Trintignant, meanwhile, was enjoying his race. He would go on to turn the fastest lap of the race with a time equal to his qualifying effort. This would help the Frenchman pull away from Roger Laurent who took over in 2nd place. Fred Wacker had made a good start from 6th place and was up behind Laurent running right near 3rd place.
Trintignant continued to turn out quick laps that destroyed the rest of the field and put tremendous pressure on the rest of the front-runners trying to chase him down. Just three laps away from the end Claes would make a mistake and would crash out of the race. Laurent continued to run in 2nd place but continued to lose ground. Fred Wacker was firmly in 3rd place but was also not making any headway against Laurent. Each had to hope for the other to run into trouble.
Trintignant would have a drive bordering on perfection. Averaging nearly 94 mph, it would take Maurice just one hour and twenty-five minutes and fifty-nine seconds to complete the 20 laps and take the victory. Over a minute and ten seconds separated Trintignant from his nearest rival. Roger Laurent would also make it through the race without trouble and would take 2nd place. Wacker would be impressive in the race. He would come to finish the 20 laps in 3rd place two and a half minutes behind. Incidentally, Wacker would end up the last car still on the lead lap. Hans Stuck would finish in 4th place but would be one lap down at the end.
Loof only intended on taking part in a couple of races throughout the 1953 season, and starting out with a very early retirement was certainly not the way he had looked for any of them to go. He would need his next race to turn around and be a good result, but it was not going to be easy. Not only was the competition going to be stiff, but the circuit itself would present a demanding challenge all by itself.
Loof’s next race would be a very special race for him. From the Grand Prix des Frontieres at the end of May, Loof would wait more than two months before taking part in his next race. However, on the 2nd of August he would join a number of other German racers in Nurburg in anticipation of taking part in the German Grand Prix, the seventh round of the 1953 World Championship.
During the Modern Age the Nurburg Castle, and the town itself, had fallen into a state of decline. The castle had not been persevered and was falling apart. Its stone was even being taken to care for other buildings in other small towns neighboring nearby. Then, in the middle 18th century the main tower of the castle would be turned into a prison. Then after the French left at the end of the century, the castle and the town would be almost completely destroyed. For nearly 50 years the town and the castle would lay almost entirely forgotten. Then, toward the middle and later part of the 19th century restoration work would begin. In sharp contrast, as Nurburg headed to the middle part of the 20th century, the town would become one of the most well known sites in all the world. This would be because of the infamous monster of a road course surrounding it like a castle wall.
Built during the 1920s, the Nurburgring was one of the first purpose-built circuits in all the world. Although built in response to the dangers of racing on public roads throughout the area of the Eifel mountains, the ‘Ring’ would end up becoming known as one of the most dangerous and demanding circuits known to exist in the world. For many, it was lamentably a ‘Green Hell’.
Keeping with the very idea of the ‘grand prix’ Nurburgring was perhaps the most fitting circuit there was, at least in Germany. Measuring 14 miles in length with more than 170 corners, Nurburgring was certainly not an easy circuit in which to compete, let alone do well. The many blind corners and crests, along with the sheer length of the circuit, made the circuit very tough to tame and featured very few Ringmeisters.
One of those ‘Ringmasters’ of the early 1950s was Alberto Ascari. Ever since the German Grand Prix, and the Nurburgring, entered the World Championship in 1951 Ascari had been its champion. In both cases, Ascari looked dominant and quite at home circulating around the circuit. And as with the previous season, Ascari came to the Nurburgring on the verge of earning a World Championship title.
Loof and the other German racers in the field for the race knew full well they stood an incredibly small chance against the might of Scuderia Ferrari and the resurgent Maserati factory effort. Therefore, Loof knew well his battle was against his fellow countrymen.
The disparity would become quite clear during practice. While many of the elite drivers of the day had been close, it seemed the ten minute barrier was impassible for the Formula 2 cars of the day. This would be found not to be true during practice as Ascari would crack the barrier with a lap time of nine minutes, fifty-nine and eight-tenths seconds. This would earn Ascari the pole. What was more, his time would end up being nearly four seconds faster than Fangio’s who would start in 2nd. The rest of the front row would include Giuseppe Farina and Mike Hawthorn in two of the other Ferraris.
When it came to Ernst Loof and his best times it appeared a twelve minute lap would be his goal. Unfortunately, he would not get close to breaking it. In fact, Loof’s fastest time would be a lap of twelve minutes and sixteen seconds. This would be quite the contrast from the times on the front row. Mike Hawthorn’s time for 4th would obviously be the slowest, but even then his time was just ten minutes and twelve seconds. This meant a difference of more then two minutes, which translated into Loof starting the race 31st and from the ninth row of the grid.
The day of the race would be pleasant and nice. As the cars lined up on the grid, Loof was a long way back and could barely see even the first couple of rows of cars. Likewise, the front row of starters would only really catch a glimpse of Loof as they came around during the race to put him a lap down. As it turned out, they would not even see him at all.
As the field roared away at the start of the race, Loof went to pull away from the grid as well when his fuel pump failed. Without it the engine would starve and quit. That was it. In what would be Loof’s first and only World Championship race, it would all come to an end after coasting just a few feet forward because of a failed fuel pump.
