. ↑ Militzer 2010, pp. 27f. See also Hartmut Braun: The Glory of the Fast Bunder. In: Neue Westfälische , November 13, 2009. Online