Karl Rudolf Heydel born (1911 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

; died 4 February 1936 in

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, was a German

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

Career

Heydel worked as a test driver in the research department of the

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...

Horch Horch () was a car brand manufacturer, founded in Germany by August Horch & Cie at the beginning of the 20th century. It is one of the predecessors of the present day Audi company, which itself resulted from the merger of Auto Union Aktienges ...

- works.Reuß (2006), S. 269 He was a protégé of

Auto Union Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today. As well as acting as an umbrella firm f ...

Works team A works team (sometimes factory team, company team) is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business. Sometimes, works teams contain or are entirely made up of employees of the supporting company. Association footb ...

driver

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 ...

. In November 1935, the Auto Union racing department with race director Karl Feuereissen tested some drivers on the Nordschleife of 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 ...

. Karl Rudolf Heydel,

Ernst von Delius Ernst von Delius (29 March 1912 – 26 July 1937) was a racing driver from Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Ru ...

and

Rudolf Hasse Rudolf Hasse (30 May 1906 – 12 August 1942) was a German racing driver who won the 1937 Belgian Grand Prix. Hasse was born in Mittweida, Saxony, and died while serving on the Russian front during World War II in a military hospital in Makiivka, ...

were selected to drive for Auto Union in the 1936 European Championship alongside the established drivers

Bernd Rosemeyer Bernd Rosemeyer (14 October 1909 – 28 January 1938) was a German racing driver and speed record holder. He is considered one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. Though he was not a member of the Nazi party, he was made a member of the S ...

and Hans Stuck. In February 1936, the three new drivers had to carry out tests on the nearly seven-kilometer high-speed circuit at the Italian

Autodromo Nazionale Monza The Monza Circuit ( it, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, , National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after ...

. On the morning of 4 February Heydel started his first test in the Auto Union Type C racing car. On his third lap, the inexperienced driver lost control in the ''Curva del Vialone'', situated at the start of what is today the ''Variante Ascari'', and crashed into the barriers. The impact caused a fuel leak, which ignited immediately setting the vehicle ablaze. Heydel was killed on the spot.

References

Literature

External links

* * German racing drivers Grand Prix drivers 1911 births 1936 deaths Sportspeople from Leipzig {{Germany-autoracing-bio-stub