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Alfred Neubauer

Alfred Neubauer
  • Surname
    Neubauer
  • First name
    Alfred
  • Date of birth
    29.03.1891
  • Date of death
    21.08.1980

Born in the Moravian town of Neutitschein, Neubauer's motorsport career began after he was commissioned as an automotive officer in the Austrian Imperial and Royal Army at the Austro-Daimler plant in Wiener-Neustadt. Here, in 1919, he served as head of the breaking-in department and competed in car races in the following years in the "Sascha" model developed by Ferdinand Porsche.

In 1923, he was also brought to Untertürkheim by Ferdinand Porsche, who had moved from Austro-Daimler to Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) in May as the new Technical Director, where he became Head of the Driving Department. Here, he also completed racing stints in Mercedes' first supercharged models at the Targa Florio and the Semmering race.

He made his first appearance as a race director in 1926 at the Solitude race and found his true calling in this function, with which he contributed to the numerous victories of the S-series supercharged models. The legendary era of the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows from 1934 to 1939, with more than two dozen Grand Prix victories, three European Championship titles for Rudolf Caracciola and several speed records, was just as much under Neubauer's direction as the return of Mercedes-Benz to motorsport in the early 1950s.

Thanks to his meticulous planning and preparation of the races, the drivers of the 300 SL and 300 SLR racing sports cars as well as the W 196 R Formula 1 Silver Arrows were able to build on the great successes of the Mercedes-Benz brand more than ten years previously. With the withdrawal of Daimler-Benz AG from motorsport in autumn 1955, Alfred Neubauer's work as race director also came to an end.

Thus, he went down in motorsport history as the "choreographer of Mercedes-Benz victories", having used flags and information boards to develop a concept for detailed communication between the pit and drivers as well as a precisely planned sequence of pit stops. After his enforced resignation as racing director, Neubauer was concerned with the reappraisal of the unique motorsport history and remained closely associated with Daimler-Benz AG into old age.

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