Caracciola superior at the Nürburgring

The tenth Eifelrennen was a mix of 23 cars comprising three different classes of which only six cars started in the class over 1500 cc, where Caracciola in the factory Alfa Romeo was the favorite. Chiron and Dreyfus came from France, the former in a works Bugatti and the latter with an independent Bugatti entry, courtesy of Chiron. German colors were defended by three independently entered 7.1-liter Mercedes-Benz driven by von Brauchitsch, Stuck and Broschek. Caracciola's Alfa led from lap one followed closely by Dreyfus throughout the race. Chiron and Broschek both had to make several pit stops and finished at the rear while Caracciola remained in front throughout the race, followed by Dreyfus in second place, von Brauchitsch third and Stuck fourth. The monotonous race was overshadowed by the fatal practice accident of the famous German driver Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen.

The 1932 ADAC Eifelrennen departed from the old practice of using the Südschleife and was held on the Nürburgring Nordschleife of 22.810 km length. The motorcycles were started at 10 o'clock in the morning while the cars were scheduled to start at 2:30 in the afternoon. A gap of approximately four minutes was planned between the start of each of the three classes: class 1 up to 800 cc over 12 laps of 22.810 km equal to 273.72 km distance; class two up to 1500 cc and class three over 1500 cc each 17 laps or 387.77 km. The actual race distance was later reduced to 10 laps for the 800 cc cars to cover 228.1 km and 14 laps or 319.34 km for the larger cars. All three classes raced simultaneously. The race would be stopped not later than 20 minutes after the first of each class had ended the race. Monetary prizes amounted to about 24 000 Reichsmark, of which the first place for the over 1500 cc class was awarded of 4000 RM with the honor cup of the Nürburgring, second place 1500 RM, third 1000 RM, fourth 300 RM and 5th 200 RM. The other two classes also received monetary prizes, each for the first five places.

Entries: The first entry came from Manfred von Brauchitsch with a Mercedes-Benz SSKL but without the streamlined body in which he had won the week before at Avus. The car was painted silver. The second car from Albert Broschek was a white Mercedes-Benz SSK without the drilled out chassis. Both cars were independently entered, Brauchitsch however might have received assistance from the Stuttgart factory via Alfred Neubauer but no record was found to prove this. The third Mercedes-Benz was the white SSKL, which Hans Stuck had used at the Avus, also an independent entry without works support. Rudolf Caracciola arrived with a red 2.3-liter Alfa Romeo, a factory entry. There were three Bugattis, a white independent 2300 cc Type 51 for Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen and two blue 2300 cc cars, one a works entry for Louis Chiron and the other an independent entry for René Dreyfus, who had taken an offer from Chiron to drive one of his privately owned T51 Bugattis. The agreement was that Dreyfus would split his prize money with Chiron. László Hartmann changed plans and entered in the next smaller class with a 1500 cc Bugatti. Hans Lewy and B. Frye were two independent Bugatti drivers, who were entered but did not arrive. The ADAC also had listed early entries for Herman zu Leiningen and Hans Stuber but neither appeared.

Practice: The first official practice for cars was on Thursday, May 26 from 2 to 6 PM. Friday and Saturday practice took place at the same times. On Friday afternoon practice the famous German driver Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen met his death. The cause of the tragic accident was never known because there were no eye witnesses and it could only be determined by deduction how the crash might have happened. The crash site at Hatzenbach, about 1.5 km from the start, was known as not at all dangerous . It was concluded that the car had left the road on a wide right-hand curve, the front end of the car went into a ditch, then apparently turned over sideways and rolled over several times, to come to a rest about 12 meters further on. When Hartmann, Broschek and von Brauchitsch, who had followed some distance behind von Morgen, arrived with their cars at the accident scene, they found the Bugatti at the exit of the right-hand curve with the front in the ditch of the right side of the road, the rear of the car was still on the road. Von Morgen's lifeless body hung out of the car, his head engulfed in blood. It was assumed that a triple fractured skull had brought von Morgen a quick death. When the ambulance arrived at the crash scene, von Morgen had already died.       The following day a wake took place at the protestant church of Adenau. Caracciola, Chiron, Dreyfus, Stuck, von Brauchitsch, Hartmann and many others were present and bore the coffin to the hearse. The actual funeral took place e few days later at the Berlin Wannsee cemetery.

Race: Despite the unstable cool Eifel weather, 120,000 spectators had come to see the races. The flags draped in black ribbons were hanging at half mast in homage to von Morgen's death. After the motorcycle races in the morning a heavy rain shower had drenched the circuit, which dried up again for the 2:30 start of the cars. The positions for the starting grid had been decided by drawing lots. The three classes were let loose at intervals of four minutes, the 800 cc cars starting first. The class from 800 to 1500 cc was next, where Täuber took an immediate lead with his fast Alfa Romeo. Finally the six cars of the heavy class moved into their positions on the starting grid.

