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Huldreich Heußer
 
Complete name: Huldreich Heußer
Birth date: 01.Nov.1889
Birth Place: Zürich, Switzerland
Death date: 20.Aug.1928
Death Place: Müncheberg, Brandenburg, Germany
Nationality: Germany
Gender: male
Age at death: 38
 
Event date: 19.Aug.1928
Series: sportscar - non-championship
Race: IV Buckower Dreieck-Rennen
Event type: race
Country: Germany
Venue: Buckower Dreieck
Variant: 1924-1928
 
Role: driver
Vehicle type: car
Vehicle sub-type: sportscar
Vehicle brand/model: Bugatti T35B
Vehicle number: ??
 

Notes:
Between 1925 and 1928 the Berlin-Brandenburg division of the ADAC organized an yearly race in the Buckower Dreieck (Triangle of Buckow), about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Berlin, Germany. The 12.5-kilometer somewhat triangular public roads course went in counter-clockwise direction around Lake Schermützel, through the forest west of Buckow, using roads with poor pavements.

In the sportscar race held at the Buckower Dreieck on Sunday 19 August 1928, Rudi Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz SSK and Huldreich Heußer driving a red Bugatti T35B were the main contenders.

Heußer took the lead on the fourth lap. After two laps, passing on the long straight after Waldsieversdorf, his Bugatti came a bit too far left on the sandy edge of the road, at a speed of about 160 km/h (100 mi/h), trying to lap the Amilcar of backmarker Heinrich Eichmann. Heußer lost control of the car, hit a kerbstone and two trees on the roadside, before plowing head-on into a third tree. The car was totally destroyed, Heußer's riding-mechanic Otto Feldmann, 44-year-old, received a crushed head and was killed upon impact.

Heußer sustained severe legs injuries. He was taken to Müncheberg Hospital, in Märkisch-Oderland, Brandenburg, Germany, where his left leg had to be amputated below the knee as well as half of his right foot. He suffered also a severe concussion, fractured skull, crushed thorax and one broken rib, injuries to which he succumbed in the morning of the following day, Monday, 20 August 1928. He was 38 years old.

After the accident spectators flooded the circuit and consequently the race had to be suspended and the meeting abandoned. No further Buckower Dreieck-Rennen were held after 1928. A memorial stele in honor of the deceased Heußer and Feldmann was erected at the place of accident.

The stone memorial erected in honor of Heußer and Feldmann at the place of accident on the Buckower Dreieck, near the village of Waldsieversdorf, Brandenburg, Germany.
Photo taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.



One of the most famous racing drivers of his time, Swiss born Huldreich Heußer lived since many years in Kleinschmalkalden, Thüringen, Germany, where he ran an electrical equipment company. It is believed he obtained German citizenship before his death. He was survived by his wife and a three-year-old daughter.

Huldreich Heußer began his racing career as a motorcycle rider, taking one win in 1922 in the 350 cm3 class race of the Grand Prix de Suisse held at the Lac de Joux race course, riding a Condor. He switched to four wheels and soon proved his talent as hillclimber, taking dozens of class and overall wins driving Steyr cars, since the early 1920s, being crowned German Hillclimb Champion at least once. During the years, he drove 3.3-liter Typ 60/VI 12/60HP, 4.4-litre Typ VI Klausen Sport 19/145HP and 5-litre Steyr models. He scored the first of his almost 25 outright victories in May 1923 at the Ködelberg Bergrennen in Kronach, Germany. Amongst his greatest successes were his four wins in both the Gabelbach hillclimb near Ilmenau, Thüringen, and the Naumburg race near Leipzig, Sachsen, in 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1927; three times he won at the Winterberg in Bad Wildungen, Hessen, in 1923, 1926 and 1927; and twice at the Fichtelberg near Chemnitz, Sachsen, and at the Krähberg in the Odenwald, Hessen; plus many other hillclimbs wins in Germany and abroad, including the classic Zbraslav–Jíloviště in Czechoslovakia, in 1927.

Huldreich Heußer failed to win his fifth Gabelbach hillclimb, on 29 July 1928. When the red Bugatti T35B he had just purchased crossed the finish line at the Hotel Gabelbach, Heußer was hailed as the winner, but there was one more car ready at the bottom of the valley, the white Mercedes SSK of the then not quite known Caracciola who earned a spectacular victory, breaking Heußer's old record from 1927. One week later, Heußer's final win came at the 12-kilometer Freiburg-Schauinsland, driving the Bugatti, on 05 August 1928, a few weeks before his death.

