| Career Summary | Picture Index |
| Text-Only Version | Back to Driver Index |
| Last updated: 5-July-2001 | |
|
||||
|
||||
|
1950-51
Ex-fighter pilot, ex-race engineer, Kling twin |
German driver Hans Klenk, born in Künzelsau, seems to have been a rather late starter on the motor racing scene. Not surprising considering he spent the 1940s flying Messerschmitts, presumably for the Luftwaffe.
Turning his attention to cars, he started to build his own specials in Stuttgart from 1950 onwards, but soon went from engineer to racer, taking over a Veritas previously campaigned by his friend, the famous Karl Kling. This car was a Veritas Meteor with a Veritas 2-litre 6-cylinder engine and fully enveloping bodywork, and Klenk would use it pretty much for the rest of his open-wheeler career. In his debut at Eifelrennen, he came 5th. |
|||
|
1952
Joins works Mercedes for assault on endurance races |
His main success, though, would come in sports cars. This was due in no small part to the fact that, in 1952, he joined the distinguished works Mercedes-Benz sports car effort under the legendary Alfred Neubauer. This coincided with the introduction of the famous gullwing 300SL model, and Klenk was teamed up with Kling for several endurance races that year.
The first was the Mille Miglia, a race widely considered by Europeans at that time to be the toughest race in the world. It was here that Klenk made perhaps his most important contribution to the world of motor racing. |
|||
|
1952
'Prayer book' gets Kling an' Klenk through Mille Miglia |
Realising that apart from assisting Kling in tyre changes and other technical problems he would be nigh-on useless, and realising at the same time that no driver could memorise the entire 1000 miles of the event, he proceeded to record all the details of the roads in preparing for the event, such as corners, slopes and danger spots. Hans' innovative 'Gebetbuch' was the forerunner of modern day rally pace-notes.
It looked set to pay off handsomely. Kling and Klenk led at half-distance, but after hitting a stone and being delayed when they could not get the wheel off to replace it, they eventually had to settle for second behind the Ferrari of Giovanni Bracco and Alfonso Rolfo. Then, at Le Mans, the pair was again competitive, but retired with an electrical failure during the night. |
|||
|
||||
|
1952 Veritas Plonks himself an amazing 8th on the grid at the 'Ring |
At this time, to put it mildly there were plenty of F1 races throughout Europe (although in 1952 Formula One was running F2-spec cars), but only a few of the most prestigious races were considered to be part of the World Championship. And since the World Championship would become the focal point of F1 in the years to come, here we pay special attention to Klenk's solitary outing in a World Championship Grand Prix, an effort that earns him reject status on this site.
For the German GP at the monster Nurburgring in early August 1952, Klenk entered his trusty Veritas, which being an F2 car might have been a competitive proposition. In preparation, he took off the all-encasing bodywork around the wheels, believing that this would be of benefit around a track as difficult and challenging as the old Nordschleife. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
1952
Trails around at the back in race dominated by Ferrari |
In qualifying he came seemingly fabulous 8th, especially considering that there were 32 entrants. Only problem was, while we don't know Klenk's time exactly, we do know that the driver who was 7th, Paul Pietsch in another Veritas, was already 51.9 seconds behind Alberto Ascari's pole-winning Ferrari. Makes you wonder how far behind the slowest guys were, doesn't it?
In the race Klenk was not so great. Ferraris filled the first four places, with Ascari taking the win (one of nine World Championship GP victories in a row, an all-time record yet to be beaten) from Giuseppe Farina, Rudi Fischer and Piero Taruffi. At the start Hans narrowly avoided Felice Bonetto's spinning Maserati, and ultimately could only struggle home as the 11th across the line, out of 12 who managed to finish. But he was 4 laps down, a huge amount considering the 14+ kilometre circuit, and there is some conjecture as to whether he was actually classified. |
|||
|
||||
|
1952
Successful with podiums in non-champ races |
In non-championship races, though, Klenk was a lot more successful, although of course the level of competition was not as high. At the Grenzlandring at the end of August, Klenk finished 2nd behind another Veritas of Toni Ulmen, while in September he also finished 2nd at Avus behind Fischer's Ferrari.
Driving the 300SL Mercedes, he was part of an awesome effort at the Nurburgring when the four works machines filled the top four spots, thereby clinching the World Championship of Makes for Sports Cars. But there was more success to come when Mercedes made a late decision to enter some cars in the year-ending Carrera Panamericana race in Mexico, a non-championship event, with the aim of promoting the Mercedes brand to the Mexican and American markets. |
|||
|
1952
Klenk clunks chick, takes out chunk of car - but goes on to win! |
Besides the Kling/Klenk car, Le Mans winner Hermann Lang drove one of the other two cars, and American John Fitch drove the third. Despite attracting big crowds, the Mexican roads weren't always the best to drive on, as shown when Kling and Klenk rounded a corner at over 100mph only to find a buzzard in the middle of the road. The big bird didn't get out of the way in time, and having been hit went straight through the windscreen, smashing into Klenk and inflicting minor injuries to his head.
Kling bravely held on until the next refuelling stop, where the windscreen was repaired and the interior cleaned up, but apparently the stench lasted for some time! Just to show Mercedes' professionalism, though, overnight their crew proceeded to fit vertical steel bars across the windscreen to prevent a repeat from happening! What's more, Kling and Klenk went on to win the event. |
|||
|
|
||||
|
1953-54
Accident injuries sees him return to engineering |
1953 brought a sudden end to Klenk's racing career, though. Having taken his Veritas to another 2nd place at Avus, this time behind Jacques Swater's Ferrari, Klenk spent most of his year as a Mercedes test driver, but a nasty accident in the 300SL left him with injuries that curtailed his racing activities. He had totally rebuilt and then renamed the Veritas as the Klenk Meteor, and had planned to enter it in the German GP once again, but his injuries put paid to that.
However, he continued very briefly as an engineer, and kept working on his Klenk Meteor. But the car was becoming outdated, and by 1954 a new 2.5 litre formula had been introduced, which all but ended any chance the car had of being remotely on the pace. Nevertheless, Theo Helfrich used it in that year's German GP, but the car retired with a BMW engine failure. This entry made him the the only person to have one F1 appearance as a driver and one as a constructor in different races. |
|||
| |||
|
Back to the top Back to Career Summary |
|||
| Main Page | Drivers Index | Reject Teams | Hall of Shame | |||
|
Featured Rejects Reject Statistics Submit-a-Reject FAQ / Copyright |
Reject CENTRALE • Latest GP Review • Other Articles • Links / Banner |
Sign Guestbook Read Guestbook Current Poll Previous Polls |
|
|
|
|||
|
Please send any corrections, comments or suggestions to email@f1rejects.com All original content Copyright © 2001 Formula One Rejects. | |||