FIRST POSTED August 1st 2016
Yes, yes, I know. Dreadful pun. Sorry. Won’t happen again , honest.
That’s Hans Joachim Stuck of course. Famous son of famous father, Grand Prix driver, Le Mans winner, Nurburgring hero, DTM champion, Touring car ace, Sports car legend and all round top bloke. In July 2016 he was in the middle of a great deal of interest in rural Worcestershire when he appeared at the very historic Shelsley Walsh hillclimb venue (111 years and still going strong) 80 years after his father had competed there.
And both of them were at the wheel of thunderous V16 Auto Union Grand Prix cars. Back in 1936 Hans Sr. was the leading hillclimber in Europe and one of the driving forces behind the Porsche-designed Auto Union , as well as it’s first star driver in Grand Prix racing. The sport of hillclimbing was huge in Europe at the time – far more so than we realise today – and the actual car he ran was specially built for the purpose with a smaller fuel tank, shorter wheelbase and so forth. I think that very car is the one which survived the ravages of a world war and was displayed in a technical museum in Latvia. Being the the only one left in working order it’s value is beyond measure so the car that Stuck Jr drove in 2016 was one of the faithful recreations built from scratch (in England) for Audi some years ago. That did cause a lot of head scratching in some quarters as the information board beside it in the paddock quoted it as being both 1936 and 1998…
Hans Jr is understandably very proud of his old man’s many racing exploits and arrived with one of his original leather helmets and a pair of original goggles, which he wore on the last run of the weekend.
It was reported that he found the first run in the Auto Union rather emotional and had a lump in his throat as he returned to the bottom of the hill after his first run. Throughout the entire event he made a great impression with his freindly and patient approach, posing for untold photos, signing endless autographs and enthusing about the whole experience.
The sound of the V16 echoing off the hillside proved eye-wateringly evocative in these days of noise limits and silencers. One can only imagine how exotic it would have been back in 1936 among the ERAs, Bugattis and JAP egines ‘Shelsley Specials’. However, and here I risk sounding like a philistine… there was a rival for the title of best-sounding-car on the day… Oh yes! That was the ex Prince Bira/Richard Seaman/Whitney Straight Maserati 8CM Grand prix car (below) in 1934 – a direct rival to the original Auto Union in fact. They appeared on the same starting grids back in the day and in fact I believe the Maserati held the hill record at Shelsley when Hans sr appeared – rain on the day prevented that mark being bettered.
This one was also unsilenced and made the richest most glorious bellowing straight-eight growl you ever heard! So, as viewers of HARRY HILL’ TV BURP on British TV a few years might expect him to say to that “…which one is best? Only one way to find out: Fight!”
