Wolfgang Berghe von Trips

Born in Horrem near Cologne, Wolfgang von Trips discovered motorsport as a young boy and, after visits to the Nürburgring, raved about the great drivers of the Silver Arrows. His own sporting career began in 1950 on a motorbike, with which he won his first laurels in off-road races the following year. He switched to motor racing in 1953 and was initially active with Porsche. At times travelling under the pseudonym "Axel Linther", his spectacular driving style was conspicuous, yet successful.

Mediated by a benefactor, Mercedes-Benz racing director Alfred Neubauer gave him the chance to test drive a 300 SL production sports car in Hockenheim in the summer of 1955. The decisive factor were the Count's driving achievements in his private Porsche 356, with which he accomplished astonishing feats at various races on the Nürburgring, but especially at the Mille Miglia in 1955. In the thousand-mile race through Italy, he took second place in the GT class up to 1300 cc.

Von Trips was convincing in the 300 SL "Gullwing" as well as in further test drives in the 300 SLR racing sports car and was allowed to drive a 300 SL provided by the factory in the Grand Tourisme category at the Swedish Grand Prix in Kristianstad in August of the same year. The race ended in a bale of straw for von Trips and his "Gullwing", but the Count's strong performance resulted in another opportunity to start at the Tourist Trophy in September 1955 – this time in one of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLRs dominating the World Sports Car Championship, which he shared with Frenchman André Simon. Supported by Karl Kling in the last third of the race, the duo of Trips/Simon finished in third place after a gruelling race.

Even after Daimler-Benz announced its withdrawal from Formula 1 and the World Sports Car Championship at the end of the year, Wolfgang von Trips remained on Alfred Neubauer's radar. In addition to driving private and works Porsches, von Trips and his co-driver Horst Straub took part in the Mille Miglia at the end of April 1956 in a factory-serviced 300 SL and caused a sensation in the first 400 kilometres: with the standard "gullwing", he led the intermediate ranking ahead of the much more powerful racing sports cars. Then he had an accident during an overtaking manoeuvre that ended his race.

Von Trips entered his last race in a Mercedes-Benz in September 1956 on the AVUS. There, he drove a 300 SL owned by Wolfgang Seidel from Düsseldorf in the GT class up to 3000 cc and won the Grand Prix of Berlin as well as the race for racing cars up to 1500 cc in a Porsche 550 RS.

By this time, the Count's career has long since accelerated: At the Swedish Grand Prix the month before, he competed in Formula 1 for the first time in a Ferrari. From this point on, the fate of Imperial Count Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips takes its inexorable course, culminating in his fatal accident at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on 10 September 1961.