Heußer tried circuit racing several times. He won the car category at the first edition of the annual Schleizer Dreiecksrennen in 1923, driving a Wanderer but later he failed to finish in almost any of his attempts in international events, three times at the Nürburgring - including the track's inaugural race on 17 June 1927 - at the Solitude, Stuttgart in 1926 and in the Targa Florio, Coppa Messina and Coppa Etna during his trip in Sicily in May 1928, with his Bugatti T35B. In 1927, he also became the German Speed Record holder for one-kilometer with a flying start, driving the Steyr sportscar at an average speed of 175.4 km/h (109 mi/h) on the course between Limbach and Homburg, Saarland.

In 1923 Huldreich Heußer was involved in another fatality, when he lost control of his Steyr and went off the road during the Krähberg hillclimb. The car struck a group of spectators, killing one unknown girl and injuring two other persons.

He was also involved in another serious accident on 18 September 1927, during the Rund um die Solitude race, when he failed to negotiate a curve near the Leonberg-Ramtel junction and struck a group of spectators. Although several contemporary newspapers reported the death of a woman in the incident, this fatality is not confirmed by newspapers from the Stuttgart area, where the race took place. On 01 June 1928, Heußer was tried for this accident, and even in this instance, newspaper articles only mentioned serious injuries to three spectators. Incidentally, Heußer was acquitted of all charges.

A memorial stone with a plaque dedicated to Huldreich Heußer, work of the sculptor Richard Bauroth, was erected at the Gabelbachskopf near Ilmenau, Thüringen, Germany,
where Heußer won four times the Gabelbach Bergrennen, between 1924 and 1927.
Photo taken by Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.



A photo of the Bugatti of Heußer and Feldmann taken just before their fatal accident.
Photo published by the newspaper Essener Allgemeine Zeitung, issue of 21 August 1928, public domain.



 
Sources:
  • Book "Die Legendären Gabelbachrennen: Eine Chronik über 100 Jahre Bergrennen in Ilmenau" by Göran Cialla with Martin Bienek, Klicks Ilmenau, 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-047755-3.
  • Magazine Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung, Wien, Austria, issue unknown [E1].
  • Newspaper Journal de Genève (Genève, Switzerland), issue of Tuesday, 21 August 1928, article "Mort d'un coureur suisse à Berlin", page 4, retrieved by website http://www.letempsarchives.ch [name of riding mechanic: Fellmann].
  • Newspaper Essener Allgemeine Zeitung (Essen, Germany), issue of 21 August 1928, page 9, retrieved by website zeit.punkt NRW https://zeitpunkt.nrw/ulbbn/periodical/zoom/13838687
  • Website Rund-um-Buckow / Märkische Schweiz, page http://www.rund-um-buckow.de/presse/99/moz990603.htm .
  • Website Motorrennsportarchiv, page https://www.motorrennsportarchiv.de/unvergessen-der-rennfahrer-huldreich-heusser/ .
  • Website AUTOSPORT → Forums → The Nostalgia Forum, thread "Buckower Dreieck", posting by "Hans Etzrodt", message http://forums.atlasf1.com/showthread.php?postid=1526163#post1526163 also citing [E1].
  • Website The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing 1934-1940 by Leif Snellman, page https://www.goldenera.fi/dh.htm#HEU .
  • Website Hill Climb Winners 1897-1949 by Hans Etzrodt and Leif Snellman, page https://www.goldenera.fi/hcw2.htm .
  • Website Hill Climb Winners 1897-1949 by Hans Etzrodt and Leif Snellman, page https://www.goldenera.fi/hcw3.htm .
  • Website Hill Climb Winners 1897-1949 by Hans Etzrodt and Leif Snellman, page https://www.goldenera.fi/hcw4.htm .
  • Website Motor Racing Circuits, by Daniel King, page https://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/racingcircuits/Germany/index.html .
  • Website Racing Memory by Vincent Glon, page http://racingmemo.free.fr/M%20GRAND%20PRIX/MGP-PALM-SUI.htm [name: Alfred Heusser].
  • Website Racing Sports Cars, page https://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/results/Huldreich-Heusser-D.html .
  • E-mail by Hélio Rodrigues, dated 23 November 2006.
  • E-mail by Stefan Kluge, dated 04 July 2011, citing website http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCncheberg .
  • E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 18 July 2024.
  • E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 19 July 2024.