Karl-Günther Bechem

Born on the 21st December, 1921 in Hagen, Germany, Karl-Gunther Bechem started racing sportscars before contesting two Grands Prix, in 1952 and 1953. His family were successful steel manufacturers but they disapproved of him racing and in his early days he entered events as ‘Bernhard Nacke’ in order to conceal the fact from the family.

Starting in sportscars in 1950, he achieved some impressive results with his BMW 328 and in only his second race, a round of the German Sportscar Championship at Nurburgring, he came home fourth, behind Maurice Trintignant, Fritz Reiss and Robert Manzon.

He then raced an AFM 50 Sport in 1951’s German Sportscar Championship, finishing fifth in the first round at Hockenheim in May behind several Veritas RS cars and a BMW special then was eleventh in the next round at Nurburgring. His next two outings produced third at a Schauinsland hill climb plus victory at Norisring (ahead of Josef Peters and Wolfgang Seidel) though there were retirements at Grenzlandring and Sachsenring.

Continuing with the AFM the following year, he finished tenth at Nurburgring in May and would also finish fifth at Avus. Grands Prix were run to F2 regulations this season and although he had concentrated on sports car racing, with the race at the Nurburgring becoming a world championship event he was keen to take his chance. In practice, the best of the German entries were Paul Pietsch and Hans Klenk in seventh and eighth place and of the thirty-four qualifiers for the 18 lap race, the ‘Bernhard Nacke’ entered BMW would line up thirtieth alongside Ludwig Fischer and Ernst Klodwig. As the race got underway, Alberto Ascari would take the lead right from the start but it became one of attrition for many of the others. On the fifth lap, an ignition problem would force ‘Nacke’ to retire though only twelve drivers would finish the race. He also entered his AFM in the supporting sports car race and finished third and a week after the GP took another third place result with the car at a sportscar race at Muchen-Riem. Although he only entered the one World Championship race that season he contested two other F2 races. At the end of August, he raced in the third round of the West German F2 Championship at Grenzlandring, situated close to the German/Belgian border. In practice, he qualified down the running order in his Holbein HH48-BMW but would be out of the race before the pace even really got going, retiring on the sixth lap with engine troubles though other records say he finished seventeenth. Tragically, during the race, Helmut Niedermayr lost control of his car and crashed into a group of spectators, with five killed instantly and nine others later passing away due to their injuries. Although Niedermayr was able to walk away from the accident, the emotional and mental scars were very evident when he was later seen in the pits. In late September Karl-Gunther took the Holbein to the high-speed Avus circuit, where it again retired and after this he sold the car to Swedish racer Per-Gunnar Wahlberg. He had a further outing with the AFM in late September at Avus, in the fifth round of the German Sportscar Championship and after starting tenth went on to finish fifth.

In the first two rounds of 1953’s German Sportscar Championship he was tenth (and fifth in class) with the AFM 50 Sport at Nurburgring in late May and then third in the second round in early July at Avus. While at the Avus and Nurburgring rounds, he also entered the F2 races that were held in conjunction with the sportscar races and took his AFM ’50 Sport to the Berlin districts of Charlottenberg and Nikolassee in the middle of July.

While contesting the Sportscar Championship round at Avus, he also took part in the Internationales Avusrennen, which was the second round of the West German F2 Championship. The race would see a number of East and West German drivers entered but as it progressed, more and more retirements would take place and by the end of the 25 lap race, fifteen cars did not finish, including Karl Gunther after 8 laps. At the third Sportscar Championship round he was in a Borgward and he took a second place finish at the start of August at Nurburgring (to Hans Herrmann’s Porsche 550 Spyder). The next week’s round with the Borgward at the Schauinsland hill climb produced another second place, again to H.Herrmann’s Porsche. With the World Championship still being run to F2 regulations, he entered his AFM 1 at the German GP at Nurburgring. The German drivers and teams faced a great challenge, with Ferrari joined by a powerful Maserati team headed by Juan Manuel Fangio plus also Equipe Gordini, HWM and a number of talented small teams and privateer entries. After qualifying thirtieth (the same position as the previous year) the race would have a heavy attrition rate and thirty miles into the 255 mile race he had problems with his AFM and he would eventually retire when his engine failed. At the end of August he contested the Nurburgring 1000km in a shared drive with Theo Helfrich though they retired the Borgward Hansa 1500 RS with engine problems. During the year he was invited to test a Mercedes 300SL at the Nurburgring alongside Hans Klenk, Paul Frere and Hans Herrmann, as the marque were planning a return to race in 1954. Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling were already selected drivers and the test would offer the chance to drive in the F1 team alongside them though H.Herrmann was eventually chosen after setting the fastest times.

1954 started with a victory with the Borgward 1500 RS in the first sportscar championship round in May at Nurburgring then fifth and third in the next two rounds at Nurburgring and the GP Berlin. Late in the year he travelled to Mexico for his first outing at the Carrera Panamericana, which was a round of the World Sportscar Championship. The first third of the gruelling 1900 mile race took in mountain roads with perilous drops and the course was divided into sections, tackled on five successive days. Much of the last half of the race was on near level ground with some long, fast, straights and, run in November, it took in steamy tropical heat near the start to sometimes bitter cold at the finish at Ciudad Juarez, on the Texas border. Over 25,000 police and troops were used to keep the roads clear with one stationed every 100 yards along the route. Teams were divided into five classes for the event and Karl-Gunther’s Borgward Rennsport 55 was in the ‘Sport hasta 1500’ (sportscar up to 1.5-litre) class. After a good start, Karl Gunther had won the first two legs and was in the lead of his class plus running in an incredible third place overall. Despite having an off in the Borgward, he recovered though it dropped him back but worse was to come as on the third day he was involved in a huge crash involving four cars during the fourth stage, from Ciudad de Mexico to Leon. While driving in the Ocoyoacac hills, less than 40 kilometres out of the capital city, he spun on a fast downhill curve and crashed heavily at a speed of about 200 km/h. The car was destroyed and he sustained injuries, including a badly broken leg, though co-driver Rudolf Herzog was uninjured. Unfortunately, three following cars also crashed which hampered the military medical personnel who were providing aid to him. A Pegaso Z-102 BS Touring driven by Joaquin Palacio hit the wrecked Borgward, then rolled and burst into flames but though Palacio was thrown clear and his co-driver Celso Fernandez survived, their car struck a Mexican soldier and grieviously injured him. No sooner had the two drivers and the soldier been moved than American driver Frank Davis in a Dodge and Eugenio Modica’s Chevrolet Bel Air, both crashed into the same spot and hit the remains of their cars. Both drivers were fortunately uninjured. The Carrera claimed several lives from accidents and there were numerous lucky escapes for drivers, including a young Carroll Shelby, who crashed and wrecked his Austin-Healey 100S and sustained a broken arm. Karl-Gunther recovered from his injuries after a long and painful convalescence, but though he went on to compete in hill climbs as late as 1965, he did not start another international race.

In 1959 he contested a German Formula Junior race at Nurburgring and was third with a DKW powered Hartmann. There were further Junior outings with the Hartmann the following year where he was second in August at Rusel, Deggendorf though retired after two laps at Sudschleife in October. In 1963 he contested a Schauinsland hill climb with a Martini and two years later was back there with a BMW 700.

In later years, he continued to visit historic events and passed away on the 3rd May 2011