@Querty Man - Well put. The almost total dominance of the German team headed by Neubauer was a model of perfection and efficiency. One notable exception to their achievements happened at the 1935 German Grand Prix where Mercedes and Auto Union were practically guaranteed a win. Tazio Nuvolari driving an outdated Alfa Romeo P3. Fully 200 + HP down on power from the Germans, Nuvolari's exceptional driving skills made up the difference and he came from behind to win the race. Not a bright day for the German team but they still dominated the mid to late thirties.

you sure about the 200mph ?

@Thibaud Prevot - I don't believe they raced at 200 mph but the power to weight ratio of these machines made them capable of that speed, that is before the tires blew out!

Tire technology was the big limitation back then. The engineering wizards had not yet been born that would advance carcass design and engineering along with the black art of rubber compound formulation that would allow for the ridiculous mechanical grip of today's race cars. The other limitations were braking, aerodynamics and air flow management. These four advancements would allow a reasonably talented driver to drive circles around those 600+hp car with a modern day 200+hp normally aspirated car even with Ascari or Fangio at the wheel. This is not to take anything away from those old guys from that era. The drivers of today are athletes to a man no doubt, but they do not possess the stones to drive a W125, or a Auto Union at full song like the old masters did. To illustrate the point, when Schumacher got to F1 and the rules were changed banning traction and launch control, he killed the field in the rain except for Karl Wendlinger who was the other driver from the Mercedes Group C program. Karl did not possess Schume's talents and capacity. Those group C endurance cars did not have traction control. THAT was all down to the software connections between your brain, your ass and your right foot...and of course, a pair of adequately sized gonads. 😂 The other F1 pilots who were so dependent on traction control found that they had to relearn how to manage a 200hp car in the wet while Schumacher and Senna sailed off into the spray.

Loulovesspeed yeh funded by the nazis!!!

Saul Nunez and only a single one at that, Rosemeyer beinv the only one to be able to properly drive it... Nuvolaris Alfa came quite close too actually, only his though, far surperior driving to Lang, Caracciola and co.

just imagine this car on AVUS! In 1938, I believe that was with W154s, they set a track speed record of 380 km/h! Even today F1 cars don't go that fast and yet they did before WW2! This was utter madness

Rosemeyer drover for Auto-Union - and was faced with another set of conundra - mid-engine, and an unbalanced car. He alone was able not just to tame the car, but to dominate the 1936 season. Tragically, he lost his life in an LSR attempt in early 1938.

@@plazasta agree !!! i have AVUS and "Silberpfeil" on simracing and I'm freaking out in virtual reality !!

I read somewhere that in 1958, Mercedes Benz sent a W125 and a W154 to Oulton park circuit in the UK in a historic race there to be demonstrated by then F1 drivers Peter Collins (who would die later that year after crashing at the Nurburgring) and Tony Brooks. After a few laps in the W125, Brooks pulled to the pits to report a vibration in the car. But the Mercedes mechanics just sent him back, telling him that there's nothing wrong with it and the vibration is caused by the rear wheels spinning even while the car's at speed. Peter Collins, on the other hand, who had some experience driving a very powerful car since he drove the fearsome BRM V16 car, liked driving the W125, saying it was "much easier to drive than the BRM".

@Tom Smith And WW11

One of the most famous drivers of the 30s (the time that car's raced), a Frenchman named Philippe Etancelin, races wearing a cap worn backwards. British driver Peter Whitehead raced in the 30s without ANY headgear most of the time!

when those lads raced, a crash was certain death, helmet or not.

@@jcgabriel1569 The leather flying cap persisted into the 50s. Mike Hawthore would race in a cap and always a bow tie early on. Sterling Moss wore a horse riding helmet, although he didn't want to but his father made him promise to wear it. By the time Moss retired that style of helmet was commonplace.

Sarcasm, word of Sheldon Cooper

pretty hard not to notice...

I'm guessing to lighten the steering but, could be due to a crown on public highways as some of thode old race tracks doubled as roads.

@@richardrichard5409 Must lighten steering but also increase understeer to allow nice four wheel drifts and pleasant handling without excessive apparent oversteer. I think I'd soon die driving this car

Oh hello, surprised to meet you here :) anyway, I showed this to my father and he couldn't believe this was 1962... very high quality video

Hecke auf - Hecke zu. :-)

Check out the diameter of the steering wheel!

Unmistakeable voice - that's Graham. Absolutely no doubt about it.

+Borsófőzelék Piskótakockával Excellent!

