Alfred Neubauer (29 March 1891 in Neutitschein – 22 August 1980 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 Sw ...

) was the racing manager of the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team from 1926 to 1955.

Biography

Neubauer's father, Karl Neubauer, was a furniture-maker in Neutitschein (), which then was part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. Karl christened his only son Alfred, but the child quickly became known to family and friends as Friedl. Neubauer used to repair motor vehicles while he was an officer during his service in the Imperial Austrian army. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he joined the Austrian car manufacturer

Austro-Daimler Austro-Daimler was an Austro-Hungarian automaker company, from 1899 until 1934. It was a subsidiary of the German ''Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft'' (DMG) until 1909. Early history In 1890, Eduard Bierenz was appointed as Austrian retailer. The co ...

, where

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volksw ...

appointed him to be chief tester. From 1922 onwards, Neubauer also drove in races, although without any great success. In 1923, when Ferdinand Porsche moved to the Daimler Works at Stuttgart (

Daimler-Benz The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactu ...

was not founded until 1926), he took Neubauer with him. In 1926, recognizing that he himself was not a great racing driver, Neubauer got an inspiration that let him create the position of racing team manager (''Rennleiter''). Racing drivers in those days being isolated from the outside, they often did not know their position in a race. Occasionally a driver would learn that he had won after a race merely by surprise. To overcome this situation, Alfred Neubauer devised a well thought-out system, with flags and boards, to give his drivers more tactical information. When he tried out the system for the first time at the 1926

Solituderennen The ''Solituderennen'' (eng: ''Solitude race'') motorsport events are held on the 11.4 km '' Solitudering'' race track near Stuttgart. The event and the track were named after the nearby Castle Solitude. Motorsports events were held there fr ...

on 12 September 1926, the chief steward demanded angrily that he leave the track, since his 'antics' were irritating the drivers. To Neubauer's explanation that he was the ''Rennleiter'', the organizer responded: ‘Are you mad? I’m the ''Rennleiter''’ (''Rennleiter'' can also mean “race director”). The Mercedes-Benz team was soon winning races with SS and SSK racing cars, frequently in the hands of

Rudolf Caracciola Otto Wilhelm Rudolf CaracciolaBolsinger and Becker (2002), p. 63 (30 January 1901 – 28 September 1959) was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One Wo ...

, the best driver during those days. Neubauer's contribution lay not just in his tactical skill, but also in the perfectionistical, almost military drill of the pit crew, which constantly gave the team a time advantage over its rivals. Neubauer's organization 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 ...

in 1931 was a master stroke. To reach each staging post before Caracciola arrived, he repeatedly criss-crossed Italy with his team. According to Neubauer, the origin of the

Silver Arrows Silver Arrows (german: link=no, Silberpfeil) was the nickname given by the press to Germany's dominant Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Grand Prix motor racing cars between 1934 and 1939. The name was later applied to the Mercedes-Benz Formula ...

phrase was due to the cars being overweighted at their first race. Neubauer's story states that the rules prescribed a weight limit of 750 kg, whilst one day before the new cars' first race they weighed in at 751 kg. This led to Neubauer and

Manfred von Brauchitsch Manfred Georg Rudolf von Brauchitsch (15 August 1905 – 5 February 2003) was a German auto racing driver who drove for Mercedes-Benz in the famous "Silver Arrows" of Grand Prix motor racing in the 1930s. Racing career Brauchitsch won th ...

eventually coming up with the idea of removing the cars' white paint. The silver-coloured aluminium bodywork was exposed, and the

were born. However, this story is a fabrication by Neubauer himself, a well-known raconteur. The debut race was run to

Formula Libre Formula Libre, also known as Formule Libre, is a form of automobile racing allowing a wide variety of types, ages and makes of purpose-built racing cars to compete "head to head". This can make for some interesting matchups, and provides the oppor ...

rules, meaning there was no weight limit. Additionally, there are no reports or photographs from the time suggesting that the cars were ever run in white paint.

',

'' and (accessed on 10. March 2010)

Silver Arrows

The

years were dominated by German racing cars and the rivalry between

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

and

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 ...

. In its most successful phase, the Mercedes-Benz team's regular drivers were

Hermann Lang Hermann Lang (6 April 1909 – 19 October 1987) was a German racing driver who raced motorcycles, Grand Prix cars, and sports cars. Prewar racing Born in Cannstatt near Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, at age fourteen, Hermann Lang had to ...

, and

Richard Seaman Richard John Beattie Seaman (4 February 1913 – 25 June 1939) was a British Grand Prix racing driver. He drove for the Mercedes-Benz team from 1937 to 1939 in the Mercedes-Benz W125 and W154 cars, winning the 1938 German Grand Prix. He died ...

. After the Second World War,

was anxious to return to racing as soon as possible, but a new formula was announced for 1954, and there was insufficient time to produce a new model. As a compromise solution, the design of the Mercedes-Benz 300 was adapted. This resulted in a new racing car, the Mercedes-Benz 300SL. With this car, Neubauer achieved victories at the

Carrera Panamericana The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan ( stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, ...

and the

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

24-hour race. When Mercedes-Benz cars returned to Grand Prix racing in 1954, the new Silver Arrows proved to be as superior as those produced before the war.

Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...

was World Champion in 1954 and 1955. Probably Neubauer's worst day as racing manager was at Le Mans in 1955, when a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR driven by Frenchman

Pierre Levegh Pierre Eugène Alfred Bouillin (22 December 1905 – 11 June 1955) was a French sportsman and racing driver. He took the racing name Pierre Levegh in memory of his uncle, a pioneering driver who died in 1904. Levegh died in the 1955 Le Mans disas ...

, was catapulted into the crowd, killing more than 80 people including Levegh. After consultation with Stuttgart, Neubauer withdrew the remaining cars from the event. After the shock of Le Mans, Mercedes-Benz withdrew from racing altogether, and Alfred Neubauer retired.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neubauer, Alfred 1891 births 1980 deaths Austrian racing drivers Grand Prix drivers Auto racing crew chiefs Formula One team principals Austrian motorsport people People from Nový Jičín Moravian-German people Austrian people of Moravian-German descent Mercedes-Benz in Formula One German motorsport people