Von Blendern, Siegern, Sechszylindern ... - Das staatliche DDR-Rennkollektiv 1951-1957

What sounds incredible at first glance is nevertheless true. Over seventy years ago, the DAMW racing collective, founded in Berlin-Johannisthal in 1951, began its triumphal march in Formula II and sports car races. In the following year, it was already almost unbeatable within the GDR and internationally competitive. From 1955, the racing department, now based in Eisenach, had the fastest 1.5-litre racing sports cars in Europe - only Porsche was a serious rival ...
The actual rise to an internationally recognised racing team from 1951 to 1956 is presented in the form of a continuous chronicle. Each of the 208 entries in a total of 60 racing events is described against the background of the respective national or international competitive conditions and illustrated with pictures of the racing programmes, photos and tables. The race tracks travelled during this period are recalled at the appropriate points. The race reports, taken verbatim from contemporary publications, create a very special colouring of the 1950s.
Of course, the reader will also find a detailed description of all the racing cars of the collective from 1951 to 1956 with their technical data and special design features. The technical development steps are also highlighted in connection with the conditions at the Eisenach factory. Making the story complete are short biographies of the top drivers Edgar Barth and Arthur Rosenhammer as well as the managers of the racing collective.
This book received extraordinary support from the "Automobile Welt Eisenach" museum, whose archives were made available without restriction. The descendants of some of the racing collective's key protagonists also assisted with reports, photos and documents, above all Jürgen Barth, the son of the top driver at the time. The book illustrates the development of the GDR racing collective with over 700 photos and illustrations and also illustrates its development with the help of 90 tables and 53 original documents. This rich illustration and the fluent narrative style will most likely also make this book fun and enjoyable to read, providing exciting and perhaps also new and unexpected insights into this episode of German racing.