10/1/1918 - 11/2/1995
Record updated 21-Jun-07
Harry Merkel tried but failed to qualify Willi Krakau's BMW Eigenbau in the 1952 German Grand Prix. He also competed in sports car racing and hill climbs.
Harry Merkel was a German Racing Driver born in Leipzig. He raced motorcycles before the war. After the war he competed in sports car racing and hill climbs with a Porsche.
n 1952 he attempted to qualify Willi Krakau's BMW Eigenbau in the German Grand Prix. He failed to set a time.
He competed in the Mille Miglia three times, the Nurburgring 1000 km race three times, including the first running in 1953, and even drove in the Tourist Trophy in Ireland.
He raced on until the early 1960s.
Later, he left East Germany for the West where he ran a number of dealerships with the franchises for Guzzi, Lancia, Panhard and Triumph. He re-married and emigrated to New South Wales, Australia where he died in 1995.
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