1927 German Grand Prix

ANOTHER WIN FOR MERCEDES DRIVEN BY MERZ.

THE German Grand Prix for Sports cars, which was run on Sunday, 17th July, was the first important motor race on the Nurburg Ring, the new mountainous road circuit near Adenau on the Rhine. The race proved a triumph for the Mercedes cars, which finished first, second and third, the winner Merz averaging 63.75 m.p.h. The German Grand Prix was for 318 miles, or 18 laps of the Nurburg Ring, which is 17.7 miles round, and attracted 20 starters, divided into three classes. In the first class for cars with engines of more than 3,000 c.c., a single Steyr with a 6-cylinder engine of 4,850 c.c, driven by Paul von Guilleaume, had to face the competition of seven Mercedes of the well known 6-cylinder 6,789 c.c. type. These cars were, of course, supercharged, and the engines had been made to develop 220 h.p. Five of them were entered by the firm, and had Werner, Caracciola, who won the race last year, Rosenberger, Merz and Walb as their drivers. The other two were private entries, and were driven by Max Prinz za Schaumburg-Lippe and Georg Kimpel.

The second class was for cars with engines of 1,500-3,000 c.c., and attracted six starters. Of these four were Bugattis, of which one, driven by Count Kalnein, was of the 2,300 c.c. Targa Florio type. The other three were 2-litre cars, and had Franz Baader, Carl Kappler and Madame Junek, who did so well in the opening rounds of this year's Targa Florio, as their drivers. Their opponents were a 6-cylinder 2-litre O.M. driven by Willy Werner and a 2-litre Bignan with Pierre Clause, the well known French driver, at the wheel. There were six starters also in the smallest class for cars up to 1,500 c.c. One of these was a real racing car in the shape of one of the 4-cylinder 1,500 c.c. "invincible" Talbots, which was driven by Hugo Urban-Emmerich of Prague. It will be remembered that this car appeared in last year's Grand Prix de Boulogne. Its fastest rival was an 8-cylinder Bugatti driven by Willy Cleer, who was driving an Alfa-Romeo last year, while the third French car was a 1,098 c.c. B.N.C. with a Cozette supercharged S.C.A.P. engine, driven by C. H. de Jouey. The German industry was represented by a 1,487 c.c. 4-cylinder Hag-Gastell, a 1,088 c.c. Opel and an 1,104 c.c. Pluto.