Karl-August Bergmann

Karl-August started in the BG Special in 1951 and finished second in the East German Championship to Daniel Zimmerman. Like his countrymen, he struggled in the occasional race in West Germany which attracted the British drivers in their Coopers, but was competitive at home.

Some results for Karl-August in the BG Eigenbau:

Halle Saale Schleife 21st April 1951, 1st

Leipzig 20th May 1951, 3rd

Avus 1st July 1951, 8th in heat, 14th in final

Dreieckrennen 8th July 1951, 2nd

Nürburgring 29th July 1951 German Grand Prix, DNF

For 1952, he moved to a locally made Grün-Zundapp but his season was somewhat marred by unreliability and he could only finish fourth to the sister cars of Willy Lehmann and Gerhard Zschoche and Karl Weber's Seepferdchen:

Avus 1st June 1952, 4th

Halle Saale Schleife 8th June 1952, 6th

Kiel 22nd June 1952, DNF

Leipzig 17th August 1952, DNF

Sachsenring 7th September 1952, DNF

Halle Saale Schleife 5th October 1952, DNF

1953 brought better reliability and better positions earning Karl-Heinz second place in the Championship to Lehmann:

Hockenheim 10th May 1953, DNF

Rostock 21st June 1953, 8th

Halle Saale Schleife 5th July 1953, 2nd

Dresden 26th July 1953, 4th

Sachsenring 23rd August 1953, 5th

Braunschweig 30th August 1953, 3rd

He continued with the Grün for '54 but by now, Lehman had acquired a BMW powered Scampolo and (West German) Theo Helfrich was in the latest Cooper Mk VIII so top placings were hard to come by and Karl-August was back to fourth in the Championship and this appears to be the end of his racing career.

Leipzig 16th May 1954, DNF

Dresden 13th June 1954, 4th

If you know more about Karl-August's life, please get in touch