4 Chiron Bugatti 2 Broschek Mercedes-Benz 1 von Brauchitsch Mercedes-Benz 3 Caracciola Alfa Romeo 5 Dreyfus Bugatti 10 Stuck Mercedes-Benz

Chiron and Dreyfus pulled away in their blue Bugattis to take an immediate lead that was not going to last long. Caracciola's red Alfa followed closely in third place. Broschek had a bad start and immediately found himself at the rear of the field. When the cars exited the south turn, both Frenchman were still leading. Chiron experienced engine trouble and fell to the rear but Dreyfus developed into a serious contender for the lead. At the end of lap one Caracciola arrived first with Dreyfus close behind. After a while von Brauchitsch appeared in third place, then Stuck and Broschek who stopped at his pit to change spark plugs. After a long interval Chiron arrived, stopped briefly at his pit, then carried on. The order after lap one was: 1. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 12m35s 2. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 12m38s 3. v. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 12m51s 4. Stuck (Mercedes-Benz) 12m58s 5. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 13m12s 6. Chiron (Bugatti) 14m49s Positions did not change during the following laps. The heavy Mercedes-Benz of von Brauchitsch and Stuck could not keep up with the nimble grand prix cars out front. At the end of lap five it began to rain for a short while. Broscheck and Chiron both stopped again at their pits. After five laps the order was: 1. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 1h00m51s 2. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 1h01m08s 3. v. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 1h02m06s 4. Stuck (Mercedes-Benz) 1h03m42s 5. Chiron (Bugatti) 1h08m31s 6. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 1h22m09s On lap six it was still raining and lap speeds came down for a while but positions did not change. As a result of the cool weather and the brief rain shower the tires lasted throughout the race and no one had to change tires. The situation after ten laps was: 1. Caracciola (Alfa Romeo) 2h01m10s 2. Dreyfus (Bugatti) 2h01m27s 3. v. Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz) 2h05m06s 4. Stuck (Mercedes-Benz) 2h07m31s 5. Chiron (Bugatti) 2h11m13s 6. Broschek (Mercedes-Benz) 2h31m09s After the tenth lap the circuit dried up noticeably and lap speeds of all drivers increased. Chiron's Bugatti was finally running well, although he was now too far back to threaten even Stuck's Mercedes in fourth place. Chiron's fastest lap was 11m45s, Dreyfus 11m49s and Caracciola established the fastest lap of 11m42.8s on the fourteenth round. The three Mercedes drivers were much slower. Von Brauchitsch's fastest lap was 12m08s, Stuck's fastest was 12m31s and Broschek 12m49s. Caracciola was in control of the race and won with ease. He raised his speed on lap 12, went even faster on the following lap and on the last time around set the fastest lap of the race. Dreyfus never posed a real thread and finished 22 seconds behind Caracciola. However, the Frenchman's performance was remarkable because this was the first time he had driven at the Nürburgring and had only two days of practice to become acquainted with the innumerable turns of the difficult Eifel circuit. Chiron with his works Bugatti developed problems early on when he had to stop three times at his pit. At the end of the race when his car was running properly again, it was too late to make up places and he did not drive faster than Caracciola. Von Brauchitsch had the fastest Mercedes and finished third, followed by Stuck in the second SSKL. Broschek stopped five times at his pit, near the end his supercharger broke down and he finished over 34 minutes behind Caracciola without the use of his supercharger. Interestingly, Broschek was shown as last finisher, although regulations stipulated that cars were classified only if they finished within 20 minutes after the class winner.       The 1500 cc class, where only three out of the ten cars finished, was won by the Swiss Henry Täuber with his white and red Alfa Romeo in 3h07m24s. This was Täuber's first time at the Nürburgring . At the start he immediately took the lead, followed by Hungarian Hartmann and Czechoslovakian Schmidt. Then Schmidt had to retire with a broken oil pipe and the Luxemburg Zigrand fell back with problems. At mid-race Steinweg held third place in his Amilcar but then retired with a broken gearbox. Dilthey also had to retire. Hans Ollendorf, a close friend of Heinrich-Joachim von Morgen, decided not to start in reverence to his friend's death on Friday.       The cars of the 800 cc class had to complete only 10 laps. There were no lead changes and only three out of 12 starters finished. Gerhard Macher with the streamlined DKW kept the lead from the beginning and came first ahead of Simons and Stoll. The two favorite British Austins of Frank Barnes and Charles Goodacre had proven during practice laps that they were fast but preferred not to start because the new rear axles, which had been ordered, had not arrived in time from England.

Bugatti victory at local event