Loof wouldn’t be alone, however. Hans Stuck would have his car break on the grid and would also drop out before even completing a single lap.
Had the race been just through the first few corners then Juan Manuel Fangio would have taken the win as he got the better start. However, Ascari was just too fast around the Nurburgring and would soon take over the lead of the race. Ascari would be in the lead as he came around to complete the first lap and would actually hold onto the lead throughout the first half dozen laps or more.
Ascari’s pace was such that he gradually began to pull away from the rest of the field. Soon, Fangio would be joined by Hawthorn and Farina to give chase of the World Champion but it all seemed to be futile.
While Ascari seemed untouchable at the front of the field, the tail end of the field continued to face attrition sweeping through its ranks. Eight would be out of the race before reaching 5 laps. Three more would be out before reaching the end of eight laps.
And those that attrition wasn’t knocking out of the running Ascari would take care of. Such was Ascari’s pace that many of the competitors would end the race not merely seconds, but many minutes behind.
But just when it seemed Ascari would run away with the race as he had with many others, trouble would come and visit him. All of a sudden Hawthorn, Farina and Fangio would all pass by Ascari. A wheel had fallen off his car and he was doing everything he could just to make it back to the pits so that repairs could be made. He would make it to the pits and by the time he arrived Luigi Villoresi, Ferrari’s other driver, would also make his way into the pits. Villoresi would hand his car over to his friend for the remainder of the race. Villoresi, in turn, would wait for repairs to be made to Ascari’s car before he too returned to the race.
The World Championship still had a slim chance of slipping through his fingers. Therefore, when Ascari returned to the circuit the incredibly large crowd assembled to watch the race would have the opportunity to see just what Ascari could do when he hung it out there on the edge lap after lap.
Farina had been in the lead the year before when Ascari surprised him to take the win. Once again, Farina’s smooth driving netted him the lead, but Ascari was on an absolute tear behind him in an effort to take over the lead of the race. Within a lap, Ascari was running right around his qualifying time. It seemed this would be as fast as he could do and that it would take an incredible amount of effort just to remain at that pace. However, on the 12th lap of the race he would go on to post a time that absolutely stunned the crowd. As Ascari screamed past the start/finish line one more time and incredible time popped. He had completed a lap of the 14 mile Nurburgring, in a Formula 2 car, in nine minutes and fifty-six seconds! When he was driving the Ferrari 375 Formula One car just a couple of years earlier his best time around the circuit had been less than a second faster. This was an incredible time. In fact, it would end up being too incredible to continue.
Farina continued to hold onto the lead despite Ascari’s hard charge back up through the field. However, just when the pressure was beginning to mount it would all come to an end. With just three laps remaining the engine would let go in Ascari’s car bringing to an end one of the most impressive performances ever seen in a grand prix.
Safely ahead of Fangio in 2nd and miles ahead of Hawthorn in 3rd, all Farina had to do was hold on and he would take the win. It would take Farina just three hours and two minutes to complete the 18 laps and take the win. Fangio would cross the line a little more than a minute later to take 2nd. In 3rd place would be Hawthorn. The pace at the front of the field had been such that only the top four remained on the lead lap.
As the cars streaked across the line to bring about the end of the race it became apparent that as the cars finished Ascari would repeat as World Champion. He would be the first to repeat and the first back-to-back World Champion.
Amidst the Ascari’s and Ferrari’s elation, Ernst Loof would quietly pack up everything and would leave the circuit and would head home. One of the men responsible for engineering the rebirth of German motor racing would leave the circuit and would slip away and would never take part in another motor race ever again.
Loof would return to BMW as Veritas went through bankruptcy. Proving he still hadn’t lost his touch when it came to designing sleek, sporty automobiles, in 1954, he would design a roadster for BMW. The design offers an almost dead giveaway concerning the car’s heritage as the grille would bear a striking resemblance to Loof’s Veritas RS design.
Just a couple of years after his first and only attempt in a World Championship race, Loof would witness the ascendancy of Mercedes-Benz and Juan Manuel Fangio to the title in 1955. This would be a fitting tribute to the man who had helped the automobile and racing industry recover after the war. It would also be a fitting tribute as the man would pass away the following year as a result of an inoperable brain tumor.
