1963 German GP
Grosser Preis von Deutschland |
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Nürburgring |
August 4, 1963 |
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Ecurie Maarsbergen |
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Porsche 718 (201) |
No: 17 |
Q: 17 |
R: DNF |
C: GP |
Ecurie Maarsbergen entered two cars for the German Grand Prix, with Mitter again taking the second car. During practice Mitter was over four seconds faster than Carel in equal cars. Carel was baffled by the gap and decided to find out what made Mitter so much faster, so he followed him during one of his qualifying runs. As it turned out, Mitter drove the same lines and used the same braking points. Discussing this at the pits Carel wondered what caused the difference. Mitter pointed out that there was a weight difference of over 40 kilos between himself and Carel, whose weight was well over a 100 kilos.
Carel had the better start of the two and was up to seventh place on lap three, closely followed by his team-mate. By mid-distance Carel was still seventh but Mitter had risen up to fifth, to the delight of the German crowd. On lap nine of fifteen, Carel visited the pits because he felt strange vibrations in the car. Nothing was found and Carel continued, only to lose one of his wheels at Metzgesfeld at about 150 kph. Carel's crash was softened by the hedges at the side of the Nürburgring track and he got away unhurt. Dutch newspapers reported that the wheel that had come off Carel's car killed a nineteen-year-old first-aid man at the trackside, but that was incorrect – the boy was in fact killed by the wheel that flew of Mairesse's car when the Belgian had his earlier crash at Flugplatz. Mairesse in fact overdid it and left his Ferrari airborne, fittingly to the name of this track section, resulting in the crash that effectively ended his career.
Mairesse's team-mate Surtees was victorious after a long series of misfortunes for Maranello. An even bigger surprise however was Gerhard Mitter's fourth place in Carel's Porsche. He scored three World Championship points, more than Carel would ever score himself in a single race. In the end, however, the classification was fruit for quarrel between team owner De Beaufort and driver Mitter who refused to share his hard-fought prize money.
Gerhard Mitter in the 1963 German GP.
Carel heading team mate Mitter.
Mitter in the Karussell.
Posing with the wheel that came off during the race.