von trips

Of Counts and Castles

May 3, 2016 By pete

Castle image by Henk Brouwer, inset by Graham Gauld.

Copyright Henk J. Brouwer

[Henk Brouwer visited the von Trips Museum in 2001 and wrote about it for VeloceToday. It may be one of the only complete descriptions of the Museum as it apparently closed its doors in 2014. Ed.]

As we have recounted in Part 1, Count “Taffy” von Trips lived in a castle, whose foundations dated from the late 14th century. The castle Hemmersbach was awarded to Franz Adalph Ansem Berghe von Trips in 1751 and extended by Wolfgang’s grandfather in 1899. Wolfgang’s father Eduard continued to live in the castle until his death in 1971. The widowed Thessa, then moved out of the castle into the nearby Villa Trips which she had built, until her death in 1978.

The castle was sold in 1984 to a private owner who restored it in 1988. After that, the castle seemed to be neglected. In 1999 it was sold to a software engineer, and there was a very radical restoration of the whole castle in progress, starting with the outbuildings. The estate directly around the castle is fully fenced in. Warnings of big, mean dogs are posted on the fences. The castle leaves a ruinous impression, caused by the rampancy of ivies and weeds between the bricks of the entrance and some blisters on the paint. With thunder, lightning, rain and wind, the castle even can look lugubrious.

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Wolfgang von Trips and His Museum

April 26, 2016 By pete

Wolfgang von Trips, 1958. Photo by Graham Gauld

Copyright Henk J. Brouwer (Arnhem – NL)

(July 2001, Boxmeer, Germany) On July 28th and 29th, the FCN (Ferrari Club Nederland), organized a rally which started at the former castle-convent “Elzendaal”. This convent was built in 1667 in a little town called Boxmeer, very near to the German border. The rally brought the participants and enthusiasts to Villa Trips “Museum for Racing History” (in German, “Museum für Rennsportgeschichte”). The location of the Villa Trips is very remarkable. It is set in a National, protected park in Kerpen/Horrem, next to Burg Hemmersbach.

Entering the area of the estate, the silence is serene. Ancient oak and beech trees rustle gently, although it was a calm day. A brick paved road lined with tall trees and old street lamps leads to the Villa Trips, and a Ferrari-flag attracted my attention. I became very curious about this famous home of Wolfgang von Trips.

Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips

Before learning something about Villa Trips, the museum and what it stands for, it’s necessary to know something about the famous race driver who was born and raised here. Wolfgang Alexander (“Wölfchen”) Graf Berghe von Trips was the son of Eduard Reichsgraf Berghe von Trips and his wife Thessa and was born in Köln on May 4th, 1928. The family lived in Bonn until 1932, when his father inherited the Hemmersbach castle. Castle living was the main motivation for moving to Hemmersbach. Here Wolfgang had a wonderful youth. In the years 1935 to 1938 he enjoyed the GP of Germany at the Nürburgring, so close it was nearly in the back garden of the Castle Hemmersbach. He never forgot those experiences.

At Silverstone in 1958, von Trips was driving the Dino 246. Photo by Graham Gauld.

His driving license was obtained in 1946 just after the war. Von Trips was sent to college to obtain a degree in agriculture, as his parents wished that he would work on the large estate.

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Ollon Villars 1958: AC Zagato, Lotus Ghia-Aigle

April 25, 2012 By pete

Graham Gauld finds oddities at the 1958 Ollon Villars Hillclimb

Clearly the readers of VeloceToday have enquiring minds. They appear to warm to the oddities of this world and no doubt in future months the odd oddity will make its way into my features. Just to give you a warm up I want to take you back to 1958 when Brazil won the world soccer cup and Mike Hawthorn became the first Englishman to win the World Formula 1 drivers championship.

I had decided to return to Modena to see what was happening since last I had been there, but I was stuck as I did not have a car – even though I was sports editor of an automobile magazine. The fact that a friend loaned me his Heinkel three-wheel “bubble car” and I drove it from Scotland to Modena and back…including over the Alpine passes…is another story but we were tough back then as well as stupid! However, on the way to Modena I planned to go to the European Hill Climb Championship event at the Ollon-Villars Hill Climb near Lake Geneva.

Hans Herrmann on the line at Ollon-Villars with the Borgward 1500. Note Wolfgang von Trips looking at him behind the car with von Trips’ RSK lined up behind. The red and white car is Albert Leuenberger’s Lotus II-Maserati with a 1500cc engine.

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Michael T. Lynch on “The Limit”

November 30, 2011 By pete

Last week we published an interview with New York Times writer Michael Cannell, whose new book has been greeted with great reviews. This week, Michael T. Lynch reviews Cannell’s book “The Limit, Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit”. It’s a review you will NOT want to miss.

Review by Michael T. Lynch

Author and journalist, Michael Cannell, whose sports writing has been seen in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Sports Illustrated and Outside, has written a book about one of the most dramatic seasons in World Championship Grand Prix history. [Read more…] about Michael T. Lynch on “The Limit”

A Response From the Author of “The Limit…”

November 30, 2011 By pete

By Michael Cannell

I defer to your and Michael’s grasp of automotive history in most of these points. However, I think you’ve erred in some places and overreached in others. I’ve attached a handful of rebuttals. In some cases, you seem to treat my decision to not include a bit of information as a form of inaccuracy. Bear in mind that “The Limit” is meant to be narrative non-fiction, not exhaustive history. [Read more…] about A Response From the Author of “The Limit…”

Interview with Michael Cannell, Author of “The Limit”

November 23, 2011 By Wally

The book is out, the reviews are rave. The Boston Globe says “The Limit, Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit” reads “like a thriller”; the Wall Street Journal calls it a “well researched chronicle” and “an enthralling history of road racing’s golden era”; USA Today said it “deserves a spot in the library—if not, soon enough, on the DVD rack” Indeed, author Michael Cannell, a lifelong New Yorker who is not a car nut and who doesn’t even own one, sold the rights to the movie before the book was even written.

For us hardcore euro-car-nuts, much ado about an old subject. But Cannell thought that the story of Phil Hill and von Trips would resonate with today’s audience, and apparently he was right. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Spiderman Tobey Maguire snapped up the rights to develop the project at Columbia Pictures long before the book was published, perhaps in an attempt to keep ahead of filmmaker Ron Howard, who will begin shooting the Lauda/Hunt epic, “Rush”, in February. Then there is A.J. Baime’s “Go Like Hell”, also presumably in the process of getting to the big screen, not to forget that Wallace Wyss’s book SHELBY: The Man The Cars The Legend has also optioned its movie rights to a film producer.

VeloceToday will review “The Limit” in depth next week. But even before the book was published, Wally Wyss caught up with author Michael Cannell, and asked all the right questions. His interview follows.

Interview by Wallace Wyss

Wyss: Mike, what is your background? Are you a car guy per se?
Cannell: Strangely enough, I’m not a car guy. Quite the contrary, in fact. As a lifelong New Yorker, I don’t own a car. And I’m a pretty poor driver. It is a source of some embarrassment to me that I have shown up to interview great automotive figures in a compact rental car that I can hardly park. [Read more…] about Interview with Michael Cannell, Author of “The Limit”