From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
REKORDWOCHE! In September 1935, the Land Speed Record stood to Sir Malcolm Campbell who had set the mark at 301.13 mph in his Rolls-Royce aero-engined Bluebird on the vast expanses of the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.
Impressive though this was, there were those at this time who planned to travel at speeds in excess of 250 mph on the public road. Only Germany, and to a lesser extent, Italy, had roads remotely capable of allowing cars to travel at these sort of speeds. The autobahns and autostrada used were, despite being the best roads available anywhere at the time, only narrow two-lane highways. Nevertheless, the great Tazio Nuvolari had become the first to break the 200 mph mark when he travelled at 203.18 mph on the Florence - Lucca autostrada, driving a Bimotore Alfa Romeo in June 1935.
The following year, Hans Stuck, driving a specially prepared Auto Union Grand Prix car, set records for distances from 5 to 100 miles on the Frankfurt - Heidelberg autobahn. As the longest stretch without severe corners was only 70 miles long, he had to turn the car and return for another 30 miles to capture the record.
Despite this handicap he achieved a remarkable 166.04 mph. It soon became clear to Auto Union - and their rivals Mercedes - that special cars were needed if the record was to be raised towards the 250 mph mark.
Mercedes was first to build such a car and took several records in October 1936 - the streamlined car being driven by their star driver, Rudi Caracciola, winner of the 1930 Irish Grand Prix. The following year, Auto Union adapted one of the streamlined grand prix chassis they had raced at the banked Avus circuit. Arrangements were made to close the Frankfurt - Darmstadt autobahn and Bernd Rosemeyer was nominated as the driver for the record attempts. The records came quickly: 241.84 mph for the kilometre and 242.09 mph for the mile. In all, Rosemeyer set six records including a staggering 10 mile run at a speed of 233.89 mph. This proved to be almost a step too far, as twice during the run Bernd had two wheels on the central grass strip after passing under bridges.
Recognising the propaganda value of these runs the Nazi party stepped in and took control of future record attempts, declaring that there would be an official Rekordwoche held on the Frankfurt - Darmstadt autobahn commencing October 25th 1937. To allow records from one kilometre to 10 miles to be attacked, a stretch of road 14 miles long was closed off for the week.
From the start Mercedes was in trouble, Caracciola being troubled by front-end lift on his record car. After one bad experience, Rudi refused to drive the car. Manfred von Brauchitsch was ordered to take over but he too refused. Finally, Hermann Lang was persuaded to drive. As he approached the 400 km/h mark the front end began to lift and suddenly there was a terrific explosion as the engine cover blew off! A white-faced and shaken Lang promptly refused to drive again. Mercedes withdrew to make modifications to their record car, leaving all the new records in the hands of Auto Union.
Mercedes applied for permission to make new attempts the following January, whereupon Auto Union applied for permission to defend their own records. On January 28th 1938, Caracciola set a new flying kilometre record in his Mercedes at an average speed of 270.4 mph. A while later Bernd Rosemeyer set out to recapture his record. Passing a gap in the trees that lined the autobahn at around 270 mph, a gust of wind blew the Auto Union off the road, killing Rosemeyer instantly. Today, a memorial beside the Frankfurt - Darmstadt autobahn still marks the spot where this great driver perished.