Born: 15 August 1905, Hamburg, Germany
Died: February 5, 2003 in Graefenwarth at age 97
Career

Manfred von Brauchitsch was born in a family in which the men were traditionally officers and it seemed normal that he should keep up the family tradition. He actually started a military career, but he was much more interested in motorcycles than in guns and army discipline. He was a pretty good rider, but an accident in which he broke his skull put an end to his military career. Now he could pursue his ambition to become a racing driver. The problem was that he had no money and could not expect any help from his family who were less than happy about his plans and certainly not prepared to buy him a Mercedes SSK, a 1800kg, 7 litre monster similar to the model with which Caracciola was winning races.
But he found the money and even managed to win the first race for which he entered his proud acquisition: the Gaisbergrennen of 1929, one of the most famous hill climbs, at the time a very popular discipline. Many other victories followed, mostly in hill climbs, but in 1931 he came third in the international “Eifelrennen” on the Nürburgring, that year Germany’s premier event, won by Caracciola’s Mercedes.

In 1932, Mercedes-Benz felt the old SSKL could not compete any more with the much more agile Alfas and Bugattis, but Brauchitsch had no choice and struggled on. He had his eye on a race to be staged in Berlin on the AVUS track where a very high top speed was essential. For this, he persuaded the famous aerodynamics, Freiherr von Koenig Fachsenfels to design a streamlined body for his car, now an SSKL ( L standing for Lightweight, which was very relative! ) and managed to beat Caracciola, now driving for Alfa-Romeo, by 2 seconds ! This made him a star overnight and since he was a 27 years old handsome young man, he was immediately contracted to play the main role in a film in which he starred as a racing driver. But he found acting rather boring and soon had better things on his agenda. In 1934 Mercedes was back in racing and asked him to be one of the team drivers together with Caracciola and Fagioli.

Here again, success was immediate: driving the new W125, built for the 750kg formula, von Brauchitsch won the car’s maiden race, the Eifelrennen, easily beating Hans Stuck Sr.’s rival mid-engined Auto Union. Then more than two years without a major success were to follow. Brauchitsch was a very fast driver. His style was flamboyant, he revelled in spectacular power slides, which made him a favourite with the crowds, but his style was tough on the car and rough on the tyres. He should have won the German Grand Prix twice: once in 1935, when one of his rear tyres burst 5 km from the finish and Nuvolari went through to win for Alfa Romeo, and in 1937, when his car caught fire when refuelling for the last time, giving team made Dick Seaman his chance. Only twice did he win what, at the time, was called a “Grande Epreuve”: the Monaco Grand Prix of 1937 after a titanic fight with Caracciola, and in 1938 the French Grand Prix on the Rheims circuit.

The 1939 Yugoslav Grand Prix, a street race in Belgrade, was staged on the day Germany declared war and invaded Poland. After finishing 2nd in that race, Brauchitsch jumped into a plane to fly to Switzerland. But somehow, team Chief Alfred Neubauer had been informed and literally minutes before take-off, he was pulled out of the plane.

After the war, Brauchitsch tried to resume racing, but soon gave up when he did not find a car matching his ambitions. And when Mercedes-Benz made its come-back in 1954, he had crossed the border to live in East Germany where, for a few years, he was the President of the DDR’s Olympic Committee.

On August 15, 1995, he was invited by Mercedes-Benz to a superb 90th birthday party, where he appeared in top form and made a speech in which he recalled both his career and the more controversial side of his life with a splendid sense of humour.
Following the passing of Hermann Lang in 1987, he was regarded as the last surviving member of the pre-war "Silver Arrow" drivers.
Von Brauchitsch died in Graefenwarth in 2003.

Cockpit of the Mercedes W125

With Caracciola and Kantz

Start of the 1937 GP of Monaco in the Mercedes with thr red hat

The duel Brauchitsch - Caracciola in Monaco 1937

von Brauchitsch in 1984 showcasing Mercedes

Bio at Grandprix.com

Bio in Wiki