Harry Merkel

Harry Erich Merkel ( born January 10, 1918 in diving, Saxony, † February 11, 1995 in Killarney Vale, Australia ) was a German racing driver, motor vehicle dealers and designers.

He started, among others, a BMW DIY by Willi Cracow on August 3, 1952 at the Grand Prix of Germany at the Nürburgring.

End of the 1950s modified Harry Merkel a Rometsch Spyder, the 356 based on the Porsche. The vehicle received a second door was repainted and then sold. As recently as 2009 the Spyder version of Merkel was re-discovered in a warehouse in Hockenheim and is now restored in the Automobile Museum to see the prototype in Hamburg.

The former racing driver and car dealer Harry Merkel was also one of the former leaders in the cadet - tuning. In 1962 he constructed in his workshop in Hamburg in a year of development time a Formula 3 race car. The tube frame and body were a complete in-house design. Axles, steering and placed behind the rear-engined four-speed gearbox, he took over from the BMW 700 Sport. The engine of Merkel Formula 3 race car in 1963 was initially equipped with an engine of Moto Pinelli. 1964 received the car an Opel Kadett S engine, 80 bhp through a modified compaction, a racing exhaust and a sharper camshaft at 7200 rpm. The 400 -kg single-seater is expected to reach a top speed of 200 km / h after former statements. The Formula series was known under the name Merkel Panther 3 and was shown at numerous race tracks in Europe.