Photo credit: Lothar Spurzem (CC BY-SA 2.0) - (CREDIT LINKS AT THE END OF THE CONTENT)
Eifelland F1 Team, which competed in 1972—Carsrave continues to share classic stories and revive memories of teams that have vanished from the sport.
The story of Eifelland in Formula 1 was brief, disappearing within the same year, yet it still deserves respect. Simply taking on the responsibility of building a team to compete against the best in the world was an achievement in itself, something you rarely hear about in modern Formula 1.
Eifelland was not a factory-backed giant. It was a personal project of Günther Hennerici, a German industrialist whose business had nothing to do with motorsport. His company manufactured caravans, and the team took its name directly from that enterprise. For Hennerici, Formula One was not just a competition, but also a stage for visibility and ambition.
A Constructor in Name, a Privateer in Spirit
At the time, Eifelland was registered as a Formula One constructor, meaning the car carried its own name and designation, the Eifelland Type 21, rather than being entered simply as a customer machine. In practice, however, the team operated much closer to a privateer effort.
The team did not build the car from scratch. Instead, they purchased a March 721 chassis, a common approach at the time for smaller teams entering Formula One. Many outfits simply did not have the resources to design and build a complete car themselves, and Eifelland was no exception.
But Hennerici, the team owner, had a different vision. Rather than running the original chassis, he asked his designer to completely rethink the car’s bodywork. Colani was no ordinary aerodynamicist—he was known for futuristic ideas, bold designs, and a willingness to ignore established norms. In his eyes, Formula One was just another canvas for innovation.
However, this also meant the team had limited experience and aimed to achieve more on the grid than they ultimately managed. Looking at their results in Formula One, their ambitions were greater than what the car could deliver. That year, many small teams entered the championship, much like the Connew F1 team. Unlike Eifelland, Connew built their car entirely from scratch in a tiny garage, which highlights that Eifelland actually had more resources than many other privateers of the time.
Looking back, those days were a golden era because people had the chance to witness bold ideas and entirely new concepts. Teams would try to bring something fresh to Formula One out of nowhere, and that unpredictability made it fascinating to watch. The modern era, for some, feels different—fans often focus solely on the competition, rather than the creativity and experimentation. Nostalgia for that adventurous spirit is something many of us miss, and it’s exactly why I continue to dedicate time to this website.
The Eifelland Type 21 and Luigi Colani’s Vision
The result was one of the most unusual Formula One cars ever to appear on a Grand Prix grid. The Eifelland Type 21 looked nothing like its rivals. Its most striking feature was a large air intake mounted at the very front of the car, directly ahead of the driver. This intake was designed to channel airflow smoothly over and around the cockpit before feeding the engine behind.
Even more controversial was the decision to remove traditional side mirrors entirely. In their place, Colani installed a single, centrally mounted periscope-style mirror positioned above the cockpit as you can see in the photo. The idea was to reduce drag and improve airflow, but in reality it compromised visibility and unsettled the driver.
While visually dramatic, the design created serious technical problems. The reshaped bodywork interfered with cooling, leading to persistent overheating issues. Aerodynamically, the car generated insufficient downforce, particularly compared to more conventional designs evolving rapidly during the early 1970s. Handling was inconsistent, and balance varied from circuit to circuit, making the car difficult to set up and even harder to race.
Power and Mechanical Package
Like many privateers at the time, almost everyone chose to buy the Ford Cosworth engine designed by Keith Duckworth. It was the best engine in F1 at the time, dominating the sport through the late 1960s and 1970s. Eifelland, as a small team, did the same to ensure they had a reliable engine.
Looking at the race stats, the DFV engine itself was not the problem for Eifelland. They managed to finish races and even be competitive, but the overall project fell short of expectations. The main issues arose from how the engine interacted with the unconventional bodywork and cooling system, what worked well in theory struggled once the car hit the track.
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Rolf Stommelen’s Challenging Season
The team never changed its driver, and he stayed with them from the first race to the last: Rolf Stommelen.
According to reports, the Eifelland was a demanding car to race, but despite its limitations, he was able to deliver strong performances, finishing tenth twice, at the 1972 British GP and Monaco GP.
Rolf Stommelen had already been competing in F1 for three years before joining Eifelland. He made his debut with the American team Roy Winkelmann Racing in 1969, and his best result that season was eighth place at the German GP.
However, these results were not enough for Eifelland to hide their underlying problems; the team was unable to take the next step and compete at a higher level.
The short-lived team and the goodbye
It was not just poor performance that led to the project ending so quickly that year, finances were a major factor. Costs were rising, and results failed to improve, forcing the team owner, Hennerici, into a difficult decision.
The situation worsened when his business, a caravan manufacturing company, was sold, and the new owners had no interest in supporting the F1 project. With that sale, Eifelland’s financial lifeline disappeared. After the 1972 Austrian GP, the team withdrew from the championship, marking the end of the German outfit.
Today, the team is remembered not for results or trophies, but as a reminder of an era when F1 still allowed space for bold experiments. Even if you did not succeed, you at least had the chance to test ideas and compete with what you believed could work.
Photo credit: Lothar Spurzem (CC BY-SA 2.0) – Source: Wikimedia Commons
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