Erwin Erich Bauer (17 July 1912 in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

– 3 June 1958 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

) was a German

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver who raced a privately entered Veritas in his one World Championship Grand Prix.

Racing career

In April, 1953, Bauer co-drove a Porsche 356 Super 1500 with Hans Herrmann at the

Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before World ...

. They finished the race in the 30th position. Bauer became famous for racing an undermatched

Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

to a fourth place in the 1954

1000km Nürburgring 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, and thus, providing Lotus with one of its earliest successes. His sole race in the Formula One World Championship came in 1953 at the German Grand Prix at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

. In a field of thirty four, Bauer qualified 33rd, only ahead of fellow Veritas entrant

Oswald Karch Oswald Karch (6 March 1917 – 28 January 2009) was a racing driver from Germany. He participated in one World Championship Formula One Grand Prix, the 1953 German Grand Prix The 1953 German Grand Prix was a Formula Two motor racing event held o ...

. He made it onto the second lap, which was more than could be said for

Hans Stuck Hans Stuck (pronounced ''"shtook"''; sometimes called Hans Stuck von Villiez; 27 December 1900 – 9 February 1978) was a German motor racing driver. Both his son Hans-Joachim Stuck (born 1951) and his grandsons Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck b ...

and

Ernst Loof Ernst Loof (4 July 1907 in Neindorf near Oschersleben – 3 March 1956 in Bonn) was an automotive engineer and racing driver from Germany. He contributed to the design of the BMW 328 sports car in the late 1930s. Biography Loof participated in ...

, but then his engine expired. He had jumped up to 28th, leaping ahead of the two retiring cars plus

Rudolf Krause Rudolf Krause (30 March 1907 – 11 April 1987) was a racing driver from East Germany. Biography Born in Reichenbach im Vogtland, Krause is mainly known as one of the leading sportsmen in motor racing in Formula Two, during his career between 1 ...

and Maurice Trintignant.

Death

Five years later, again at the Nürburgring racetrack, he was killed in a 2-litre sports

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

where, not realising he had passed the

chequered flag Racing flags are traditionally used in auto racing and similar motorsports to indicate track condition and to communicate important messages to drivers. Typically, the starter, sometimes the grand marshal of a race, waves the flags atop a flag s ...

, kept on racing and crashed fatally on what was supposed to be his slowing-down lap.

Complete Formula One results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauer, Erwin 1912 births 1958 deaths 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers German Formula One drivers German racing drivers Sportspeople from Stuttgart Racing drivers from Baden-Württemberg Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in Germany