primotipo…

(Ullstein Bild)

Sculptor Olaf Lemke works with Hans von Stuck on the bust of the pre-War Champion German driver, 1932…

Stuck cut his racing teeth in the hills and was soon scooped up by Mercedes Benz for whom he was a factory driver, but via the introduction of Adolf Hitler became Auto Union’s first star.

Stuck in the Auto Union Type A, Avus 1934 (Getty)

He did most of the early development work on the AU Type A or P Wagen and won the German, Swiss and Czech Grands Prix in 1934, his best season. Had a European Championship been run that year he would have won it. His star rose and then fell as his capabilities were put into context by Bernd Rosemeyer, a ‘Gold Standard’ of outright pace admittedly.

Hans Stuck leading the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 1935, his final GP victory (Getty)

His last championship win was the 1935 Italian Grand Prix, the photos here show his Auto Union Type B 5 litre V16 machine, which triumphed over the Rene Dreyfus/Tazio Nuvolaro Alfa 8C-35 3.8 litre straight-8 and the Paul Pietsch/Bernd Rosemeyer AU B Types.

Stuck with the Monza crowd in 1935 (Getty)

After Rosemeyer’s death he returned to the Auto Union team from which he had not long before been fired! He raced post-war with little success having obtained Austrian citizenship to do so.

His son, Hans Joachim Stuck became a rather handy racer as well…

Click here for an interesting story on Stuck Senior; http://8w.forix.com/stuck.html

Credits…

Getty Images

Tailpiece: Auto Union ‘Tempo’ V16 Boat…

(Ullstein Bild)

Always interested in record breaking, Stuck took this craft to a speed of 81 or 82.5kmh on the Scharmuetzelsee in 1937. He set a new under 800Kg record with the craft which was powered by an Auto Union Type B V16 engine. It was built to Audi and Stuck’s order in Klaus Engelbrecht’s boatyard on the River Dahme, Berlin.

Tempo was sunk post-war, having survived the ravages of the conflict. After a bombing raid on 1 March 1943 the car was moved from Berlin to Southern Germany where is was less likely to be hit by allied bombing missions. It was wrecked when a joy-riding occupying forces officer lost control of the craft which sank to the bottom of a Bavarian Lake complete with V16 engine. The skipper survived!

Finito…