1958 German GP
Grosser Preis von Deutschland |
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Nürburgring |
August 3, 1958 |
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Ecurie Maarsbergen |
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Porsche 550 Spyder |
No: 18 |
Q: 15 (6) |
R: DNF |
C: GP (F2) |
For 1958 the German Grand Prix was reduced to 15 laps of the classic Nürburgring instead of the 22 laps the cars had to cover in last year’s edition. A cut-back of almost 100 miles (160 km) on race length, a fate all races on the calendar had to endure. This eventually meant a time reduction of more than an hour.
Again Formula 2 ran together with Formula 1 and Carel entered his RS550 in the lower class together with Edgar Barth's works Porsche, a works Ferrari and some Lotuses and Coopers. Carel qualified 6th in class, 15th overall.
Stuart Lewis-Evans appeared on the entry list as a back-up for both Carel and Barth, but the reason for that is only obvious in Barth's case, as there was some doubt with Porsche whether he would recover from a hillclimb crash in time.
Ferrari and Vanwall were fastest in practice and Stirling Moss blasted away from the start, pursued by the Ferrari’s of Hawthorn and Collins which inherited the lead upon Moss’ retirement on lap four. Soon Tony Brooks was in hot pursuit of the two Britons in their red cars from Maranello. After Brooks had caught up with them disaster struck: Collins overdid it in an attempt to keep up, his car left the track and he was thrown out and hit a tree at the trackside. He was flown to a Bonn hospital where he died later that day.
In the race his countryman Brooks was victorious after Hawthorn’s clutch had failed, causing his retirement. In the Formula 2 race De Beaufort had retired on lap four and Bruce McLaren got the laurels. The New Zealander even finished fifth overall, but was not rewarded any World Championship points as he ran under Formula 2 regulations.