Image / graphic: Agridecumantes (Own work). Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 and GNU FDL 1.2+.
Some crashes shock you and some moments, when you look at it, it looks very scary.
Others stay in your mind because survival seem impossible, but it happened many times in the past, with no hope, but then miracles happened.
The scene at AVUS
The AVUS track in Berlin which is now is part of Autobahn, was notorius for its sheer speed and menacing banked straight.
In 1959, the German GP was held there with an unusual twist, it was run in heats and the winner decided by aggregate times.
That meant every lap was flat out and there was no margin for error.
On the fifth lap of his heat, Hans Herrmann’s BRM approached the southern hairpin at top speed, then disaster struck, the brakes failed completely, at that speed, there was no way to slow down safely.
Chaos in motion
The car ploughed into the hay bales, and what followed looked like something from a racing nightmare, Hermann’s car flipped, cartwheeled through the inflied and somersaulted over and over, spraying debris into the air.
Witnesses said it was a spinning blur of metal, leather and dust, a moment where you could not tell where the crash would end or if the driver had any chance.
“Lucky Hans” walks away
The good news? Herrmann was thrown clear of the wreck and slid across the circuit, he got up, he limped back to the paddock, shaken but alive, with bruises and rush of adrenaline.
From that day, people called him ‘lucky Hans’ a nickname that stayed with him for the rest of his career.
The dark contrast of that weekend
AVUS’s dramatic banking played a part in Herrmans escape, just a day earlier, French driver Jean Behra had crashed during a sports car race, his car went out of control on the banking, he was also thrown out.
But the sad news is that he did not survive, the two incidents, just hours apart, showed the razor-thin difference between survival and fatality in motorsport most dangerous years.
Mechanical risks of the era
Herrmann’s brake failure was far from unusual for the time. Cars of the 1950s were fragile under extreme stress. Brakes, tyres, and suspension parts could fail without warning, especially on a high-speed circuit like AVUS. Drivers accepted these risks, but watching a car tumble end over end was shocking even for seasoned veterans.
Safety Then vs. Now
In 1959, safety was almost an afterthought. Marshals had hay bales and fire extinguishers. Helmets were basic. Medical help was limited. And yet, after surviving horrific accidents, drivers often returned to the cockpit within weeks. Herrmann was no exception — he kept racing, carrying the scars and the stories that became part of his legend.
A community that faced danger together
What stood out in those years was the camaraderie. Herrmann’s dry humour after the crash, the way fellow drivers supported each other, and the acceptance of danger as part of the job — all painted a picture of an era where death was close, but friendships were closer.
So what can we say more?
The events of that weekend are a snapshot of ’50s motorsport, it was unforgiving.
It pushed conversations forward about safer track designs, better barriers and more reliable race machinery.
Over time banked circuits faded from top level racing, replaced by layouts with far more protection.
The lessons came at a high cost, but Herrmann’s story remains one of the few that ended with a smile, not silence.
