Karl Kling (; 16 September 1910,

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

– 18 March 2003, Gaienhofen on

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) was a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

driver and manager from

. He participated in 11

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, ...

Grands Prix, debuting on 4 July 1954. He achieved 2 podiums - the first German ever to achieve a Formula One podium - and scored a total of 17 championship points. It is said, that he was born too late and too early. Too late to be in the successful Mercedes team of the 1930s and too early to have a real chance in and . Unusually, Kling found his way into motorsport via his first job as a reception clerk at

Daimler-Benz The Mercedes-Benz Group Aktiengesellschaft, AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It ...

in the mid-1930s, competing in hillclimb and trials events in production machinery in his spare time. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he gained mechanical experience servicing

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

aircraft, and after the cessation of hostilities he resumed his motorsport involvement in a BMW 328. Kling was instrumental in developing Mercedes' return to international competition in the early 1950s, and his win in the 1952

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, i ...

road race, driving the then-experimental

Mercedes-Benz 300SL The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (chassis code W 198) is a two-seat sports car which was produced by Mercedes-Benz as a gullwinged coupe (1954–1957) and roadster (1957–1963).Werner Oswald: ''Mercedes-Benz Personenwagen 1945–1985''. Motorbuch Ve ...

was a defining point in assuring the Daimler-Benz management that motorsport had a place in Mercedes' future. Called up to the revived Mercedes Grand Prix squad in 1954 he finished less than one second behind the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio on hi
Formula One debut
taking second place in the

1954 French Grand Prix The 1954 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Reims on 4 July 1954, the same date as the 1954 Football World Cup Final. It was race 4 of 9 in the 1954 World Championship of Drivers. The 61-lap race was won by Mercedes driver ...

at the fast Reims-Gueux circuit. This promising start was not to last, and with the arrival of

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...

at Mercedes in 1955 Kling was effectively demoted to third driver. However, away from the World Championship, Kling took an impressive victory in the

Berlin Grand Prix Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...

(at

AVUS The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known as AVUS, is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921, it was also used as a motor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern p ...

, another high-speed circuit). He left the Formula One team at the end of the season, to succeed

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

as head of Mercedes motorsport. He was in this post during their successful rallying campaigns of the 1960s, occasionally taking the wheel himself. On one such occasion he drove a Mercedes-Benz 220SE to victory in the mighty 1961

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

trans-African rally. He died in 2003 at the age of 92.

Complete Formula One World Championship 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 ...

) * Shared drive with

and

Hans Herrmann Hans Herrmann (born 23 February 1928) is a retired Formula One and sports car racing driver from Stuttgart, Germany. In F1, he participated in 19 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 2 August 1953. He achieved 1 podium, and scored a ...

Non-championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

* *

Complete Formula One World Championship results

Non-championship results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

Further reading