Despite not being the most popular or well-known race-track in Germany, there’s no dispute the Solitude made history in racing. In 1903 the Solitude Castle was chosen for a hill climb sprint for motorcycles. The race started at the western railway station from Stuttgart. A couple of years later the start was moved to Schützenhaus in the suburb Heslach. Until 1924 this was the track for the annual hill climb race, since 1922 also for sports and race cars. In 1925, for the first time there was a circuit race ‘Rund um die Solitude’, each lap counting 22 km. The circuit was considered very demanding, often compared to the Targa Florio. After 1937, there were no races held at the Solitude for 11 years, of reasons unnecessary to mention of course.
This book covers the history of the Racing at the Solitude after WW-II period, starting in 1949 up to 1965 when the racing at the Solitude-ring was abandoned. In this period races of many kind were organised at the Solitude-Ring : 4 F1 races, 4 F2 races, 1 F3, 4 Formula Junior, 1 Formula V,, 4 Sports car, 4 Grand Tourisme and 1 Touring Car race.
Many important racers from each era raced at the Solitude, from Karl Kling and Hermann Lang just after WWII to Carel Godin de Beaufort, Jo Siffert, Joakim Bonnier, Chris Amon to name just a few of the personalities that brought spectacle and sensation to the hills near Stuttgart.
You can imagine the number of Porsches competing at the different events, seen the vicinity of the factory and the importance of racing for the factory.
In 1959, Walter Glöckler competed in one of his own-build VW Sportscars, which were used as an inspiration for the Porsche 550 Spyder later. The Porsche 550 Spyder, a car that’s inseparable from the Solitude Racing history. In 1956, no less than 14 Porsches 550 Spyders took the start, piloted by names like Hans Herrmann, Wolfgang graf Berghe von Trips, Carel Godin de Beaufort and Ernst Vogel. The dutch Matthieu Hezemans drove the famous Trenkel-Porsche RS and Richard von Frankenberg the Porsche 645RS, better known as the Mickey Mouse.
The author, Thomas Mehne, brings the facts and figures of each and any race in a clear way, lists the different competitors and results and shows the atmosphere of the race with over 600 pictures. The book is a limited edition of 1200 copies, written in 4 languages (English, German, French and Italian) and counts 336 pages. Definitely a great addition to any motorsports library.
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Details
Author : Thomas Mehne
Publisher : www.sportfahrer-zentrale.de
Language : English, German, French, Italian
Pages : 336 with over 600 pictures
ISBN : 9783940306104
Racing at Solitude 1949 - 1965
Race
2011
334