+Clive Davies Well, not remember, read about and wonder about such a pioneering driver like Tazio would have been like for the spectators, if not his fellow competitors. From a part of a story line about Enzo Ferrari and his racing days, he was trying to emulate Tazios style and cornering ability, realising what it would take to do at the same consistency as Tazio, it left no doubt he would focus on managing the makings of racing cars and the pilots that drove them.

Tazio has been my hero since l bought some Giulietta Spiders back in the 70s (long rusted away). He was one of the very greatest of all times - "Brakes only slow you down!" At the time it was said "lf Nuvolari's car is 10mph slower than the others he will win, if 20 mph slower he will probably win, if 30mph slower he may win!" A slight exaggeration perhaps, but what a man! lts sad we only have a few flickering images of him driving that Auto Union at Donnington, the smell, the engine howl, the squealing tyres, the speed.... l've heard it said Ferrari spent the rest of his life trying to find a driver to match Tazio for his cars - the nearest he came was Gilles Villeneuve, RIP Great Men. All the Best to you Justin

Thank you Clive.. Well, best sums up my admiration of all drivers and sportsman alike of all time, when I gave my gave my son .,,, Tazio as one of his two middle names.

+justinhunold Hi Justin, the reverse is also true, Jarno Trulli was named after the road racing Finn Jarno Saarinian, killed in a shocking and wholly avoidable accident at Monza in the early 1970s.

But sadly, it was all black and white back then. Quite depressing world

It never a public road The Nürburgring was only build for testing racecars!

Stuck said that you were too slow when you came back with your mirrors still mounted :-D

@@vanomaden I have an old Motor Sport magazine with an iconic picture on the cover, Stuck jr in a BMW 3 litre csl, he must be about a metre off the ground at the Ring.

This was common in early cars, hence the reason for the "positive camber" convention. Every road and racing car these days uses "negative camber" but it's too late to change it!

Graham Hill was one of the true greats, may he rest in peace. Timothy Brise was a school friend of mine who's brother was also killed in the plane with Graham when it crashed, a young racing promise called Tony Brise

Not only white knuckles, bloody red palms as well

Richtig abgefahren!

Graham Hill's quite character. My favourite quote from him actually sums up my view of what motor racing is and also of what should be everyone's attitude about motor racing; "While I had been a racing driver I had often said to audiences during speeches and talks: 'You know the risks, you accept them. If a man can't look at danger and still go on, man has stopped living. If the worst ever happens - then it means simply that I've been asked to pay the bill for the happiness of my life - without a moment's regret.'"

Max Speedster Well the speeds were lower then. Especially cornering speeds... Like 100 km/h slower. But yeah, these guys could really drive a car. Nowadays it's a little more like trying to get a human to control electricity by opening and closing a switch just as the current is "flowing" (potential for flow is at it's highest point) into the switch. Cornering just isn't really approached the same way with the new downforce cars.

Is it graham hill narrating?

lol what about when he talks about the holes in the hedges from cars leaving the circuit...lmaoo...hes super calm about that too

Actually a couple of years later cars left the ground 13 times each lap lol

Yes, it is.

Thank Colin C for that - the greatest genius in the history of grand prix engineering...

I watched this and enjoyed it, but not knowing much about the W125. I then went on to watch many races and videos from this era and recognised Alfred Neaubaur in the videos. Coming back to this and seeing him exasperated at the lap time is charming and great humour. Thank you for completing the story with your comment, it's a delightful detail.

i love Germany to

Sadly most Germans today don't even know what German culture is or they just don't appreciate it at all. They will definitely miss it when it's gone for good. But at least we will always have these videos that remind us of these very different times

Way before the 60's

The 4 wheel drift was developed over the years by drivers who had to contend with flexing chassis, flexing wheels, cart suspensions - leaf springs, friction dampers, - and narrow tyres. A drift would allow them to line up the cars without having to use the brakes. This style of cornering was in use in GP racing in 1959. Watch old footage of the Maserati 250F anvd its contemporaries.Sir Jack Brabham, who raced on dirt tracks, before going to Europe, where the drift is a good technique, used to drift his Cooper GP car in 1959. He won his first World Championship in 1959 so the technique had its uses. Better suspensions in the 60s meant that it became a wasteful way to drive. 50 years ago I had access to the books written by the protagonists of those times. I wish I had them now for there was an excitement in thr writing that one doesn't get now.

Juan Manuel Fangio was also very good at drifting the cars around the corner. He learnt the technique dirt racing in South America, wonderful driver. The book on the racing life of Fangio makes for interesting reading.