12/3/1896 - 2/2/1940
Record updated 12-Mar-20
Burggaller started racing motorcycles in 1922 but switched to cars in 1928 with a Bugatti T37. He aquired a T35B which he altered to Monoposto specification and fitted a T51 motor. One of the top German drivers he was killed in action early in 1940.
The stocky built Ernst-Günther Burggaller from Berlin was a quiet, reliable and fast driver. He had been a fighter pilot and member of the famous von Richthofen's "Circus" during WW1. After the WWI he started a driving school in Berlin.
In 1922, Burggaller started racing motorcycles winning 24 times in 3 1/2 years.
He switched to racing cars in 1928 with a Bugatti T37. The next year he changed to Emil Bremme's T35B sports car, finishing second to Caracciola in the 1930 European Mountain Championship for Sports Cars.
From 1930 to 1932, he formed the German Bugatti Team with H.J. von Morgen and Price zu Leiningen. He won the Masarykuv Okruh at Brno in 1932 but then, after retiring with the broken axle on the 17th July of that year at the Nürburgring, he swapped the T35 B engine with a T51 motor, the car having already having been altered to Monoposto specification.
In 1933 he finished 2nd at the Avusrennen and in 1934 took second again followed by 3rd in the Eifelrennen, 3rd in the Prix de Berne and 2nd in the Masarykuv Okruh.
He was offered an Auto Union contract that year but turned it down perhaps due to a lack of confidence in his ability to control their cars. He did step in to deputise for Prince zu Leiningen when he was taken ill before the Großer Preis von Deutschland that year. He went out on the fourth lap with gearbox problems. He then shared Momberger's car, but they retired sixteen laps later. In 1934 he also drove the Jamieson Sprint Car, an Austin 7 Special, at the Klaussen Hillclimb in Switzerland.
After some further Voiturette racing he joined Luftwaffe again as a Major in 1938. Leading a Jagdgruppe he was killed in action early in 1940.
With thanks to Hans Etzrodt + hr