And Colossally That's History!
How Hitler's Nazi regime weaponised motor racing
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Episode notes
Matt Bishop (journalist, editor, novelist and PR) and Richard Williams (journalist, author and broadcaster) are here to reappraise the past - and they'd love to have you along for the ride!
On this episode, Matt and Richard take a trip back to Germany in the 1930s to explain how Adolf Hitler used motor racing as a tool - and perhaps even a weapon - of the Nazi regime.
They discuss why Hitler felt it was so important to have a state sponsored motor racing programme, how Mercedes and Auto Union used the funds to create some incredible machines that came to dominate pre-war grand prix racing, and tell the ill-fated story of the speed record attempts that both manufacturers were involved in.
There are also stories about Richard Seaman (the British racer who came to drive for Mercedes), Rene Dreyfus (the Jewish driver who took delight in beating the teams for whom he couldn't drive), and the parallels between Tazio Nuvolari's famous victory at Nurburgring in 1935 and the success of the great American sprinter Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.